My Humble Tribute to a City that Changed my Life
Many years ago I travelled hundreds of kilometers from my home to *Kashi (also called Varanasi)* where I first lost, then found, and then ultimately became true to myself. They call it *Banaras* also. It is also considered to be the oldest city in India.
I found it to be the dirtiest city (heard it’s a clean city now) with river Ganges that’s polluted with dead bodies floating on it, and yet, I saw many coming to this city to die. Strange isn’t it? People come to any city to live, but people come to this city die. They call it a holy city, and believed that dying here gives them Moksh (Salvation).
It is in this city I lost interest in materialism, competition and consumerism. It is in this city I’ve forgiven myself and began to realize the importance of a slow life. A life without the rat race. It is here I realized that I am damned if I do not give back what I’ve taken from the nature. It is this city that gave me focus and laid foundation to my current life.
It was during this journey I discovered that there is an unexplored Kashi within each of us waiting to be discovered, a place of joy & sorrow, of darkness & light, with limitless potential, challenging every aspect of our being. To respond to its call is to be *forever transformed,* for it is during this journey of the soul that we confront who we are and who we can become.
