Varanasi - The oldest living city (47 images)

Sitting along the bank of the Ganges Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world. With its series of ghats, old palatial buildings and age-old customs history seems to have stopped in this north Indian city. The mornings start here with gong of bells from the temples, flocks of pigeons flying overhead, bare-bodied men working out at the ghats, sadhus ambling past in their fiery saffron loin clothes after holy dips in the rivers - adding a shock of colour to the ambience. Travelers from...
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Sitting along the bank of the Ganges Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world. With its series of ghats, old palatial buildings and age-old customs history seems to have stopped in this north Indian city. The mornings start here with gong of bells from the temples, flocks of pigeons flying overhead, bare-bodied men working out at the ghats, sadhus ambling past in their fiery saffron loin clothes after holy dips in the rivers - adding a shock of colour to the ambience. Travelers from allover the world come here in search of tranquility. While witnessing the blazing pyres of the burning ghats or the evening prayers of the Ganges, inside the serpentine lanes and in the unassuming coffee shops one's inner peace is kindled by the sheer beauty and relaxed rhythm of the place. With the changing socio-economic conditions of the country, people and places of India are rapidly changing and turning more westernized. But Varanasi keeps away from this trend and quietly glows in its traditional aura, remaining a lost pearl of history.
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