The evening of the first day at Varanasi, we went for a boat trip from the Assi Ghat towards the Dasashwamedh Ghat with the intention to see the evening arati from the river.
The speciality of this ghat, and the one beside it, the Rajendra Prasad ghat is that they host multiple aratis simultaneously, 5 and 7 to be exact. And, for most of the time, the purohits conducting the arati do it in sync and hence it is a pretty awesome sight. The arati starts at 1815, but in the winter months, the place gets crowded by devotees and onlookers from 1700. So, if you want to grab a good spot, be there by 1715 . You ll find boatmen coaxing to take a ride to the opposite bank and back, charging around 40INR for the trip, pretty reasonable, but a bit of bargaining always helps. Also, found in plenty are photographers with portable printers who ll take the photos in poses of your and their choices and print and deliver immediately, at about 20INR per copy.
I realized that, from a moving boat, taking photos of people who are also moving is a pretty difficult job, hence, not many usable shots from that evening of the arati. But its an awesome spectacle. Once I understood that trying to take photos would be fruitless, I switched the camera off, and saw the aratis. It truly is a breathtaking sight and a memorable event. Night shots of boats on the Ganga, they came out good though!!
Next day the destination was Sarnath and the evening I spent in finding a good spot to capture the arati from! Stay tuned! More coming up!!
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