Waiting at Varanasi station

I am waiting at Varanasi railway station for last seven hours. I am coming from Kolkata, I need to take another train to Gorakhpur, as I will be spending some time for a research project near Gorakhpur. For the past seven hours I am so closely located near the Ganges, I am closely located near the Vishwanath gali, wooden toy shops, rabri shops and our old house. But I could not move out of the station as the announcements of the train are following short leaps, ‘the train is expected in next one hour.’ I am at Varanasi for the first time after my grandmother’s death. The city was very special to her, as my father was born here in the year 1948. She is the person who spread the urge to touch the city as many times as I can. Last time I had visited the city in April, 2014, I gifter a photo post card of the Malavya bridge located on the Varanasi Ganges. She visited Varanasi nine times, and I was having a feeling that I am completing her 10th visit with the current stepping on Varanasi. But I could just touch the soil of Varanasi. Seven hours of waiting in a ladies waiting hall of platform no. 5 of the Varanasi railway station brought new observations. I found that women students from different corners of UP come to study at various colleges of Benaras and at BHU. Though I have visited BHU a number of times, but encountering students from different corners of the state was totally new experience. I found that students come from Lucknow-Raibarrilley –Benaras rail track, and also from Benaras-Mughalsarai-Patna rail track. A number of women students are friends with the old lady ticket checker woman of the ladies waiting room who speaks a variety of Bhojpuri. I shared a cup of tea with the lady and found that these women students regularly sit at the waiting room and study for a few hours. They also charge their mobile phones and eat their lunch at the waiting hall. Just beside the waiting room, there is a new bhojanalay. The menu include veg and non-veg thalis, north and south Indian snacks and dinner. They pack food and supply order for on-board passengers. They also have a snacks and tea corner. The shop owner was quite surprised to see me for both lunch and dinner at his restaurant. Like Mughalsarai, Varanasi is also a station where many routes are crisscrossed. Trains from different parts of India pass through this station. So, it was also a traveller’s joy to find new routes and googling about them. I came to know that trains from Mumbai to North and East India pass through Varanasi. Trains from Secundrabad also stops here to take a turn for Darbhanga, Patna or Bhagalpur. I noticed a number of known trains from Howrah passing by and tried to track their routes thoroughly, which were partially known by me in spite of my regular Kolkata Delhi journeys. I read story books in between, wrote something, called up home a number of times, had early lunch and dinner, two rounds of tea. Spending from morning to night at the station of a known place was still unknown and refreshing. Though I felt a bit restless in the evening, the feeling that I am at a wonderful city was peaceful. I may exclude this travel from my visit list, but it became a very special travel. I will be back at Benaras very soon, I promised myself.