How did alcohol help me to visit Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Varanasi & Vindhyachal?

04-11-2024

I am sitting here at Bettiah station, backed by the fact that our train hasn’t even started from its origin. And it’s going to be at least four hours late from now on. Needless to say, my father and I will have to wait for the train at the railway station. Just an hour ago, I was deep asleep, and now I am typing this at the railway station.

Now some backstory

My mother had already planned to visit my maternal grandmother’s house at the time of Chath puja. My father has never visited his in-laws after his marriage so he just can’t accompany my mother and us. He also had no intention to visit my paternal grandmother’s house. So, he was left with only one option – get out to travel. He did so, he made plans for Banaras, Ayodhya, Vidhyanchal and so on. Until now I don’t have a clear idea of the places. LOL. Okay. So the plan was set. He and his co-worker were set to embark on this journey. Until now I was going to my maternal grandmother’s house.

Now comes the twisting part. His friend ( we will call him “Mr. K” ) Mr. K drank alcohol yesterday so, he faced some resistance from my father and also from his son and since I agreed to accompany my father. My father made sure that I was going with him and not that alcoholic Mr. K. The fun fact is that when at first my mother proposed me to go with my father I denied it it, but when my father asked me that it got me thinking and eventually I agreed. The reasons are many. First of all, I will get to meet many nice people and I want to meet people. For I can learn from them. I have no idea who can be my lifelong friend, or who can be my lifetime partner or even a client.

For it takes just a moment to change one’s life. The second reason is I will get to meet foreigners with whom I can talk in English, which will make my father feel proud and who knows if he will agree to invest money in my English-speaking capabilities. The third one is the most important, I want to improve my relationship with my father. It’s getting worse day by day maybe this is my opportunity to improve it. Let’s see.

Now back to the story.

I just brought some water for my father and I am almost done with writing today’s travel experience. I am not feeling sleepy so now I am going to take some fucking souls. I am going to read books.

05-11-2024

Today’s day started with me being on the train. I woke up at around 5. Went to the toilet and then practised around 45 mins of Copywriting. After that, I read “You Can Win” book by Shiv Khera. I read around 55 pages of it. 

I also got lectured by my father because I was reading some random books and not focusing on a career that would get me a job. I didn’t reply, I just heard. I hope I can tell him what are my plans. After getting off the train at Prayagraj Rambhag station we headed to the Sangam. There i and my father took a bath by taking turns. 

I saw the preparation for the Maha Kumbh Mela. It is organised every 12 years. After that, we came back to the railway station as our train for Vindhyachal was to depart. It took another hour of waiting at the railway station due to misleading info. Anyway, we got on the train and by night we were at Vindhyachal. We got out and looked for a room for ₹600.

 We ate for ₹100 per plate + 6 Gulab Jamun, 2 me 4 father. I am done and am going to sleep. I will have to wake up tomorrow at dawn to visit the temple. We are planning to take a train to Varanasi. Let’s see how it goes.

06-11-2024

I just washed my clothes and am listening to music while typing this. My day started when we woke up at around 6 and then we went to visit the temple. I left my phone and my shoes and visited the temple. There wasn’t something extraordinary but still, it was good. The idol has large eyes that’s it ( though I too have ). We then came back to the room. After a few hours, we went to have some food. Then we both ate 4-4 Gulabajamuns. Man those ₹10 gulabajamuns were so tasty. After coming back we rested a bit. I too rested, used my laptop and read the book “You Can Win”. At around 4 PM we checked out and went to have some litti chokha. 

Then we headed towards Vindhyachal railway station which was near only. After visiting there we waited, I was reading the book all the time. I also met a boy on platform no. 2. I guess his name was Shivam. He was going to Prayagraj and was originally from Vindhyachal. BTW our conversation started because I was using my laptop. Then our train arrived and we boarded it. I read books while my father rested. I found a man reading a book and had a bit of chit-chat with him.

In a couple of hours, we reached Varanasi junction. Man, the station was astonishing ( not as cool as Rani Kamalapati station but still it was too good ). I was walking all the time like I owned the place. As soon as we got over the FOB I saw a man who collapsed in front of us ( I assume he got epilepsy as someone was putting his slippers on his nose ). He also started to shake and was vomiting saliva. It was so bad to see. I couldn’t help him either. A policeman was calling someone for help, so we left. After that, we took an auto for ₹25*2 to BHU. 

All the time, I read the book in the auto and appreciated the city. I saw BHU it was awesome. I remembered what Lord Shaan Puri said “Proximity is power” I felt that I wanted to live here. I wanted to be near this place. Something was different in Kashi’s air. Btw I was reading a book as my father went to see the rooms. I was the lone man in front of the BHU reading books and taking souls.

Soon he came,  we had our dinner for ₹60*2 and then he headed to our rooms. I washed my clothes and have currently hung them. I hope it dries up so I can go for a run tomorrow morning. And I wish to meet a foreigner. My phone with a sim  ( jio phone ) has also switched in the last few days cause the cable is not working. Cool. Will again meet tomorrow with more stories of Kashi.

07-11-2024

My today’s day started at 3:10, when I was procrastinating to wake up. I had a hell lot of reasons not to wake up but I still woke up telling myself just to visit the toilet. I went to the toilet came out put on my clothes ( they were still a bit wet ) and got out of the room to do 100 half pushups (This week’s goal is to solidify these 100 half pushups ). It was tough to get there but I still did it. Someone from the other apartments saw that too and appreciated me i accepted it and got down only to find that the gates were closed. I got my father’s phone and called to open the gates. The hotel man told me that I will need to call to again open the gates but I was in no mood, I left my father’s phone and start running to take some fucking souls. I got into BHU, which was just beside and then I ran and ran and ran. There was no endpoint.

I was just exploring and taking souls. I did a round of the BHU and came back only to find that the hotel gates were closed i tried shouting but it didn’t work out. So, what I had earlier seen was that the Ganges was only 2 km away, I got out and asked people to get to the river bank. I met a bunch of boys who took my interview and then in no time I was at the bank of the Ganges. I met a boy and his younger brother. The boy was in BHU and his younger brother was in class 11th. It was great meeting with them. The more I told about myself, the more interesting the conversation got ( You know all the crazy things I do ) He made me meet some foreigners as it was my motto. I met some selling drugs (I guess ) too. Then I met more people some didn’t seem interested in talking at all. One or two talked but the language problem existed. I was a brown ugly guy approaching foreigners wearing T-shirts and half-pants and I guess it was intimidating them ( who knows ). I also attended Ganga Aarti for the first time. The Ganges were a little clean here. I saw people taking baths in the river. Many love birds were also there ( one even came with books ). After that they dropped me off from their bike, I shook hands with them and came back. Then I read books for some time only to feel tired and sleepy. So, I did what my body was telling me to do. I slept to wake up at 10:15 am when my father told me to take a bath. 

I woke up because of my father and then we went to the new Kashi Vishwanath Temple which was in BHU itself. The temple was to be open at 1 pm and we were 40 mins short so I told my father that I would roam some random bookstore until then, I went to a bookstore and from there found a student of BHU so, I went with him to explore the library. He was a nice guy. The Bhu library was giant. It had many old books and whatnot. I saw the students also but I wasn’t very impressed I wanted to see what I presumed about BHU. I think that I could get ahead of all these kids at BHU. I wanted someone of my level- you know reading self-help books and being into the books while walking. I could find no one. In the library some were with their other halves, some were on Quora and some were just random chit-chatting. When I came back to the temple my father wasn’t there. So, I roamed the temple by myself. It wasn’t very crowded. I also met 4 tourists from the US. They were so nice I loved talking to them.

After that, I called my father from an artist’s phone only to know that he was in the old Kashi Vishwanath Temple. I then took a lift in BHU to Lanka. Got into my room used the toilet, took money and went to the old temple. I was reading a book on the street while walking and making everyone uncomfortable. This temple was crowded it had lots of people. I too saw the stone for which thousands of people come every day. 

After that, I met a few people some from south India, from Nepal, from France and a few other places. I loved talking to them. After that, I went to the Annapurna Bhojnalaya as I was hungry ( hadn’t eaten for the whole day ). I ate and after eating I scrolled my way to Manikarnika ghat which was near only. I ate paani Puri, a paan ( without tobacco ) and then went to the Manikarnika Ghat. It was so nice. As expected I saw bodies burning and people were normally carrying out their day-to-day work. I was there for a couple of hours. I read books there too. I went to a couple of bookstores to explore self-help books, but they were so costly and I also didn’t have money. So I didn’t buy anything. Then I found an auto after struggling a bit and came back to Lanka to my hotel where my father was waiting for me. Right now he is sleeping beside me while I am typing this. I will now listen to music and sleep.

08-11-2024

I woke up at 3 am even though I wasn’t feeling like it. I just wanted to take souls. I fooled myself that I would just use the toilet and sleep and with this, I woke up. After that, I did my 100 push-ups. I didn’t feel like waking up the hotel staff at 3 am disturbing his sleep so, I didn’t go for a run. I got the chair out and read the book. After that I felt very sleepy so, I slept. I again woke up at 8:30 am when my father told me to wake up and take a bath as we would have to leave the room by 12 to save us from being charged. At this time my father was suffering from loose motion and had no energy left. I too was down.

This picture has a story, click on it to read.

After procrastinating a lot, I woke up went for a bath and then packed our bags. We left our room by noon. We directly headed towards Varanasi Junction. From there we took the Bahraich Express to Ayodhya Dham Junction. The train started at 2:00 PM. The journey took 5 hours. Even on the train, I was taking souls by reading books. Coming to Ayodhya Dham Junction I found it magnificent. It is the best train station I found after Rani Kamalapati station to date. There were a hell lot of monkeys there. My father then found a very sweet homestay for ₹500 per day ( after negotiation ). I love the place, in case we don’t face any inconvenience I am going to write an appreciation letter for this family. My father didn’t eat anything as he was having a bad gut. I ate one plate of Aaloo Paratha for ₹40.

At present, he is sleeping beside me as I am typing this. I have to visit the Ram Janmbhoomi tomorrow. My clothes are dirty, I will wash them tomorrow. I am going to sleep now. 

09-11-2024

I woke up at 5 am. After that, I read the book for a few minutes and then washed my clothes. I then worked on my laptop. Since my clothes were still wet my father went to visit the Ram Janmbhoomi before me. I then listened to some music for a few hours and tried sleeping but it was a failure. After that at around 4 pm, I got up took a bath, washed my current clothes and went to the Ram Janmbhoomi. That place is only around 500 metres from the Ayodhya Dham Junction. But beware inside you will have to walk a couple of kilometres before you see the idol. The temple is still being built but whatever it is built is already is magnificent. The facilities are very good. Milk feeding sections, lots of toilets, drinking water hubs, first aid clinics, proper security, a crowd of thousands at once if not in lakhs shouting Jai Shree Ram, free prasad, waiting area, lockers for belongings and slippers, shoes, proper facilities for senior citizens, lots of monkeys – to name a few pros. 

It just comes with a single con that is the motivation behind building this temple. I highly condemn it.

Also, I didn’t find any foreigners here. I wanted to interact with them. Moreover, you will find many Indians from the south. You won’t be allowed to take your phone or camera inside so, you can’t even click pictures.

After that, I came to my room only to listen to music, creating romantic moments with random girls and pass my time. After a few hours, my father came and then I got out to have some dinner. I ate food, Paani Puri, drank a cold drink and slept. 

10-11-2024

I lost the NNN challenge as I masturbated last night. Waking up at 5:20 am, I went to the toilet, brushed, packed our bags and checked out to catch our train from Ayodhya Dham Junction to Mankapur Junction. We got seats and I read the book “Copywriting Secrets” by Jim Edwards. We reached our destination in an hour or so. Our train from there to Bettiah station was a few hours late making us wait around 5 hours. So, I started reading “Scientific Advertising” by Claude C. Hopkins. While I was reading a boy from south India who was having difficulty in finding a way to Ayodhya approached me. The taxi driver was asking him ₹600 for just 35 km to Ayodhya. I went with him for a kilometre making him understand everything he needs to know about Ayodhya as I have been there and got him into a bus for ₹100. Later he told me that he approached me because I was reading a book that too in English. It felt great as I could help a guy cause I knew the language and I was very proud. After that, we waited for 4-5 hours when our train came. We hopped in, I did some reading and my father did his usual talking. Met a few nice people and life was Enjoy ending this great trip. See how time flies, here I was leaving my house to visit Prayagraj and here I am back to bettiah. 

Sayonara
This is Navneet signing off from today’s blog.

Will meet soon