Kasi Yatra-1981

Kasi (Yatra) Visit as it took place in 1981

One fine morning in the first week April 1981, I received a letter card from my Father-in-law Shri.K.V.Sreenivasa Iyer (KVS) that he wants to fulfill the desire of his beloved wife,(my MIL) which is visiting Kasi before her last breath.
They both have seen the world, as they were in Far East for most of their life, besides visits to many other places in India. He chose my company for three reasons:
1. I knew the local language very well.
2. I’m his youngest son-in-law.
3. I was expected to leave India on an assignment in September 81.
So, I wrote back that he can plan his travel and I should accompany him with my family for guidance and help.

I had no ceiling fan in the bed room, and immediately arranged to fix one (Compton make) at a cost of Rs.400, and also got my house white washed for Rs.150 with material and labor.
I requested my brother Ramakrishnan,(Kalyanam) to help me in organizing tickets accordingly, soon the date of arrival of my FIL was known.

I received confirmation that, my FIL with two of my SIL, grandson Satish and MIL would be arriving in Delhi on 28-5-81, by JJExpress. He had done the reservation by himself from Olavakode Junction.
He also remitted Rs.2000 simultaneously for me to do arrangements for his visit to Varanasi( Kasi.)

Immediately, I contacted my brother Ramakrishnan, for help in booking 6 Tickets to Kasi for any day after 5th of May 81.He, very sincerely, tried and got bookings to Calcutta in the train UPPER INDIA EXPRESS which leaves New Delhi every day, from platform no 13 at 20.10 hrs. (We were on waiting list with an assurance of confirmed berths to be declared 2 hrs before the scheduled time of departure.

My FIL and family arrived at Hazarat Nizamudin Junction in the afternoon of 28-5-81 and we took a taxi home for Rs.100 to reach our house in Old Raj Nagar.

Earlier I had my leave adjusted for 3 days and 15 days at a stretch from 10th of May. So, after a days rest, I took them on a visit to see, few of his family friends living in kalkaji in Delhi and in the vicinity. We traveled by public transport and rickshaws and the total expenses came to Rs.57.60 only – including fruits for hosts which came to Rs.20.00 only.
On Tuesday-the 5th of May1981, we visited Hardwar and Rishikesh. We returned on the next day. I shall write about this trip separately.

To-day, the expenses of those days look very negligible as the prices of everything has escalated in the last 28 years.

I shall show the daily expenses during this tour including the weeks before and after it.
The cooking gas was available for Rs.47.50. We bought a tourist guide- book to Varanasi for Rs.2.00 (TWO only), paid Rs.400.00 for booking 6 tickets to Varanasi, and Rs.450 for 4 and a half Tickets to Bombay (for my FIL family for return trip via Bombay)

The plan was to book a single reservation ticket( for each of us) to Calcutta and break the journey at Allahabad, Varanasi( Kasi) and Gaya – for my INLAWS to perform their religious ceremonies and then go to Calcutta from Gaya. All we had to do was re-confirm our reservations each time and pay for the relevant part of the journey. Return journey was straight, without break

As the day of travel to Varanasi was fast approaching, we were busy organizing everything from food for consumption during travel to dress and toiletries etc; though most of us were adults, we still had two (my daughter Sheeba-3years, and Baby’s son Satish-7years) children to be taken care especially from the point of safety aspects.

My brothers Ramakrishnan , Rajamani and another family friend Gopal, came to see us off safely on this trip. We left home at 15 hrs, and reached New Ghaziabad Railway station- nearest to our colony, in 30 minutes to catch; the available train to New Delhi station. There was a train scheduled passing this station at 3.30 PM, but learned that the said train left already at 14.15 hrs, based on new timings.

So, we rushed to Ghaziabad Railway station, as there are many trains to New Delhi passing this main station. Fortunately we got the next train – a shuttle to ND station. We reached platform 13 at 7PM.My brother Ramakrishnan, went into the station and got our berths confirmed as, he paid an extra amount of Rs.25 per ticket. (Rs 150.00 for SIX tickets to Calcutta)

The train arrived from the yard and we were shocked that all the compartments were already full. People have occupied seats from the yard itself. We tried to get into our compartment and could not do so, as the entrance was also blocked. We managed to get inside around 7.45PM.We were forced to get down at 8PM.

The train was scheduled to leave at 8.10 PM. My brother Kalyanam, quickly went to the booking counter and re-confirmed our berths. In the meantime, we decided to drop the trip and go for next day or whenever possible. Kalyanam, also spoke to the TTE of our coach, who asked us to board the train and he will sort out our berths. So, with great difficulty, we managed to get into the train and stood near our allotted berths.

The scene was like this:
I was very much upset and angry.
Saro - my wife was very much upset with me.
FIL and MIL were undecided what to do next. Mind you, they both were 80 years + young!.
Baby and Thankam (my SILs) lost all hopes of continuing the trip.
Sheeba and Satish were sweating and crying.

Kalyanam, spoke to the passengers who have illegally occupying our berths, and requested them to give seats to my aged in-laws. and they got the space to squeeze in.

The train left the station at 8.20 PM – late by 10 minutes.

We were supposed to travel leisurely with peace of mind, as we were already exhausted due to various trips in the previous days. With a bit of luck, we all got our seats with the help of the TTE. (We did not pay any more bribes besides the Rs150 paid to the booking clerk by my brother.)

I thought of my brother Kalyanam, and thanked him whole heartedly for, without his help, we wouldn’t have started this trip. I get annoyed and angry under this kind of situations while my brother did not!

Gradually, the tension, eased and we had our dinner, as we had enough to consume. We had comfortable journey for the rest of the travel, till we reached Allahabad at 6.30AM on 11-5-1981-Monday.

Within minutes of our stepping down on to the platform at Allahabad Railway station, we were surrounded by rickshaw pullers. Each one suggested a hotel or Inn. Since we had gone thru’ the guide for this town, we went to a hotel named PRAYG HOTEL. We were taken to this hotel by a -tongewala (Horse cart puller). This man helped us by organizing another cart for our city tour in the afternoon. We paid him 5 rupees at the end of the day for his help.

We took a room at 35.00 rupees per day. The room had a water cooler, large enough to freeze the room. We completed all our morning routines, had coffee, good breakfast and took rest till noon.

Later we left for the tour of the city and a trip to Sangam – confluence of Holy rivers- Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi.
We went round the city. We could not visit Mothilal Nehru museum as it remained closed on Mondays.

We reached the bank of river Ganges. Then there was fun. Many boatmen nearly trapped us and insisted to take their boat to the confluence. Each one was announcing a rate for this trip, which was exorbitant and was near rip-off rate for any one. Then I started my talk in pure local dialect and they fell silent.
The rates came down drastically from hundreds to tens. We finally agreed for 25 rupees for a return trip to the confluence.

There was much less water in the river Ganges. Here again, as we approached the centre point, the priests grabbed our boat by a long stick and tided it with their one. They pronounced all sorts of rituals to be performed there for salvation and attainment of peaceful death which assured a place in heaven and, demanded a huge sum of money for it.

This is one of many instances, I have seen / experienced, and felt sorry for our orthodox systems that groomed many exploiters, in the society taking advantage of a Hindu’s faith in God. It is doubtful, if any one is going to straighten these unholy acts in our Hindu society.

I told the priest, that we had enough in Allahabad at the hands of various people like him who gave us experience like in Hell, and we were certain not to have any place in hell.

They kept quiet upon my yelling at them as above, and agreed to accept what ever we could spare for them. My FIL, collected 5 liters of holy water from the confluence for taking home. (He used that for rituals in his house, and gave all the fellow residents few ounces of it as many of the resident were not in a position to take pilgrimage to Kasi. We paid Rs.one only – in changes for the whole thing performed by us.
We returned to our hotel by 5PM.We decided to have some south Indian dishes for the evening and ordered 5 meals for Rs.17 only. We decided to leave for Kasi by Bombay-Varanasi Express next day at 6.45 AM, the night was pleasant with cold air coming from the desert cooler.
The day’s expense stood at Rs.169.95 (details in my 1981 diary.)

We were very reluctant to get up in the morning, but for continuing our journey on time and got up at 5AM in the morning of Tuesday 12-10-1981, and reached the station by 6.30 AM.

We boarded a coach marked- BOMBAY-ALLAHABAD- that was to be attached to the train was to travel to Varanasi. The coach was empty and had three tier arrangements. We spoke to a TTE and learned that this coach was going to Varanasi. So, we were comfortable, thinking of our first leg of the tour from Delhi.

Aword about Sheeba and Satish – They both were very quiet, till they saw an ice-cream vendor, or a toy seller, or anything else that were attractive to children of their age. My father in law was conceding to their demands / commands, and so was quiet – I realized.

We reached VARANASI at 4PM and the first thing I tried was to get reservation to Calcutta. Later I decided to try again after the day’s routines. This was a good decision, as we were to leave for Gaya for some more rituals and then only to leave for Calcutta.

We met some returning pilgrims, who were waiting to board trains to different destinations as; they had completed their rituals in Kasi. They warned us of rippers waiting to fleece us in the name of religion and rituals – waiting like hungry wolves.

My FIL, had the addresses of priests in Hanuman Ghat who did ceremonies to his ancestors during their visit many years ago. Here please note that, every family whose members regularly (once in a life time) came to Varanasi, had a reference with a priest whose family also did the ceremonies since many generations and continuing.

So, we knew whom to contact there. It was one Mr.Vaidyanathan s/o Shri.Viswanatha Vadyar of Kallidaikurichi, and we went there to his house. He gave us a warm welcome and surprised us by telling about my FIL’s ancestors, for whom his ancestors also performed the ceremonies then. Hence we all felt very safe in his place. We were given lodging on the third floor of his house except for my FIL and MIL who were pretty old and could not climb to 3 floors. Incidentally, I learned that, it was Shri. Viswanatha Vadyar; who, accommodated my paternal grand parents in 1958 and, helped them to perform all relevant rituals then.

We were introduced to a nearby café – Mysore café- for our homely food. Here snacks are served / sold at the front of the café, while lunch and dinner are served with prior order at the back of the café.
This system was introduced to cater the need of the aged and elderly pilgrims whose requirement varied with individuals coming from different parts of the country, and the food was always very light.

FIL went to meet the Priest – Viswanath- to discuss about the rituals / ceremony to be performed on the next day. The day’s expense was Rs.552.40 including advance to Priest. (500 only)

We got up very early the next day, Wednesday the 13th of May 1981 as both my in-laws had to leave for the ghat. I fetched coffee for my in-laws as; they had to leave early with the priest. Then we had coffee and breakfast (Rs.11 only)

The first part of the ceremony was over by 8.30 AM. For the next part I accompanied them, as we had to go into the holy river Ganges. By the grace of Lord Viswanath, everything was done without much fatigue to my in-laws. We also had the darshan of Lord Viswanath without much trouble.
On the Bank of Ganges, we saw regular delivery of so many dead bodies, and wondered where are they coming from?.

We came home after the day’s ceremonies and jointly had our first lunch in varanasi, at 12.15 hrs and, relaxed for a while. The boatman – Kalicharan who accompanied us in the morning was also the servant of the priest. At 2 PM, Kallicharan, arranged four rickshaws for us to go round in varanasi. We went to the Temple of Lord Viswanath and had full darshan of the Lingam inside the small pond. The priest won’t allow any one to feel the Lingam except for a large sum of money. I quietly, ran my right hand thru the pond and made noise, just to divrt the attention of the priests for a while, to stay there for some more time. The priests looked like way side robbers or similar ones from chambal valley.

We all came out and, discussed between us as to who was able to feel the Lord in the form of Lingam, and I confirmed my experience.

Later it was real darshan – at the UP silk emporium- as each one wanted kasi silk as a token of our visit to the silk city.

BENARES SILK IS FAMOUS ALL OVER THE WORLD particularly AMONG SOUTH INDIAN LADIES.

We all had our own individual financial shortage, as no one ever thought of buying a silk sari from here and hence not prepared and expected some one to foot the bill. My FIL, agreed to spare his purse and we all chose one sari for each and one for my mother as well.

No with this liberty, each one started dictating their own term to the sales man on Mr.Nandakumar- from Kerala, who helped us to arrive at a decision for reasonably priced saris.

It was agreed that, the saris will be send thru; bank, and we only had to pay a down cash of 10% of the total value.(This was the rule by the government of UP rule for promoting the sale of Kasi silk saris) My FIL put his signature at the corner of all saris with date. (Paid Rs.385.00) While we were very happy, FIL was thinking about bridging the deficit caused by this sudden and huge expense incurred unexpectedly.

We reached home after the tour of the city, and had light dinner and went to bed early. The day’s activities included – fetching Ganges water in 5 small pots, purchase of Kum kum, black thread, books, ice-cream for children, boat charges etc;- Rs.521.60 only including advance payment for saris.)

We chartered our plans for the next day and beyond.

Complete all rituals in Kasi by 11AM on 14-5-1981.
Leave for GAYA by train at 1PM
Complete all ceremonies in Gaya by the next day (15-5-1981).
Leave for Calcutta in the evening / Night.

We got up as usual, on Thursday the 14th of May 1981, and went to the bank of the river Ganges for a quick dip in the river. Sheeba was very much afraid to get into the river, as she saw a dead body of a buffalo floating in-front of Sheeba. Saro managed to get her a quick dip and we also finished our last bath there. The Ganges was very dirty and filthy even near the bank / bathing Ghats.

We were home and got ready for our next leg of journey. There were 13 persons (A very auspicious number?) going to Gaya with one Mr.Gaya Subramania Sasthri – who was chosen by our KASI priest.He had an elderly widow to assist in all rituals.

We were given few tips – rather cautious steps to be followed during our railway journey to Gaya.
Gaya is notorious for all sorts of crimes including dacoit and murder besides daredevil robberies from train passengers – the pilgrims.
The people from Gaya are nick named GAYAWALIS –a bad example-set in Tamilnadu and referred as well.
He said, for this reason only, people took a short return trip to Gaya from Varanasi and went back from Varanasi only. We could not do so, as we were traveling to Calcutta. We prayed few extra times for our safety at all levels of travels till reaching back Ghaziabd.

We were advised not to open our compartment section door till Mr.Subramaniam comes at the end of the journey at Gaya Railway station.

We left our residence at Hanuman Ghat at 1.30 Pm, and reached Mugal Sarai Railway station.( 16KM from Varanasi) We reached the station and the passenger train was already on the platform. The priest took us into a coach with Ladies section- with a door, and locked all 13 of us inside. he space was enough and we could seat in a balanced way sharing the available seats. He reminded us not to open the door till he himself emerges at Gaya station. The train left Mugal sarai at 3.45 PM.

We got plenty of bananas at every stop and that was our staple food till we reached Gaya. As the day light started dimming, the remainder part of our coach was getting filled denser and denser – as we could hear all sorts of languages and noisy expressions.

There was no light at all in any of the areas the train passed through, and we wondered if we were in a jungle or in an uncivilized part of the world. No wonder dacoits are lured in this part with no control over them.

We reached Gaya railway station at 9.40 PM. Our priest came from some where and led us thru’ the platform to the exit. I saw him handing over some money to the checking staff at the exit. I could guess what it could be and did not mention about it to any one.

Our priest told us that the train had come on time for the first time in many years and he felt that it was a good sign for events to come the next day.
We hired Tongas to take us to the place of stay. This was on the banks of river SONE BADRA. We were very hungry. On the advice of our priest, we procured puris and baaji made of yellow gourd. We also procured some hot milk for next day’s coffee. There was moon light, star light besides the street lights.

We reached our place of dwelling – a charity home by Kanchi Sankaracharya. The priest introduced me to one Mr.Kanaya Lal’s son for all help. Kanaya Lal was the sitting MLA for this area.

In the middle of the night, he agreed to get us reservation to Calcutta by the next evening’s train leaving Gaya. We paid Rs.25 as bribe- service charge for this most needed help.

He sorted our room requirement – for 13 of us. The ceiling fans were at a height of more than 30 ft above us and we hardly felt the stream of air on us. It was hot and humid. There were large tamarind trees, in the neighborhood, aged over 70 or 80 years and very large in diameter. I saw them as I walked with the agent, and just recalled the narrations in stories about GHOSTS of tamarind trees.

The total expense for the day was Rs.172.90

It was already well over 1AM of Friday the 15th of May 1981 and we had our dinner quickly and tried to close our eyes for the rest of the night. We literally sank into deep sleep.

We woke up very early in the morning, as my in-laws were to go with the priest for the day’s rituals. I made coffee using the milk procured on the previous night. Only FIL had a sip of it. It was hot and humid at 6AM. I managed to locate a small outfit which provides idlys and dosa – south Indian dishes. This was run by a couple in a place closer to our residence. There was a temple for Lord Vishnu there. (They were Brahmins from Kerala.)

I had my breakfast with coffee and fetched 6 sets for others. I also ordered food for lunch and dinner – for our onward journey to Calcutta.
Both my parent-in-laws came back by 10AM, looked very tired. I learned that the priest made them to wait for long while taking the turn of the other people. After brief rest, we went the temple of Lord Maha Vishnu. The legend says that the original foot print is still cast there and is being worshipped. We also worshipped the original foot print of Lord Vishnu. We purchased few replicas of the foot prints made of copper.

In the temple, we witnessed child marriage to 100 odd children. They were in the age group of 8.
Since the restaurant was close by we had our lunch there. Once we had our lunch, we got back to life. The road was very bad, with fine stones that nearly penetrated into our bare foot. We then returned to our inn, and took rest till 3PM.

In the evening our tickets were delivered and we were then sure of traveling to Calcutta. Then we bade farewell to the priest Gaya Subramania Sasthrigal and other people who accompanied us.
I went to the restaurant at 4 pm but nothing was available, and I was asked to come back after 5pm.

So, at 5pm, we went to the restaurant (excluding FIL and MIL), had hot snacks and coffee, Procured some items for dinner and some items for FIL and MIL.

We were home by 5.30pm, took some rest, and set off to the Gaya railway station. We reached the station by 6.30 pm. We came very early to station, to avoid traveling late in the evening to station as we were advised of dangerous people who could trouble us. The train was only due to leave by 10.00 pm only.

We took rest in the designated waiting hall till about 9.30 and moved to the platform where the train was due to arrive. The Doon express arrived on time, and we boarded the coach, where our name was displayed on the reservation list. There were too many people who nearly blocked our entry, but we managed to reach our seats / berths.

We went inside the ladies’ section for our dinner, as this section was empty. One old lady objected, to our entry, but we explained to her the situation and she obliged to spare the area for taking our dinner.
Sheeba was enjoying her dinner with sambar as we were negotiating with the lady. We carried with us a full earthen pot of water besides dinner and there was no problem for anything else.

Our expense for the day was Rs.313.20

We reached Howrah (Calcutta) station at 7.50 am on Saturday the 16th of May 1981. My FIL, went out on the platform and looked for his friends who were expected to receive us on that day. Since, we were delayed in our schedule; no one was there to welcome us. My FIL, had written to 4 or 5 friends about our possible arrival without any confirmed date of travel. So, we went to one the friend’s house situated on 6B, Manohar Parker Road. We felt the cold breeze and greenery around reminding us of Kerala.

We were received by Mr.Narayanan who welcomed us. He explained to us that they were frequenting to the Railway station every day in the past few days, but gave up as we had his address.

After a brief conversation, he took us to KOMALAM LODGE behind his house. Mr.Narayanan had already booked rooms for us without mentioning the date. So, there was no problem for the lodge keeper to offer us all facilities required.

The arrangement was like this:
We had one large double bed room, meant for 4 persons, got extra bed for 2 more persons. We paid, a normal rent of Rs.80 for double room, and 10 each for the two additional beds. This was the best, cheapest accommodation which also satisfied our requirement for aspects. We could still feel it was bit more expensive – concerning our financial condition then.

We were left there by Narayanan, for us to complete the morning routines, and assured us that he will be informing all other friends of FIL, about our arrival on that day. We managed to finish our routines fast.

While we were having coffee, Mr. Natrajan and Narayanan arrived and joined us for coffee. I went out with them to get myself familiarized about the surroundings. I was shown the places for having breakfast, lunch and dinner besides snacks. All these places were close to each other and served meals three times a day. But, each outlet was famous for its own variety of food. So, there were few for the said meals of a day.

The very first thing I did was procuring the day’s news paper and some magazines. We could not find any in the previous days since leaving Ghaziabad. On the road side platforms, I saw fresh flowers, which reminded me of the flower markets in Erode, Coimbatore and Madras.

I bought a bunch of flowers for Rs.2. later by 12.30 hrs, we went out for lunch. We were served lunch on banana leaves @4 Rs. per person.
After lunch, we walked around the area. There were fruit shops all over the place. We procured assorted fruits including apples, mangoes etc; we discussed about our next move – purchase in Calcutta! / Sight seeing- of the city’s famous / historical places. We also learned that our return journey tickets were also booked for 20th May 1981.We had no bookings in any other train, and this available one was to travel in JANATHA EXPRESS – a kind of a slow express train slightly faster than the conventional passenger train!

This means, we had to remain in Calcutta for another 4 days!

My FIL, started worrying again, but then told that that he found a way to tide over the situation. (I knew of it and not mentioning it here for the sake of my commitment to him)

We could have managed without the formulae of my FIL, had I took the 1000 rupees kept in reserve in Ghaziabad. The short fall was again due to our advance payment of Rs.400 to saris at Varanasi.

Sheeba ands Satish found plenty of space in the lodge and always paled indoors. Whenever we were in the room, they spent their time by watching from the room window, counting the number of buses and trams passed our lodge. They saw double decked buses and were very much excited. Each had different numbers and disputed and ended in quarreling about whom saw more such buses or trams. My FIL gave his counted numbers to keep them quiet.

We took rest for the whole day- getting over the tiredness of the previous 6 days.
The day’s expenses came to Rs.141.00 only.

We woke up, to another new day in Calcutta, on Sunday the 17th of May 1981, completed all morning routines, had breakfast and were ready for the day’s city tour. Being Sunday, my FIL’s friends joined us for the first part of the tour.

As first leg of our tour, we went to the VICTORIA MEMORIAL. This placed is of great interest, even to ordinary people as it housed everything about Queen Victoria, British Empire that never had the sun ever set. I purchased a set of souvenirs – picture post cards besides some leaflets.

Here while every one was engaged in the outside tour of the monument, I came across a very aged person, who served in the British there during the time of Queen Victoria. He was retained and kept inside the memorial as he was a kind of a loyal person to the Royal, plus he had no other place to go. He told me of a lot of gossip about the queen and I enjoyed it. His memory was very sharp and I could listen to his narrations / revelations with rapt attention. His English language proficiency was of very high standard. I promised him that I will never pass the information to anyone else, ever.

The next leg of our tour was to visit the PLANETORIUM. From outside, one could see nothing, but, once you entered the dome, you are in a different world altogether. The whole set was like our solar system. On the day of our visit, the program was about sun set on the Polar Regions – named THE MIDNIGHT SUN.
The space inside the planetarium was fully air-conditioned. The entry ticket was priced at Rs.4 per adult. We purchased 13 tickets and went inside to enjoy the program of that time. Each program was of 30 minutes duration, and there were different one for each half an hour.

We enjoyed every minute of the program, which took us to the top of the universe. This planetarium was only one in Asia and second in the world as per the records in 1981.The first one was in Russia. The place was crowded by scholars, students and general public.

The next place of visit was NEHRU CHILDREN’S MUSEUM. Here we had tough time- with Sheeba.

On every floor of the museum, we saw different type of toys meant for children. They were assorted from different countries and each type was specific. Sheeba saw the cubes with numbers / letters, and started crying for them. They were on display from a locked glass box. She demanded that we get them for her. Then Sheeba applied the ultimate weapon – crying - Sheeba kept on crying louder and louder.

(Sheeba was very much upset and kept on crying till we procured similar items for her the next day. We had to buy something for Satish also. This put an end to Sheeba’s woes.)

In the evening we went to KALIGHAT with Mr. Natrajan. We all worshiped Kali there. It was raining heavily and there was no one other than us, and we kept on worshipping Kali as much as many times as possible. We waited in the temple for the rain to recede, and took taxis to Mr.Natrajan’s house in Baliganj for dinner.
Mr.Natrajan’s house was spacious, and comfortable. The rent was low, as he was staying there since 7 years. After dinner, Mr.Natrajan, gave us tickets for the next day for, tour of other places in the city. His sons were also included for our help during the local tours. We were then escorted to our hotel.

We were comfortable and went to bed soon after returning from the day’s programmes.

The days’ expenses came to Rs.166.30 only.

We woke up very early in the morning of Monday the 18th of May 1981.After an early breakfast; we went to the regional tourist office located near the planetarium. Mr.Narayanan helped us in finding our designated tour bus and escorted inside it. The bus left at 7 am and Jain temple was the first stop.

Then we visited, Ramakrishna Ashram, Vivekananda Memorial, Krishna Temple, Museum, and again the Victoria Memorial etc;

We were taken to a large vegetarian restaurant for lunch. We visited the botanical gardens and the lake around, and the famous zoo.

We got down near the Lake as another friend Mr.R.V.N.Swamy- was visiting to meet my FIL. While others were escorted to Mr.Swamy’s house, self and FIL went into the shops nearby.

Later we joined them after 30 minutes in the house. We had snacks and coffee in Mr.Swamy’s house.
Later we returned to our hotel, and had some fruits in place of dinner, as we had enough food till then. We were all happy about the day’s activities and were satisfied about our overall passing of the tour since we left Ghaziabad on the 10th of May 1981. The day’s expenses came to Rs.211.00

The next three days of less tours, but visits to good old friends of my FIL.
So, on Tuesday the 19th of May 1981, we woke up very peacefully, with all activities at our disposal and completed our morning routines. We were invited by one Mr.Ramakrishnan, a good old friend of my FIL, for lunch. His place of residence was close to our hotel. We went out for purchase in the after noon – There is no chase like purchase.
It was more of window shopping than of any purchase. Still, we purchased some ready made cloths for children back in the native place.

The day’s expense came to Rs.133.10

On the next day, Wednesday, the 20th of May 1981, we vacated our hotel room and went to another friend’s place located at 6B, Manohar Pukur Road. We had our meals with the residents.

Later, in the evening, by 6.30 PM, we went to the Railway station by Taxi. Mr.Narayanan and Mr.Natrajan came to station by local train. We boarded the train and into our coach and there was no problem like what we faced in Delhi.

As we were chatting inside the coach, it seemed that some had lost a suitcase and a big fight was going on the other side of the coach. Though some one clarified if we have seen anyone running with a red suit case, we replied negative and the person went away. We did not know what happened afterwards.
The train – Summer special Janatha Express left Howrah at 8.50 PM and we bade farewell to Calcutta.
The day’s expenses including total Hotel bills, cost of return tickets to Ghaziabad, all came to Rs.984.50.

On Thursday, the 21st of May 1981, we were inside the train – Janatha Express traveling back to Ghaziabad. Though we were in a reserved coach, we still felt the tiredness of the past 10 days’ activities. We survived on cucumber, leches, bananas, oranges and puri baaji besides ice-creams. It all came to Rs.31.10 – not bad is isn’t it?

Sheeba became friendly with a lady passenger, who gave her enough puri –baaji for consumption. Satish managed with other items. It seemed that the journey was taking more than necessary time as it was running like a slow passenger train. The only consolation was it was moving forward!

On Friday, the 22nd of May 1981, we reached Ghaziabad, at 10am. We came home by 11.30am and were very happy to be home at E-53 Old Raj Nagar. Immediately, I checked the steel cupboard to make sure nothing was forgotten. Everything was inside – as I feared lost them in transit.

The real kasi Yatra came to an end after 12 days of hard journey and tiring tour. None of us are responsible for the success of this tour, but GOD the almighty Himself.

It is not due to our wisdom that we returned safely, but for HIS blessings. Though, everything seemed like a dream, the nightmare with which we set out on 10-5-1981, still haunts all of us. In reality, every moment of the program was full of anxieties, and uncertainties.

I decided to compile this brief write up for the sake of any one venturing like us in future.

The only factor that might create question will be the cost of such a tour in the coming years.

Our total expense for the entire tour (excluding the charges to the respective priests) came to

Rupees 2899.45 only for six adults and two children

Note:

The forgoing narrations are exact reproduction of my notes written during the tour and the diary maintained then – as of 25th May 1981