Planning the Varanasi trip and the overall experience.

I wanted to visit Varanasi ever since I went for an Art of living meditation course. I told my high school friend, Jayanti Rajan, who was a Hindu Brahmin to go with me because I thought she would know all the procedures we needed to follow at Varanasi. And lo and behold, after a couple of years, Jayanti came up with the decision to accompany me to Varanasi. It was a dream come true for both us. Jayanti's sister Lakshmi got us reservations in Ram Bhavan which was situated right on the ghats. This enabled us to access the ghats at all odd hours. We two were adventurous and fearless as a team and pushed the bar in many ways. People warned us of cheats in Varanasi and we found none. We found the people of Varanasi to be extremely honest, not greedy, helpful, and very friendly. Even the weather was kind so that we could make the best of this once in a life time trip.

Jayanti (in blue) and me at Sarnath.