The fire was burning. A body was being cremated. I opened “varanasi news today” on my phone. The news was about a road tax dispute. I closed the phone.
Varanasi is not a city. It’s a circle of life and death. Every day, thousands come to die. Thousands come to be born. The Ganga flows. The fire burns. The bells ring.
But “varanasi news today” doesn’t show you that. It shows you:
A politician visiting the Kashi Vishwanath temple
A traffic jam on the highway
A boat capsize somewhere
A dispute over some shop
I went to Varanasi for 3 days. I ignored the news. I watched the fire.
The priest who doesn't read news
I sat near Manikarnika Ghat. A priest was conducting cremations. He had been doing it for 30 years.
I asked: “Do you read ‘varanasi news today’?”
He laughed. “I read the smoke. The smoke tells me when the soul has left. That’s my news.”
“But what about politics? Crime? Accidents?”
He said: “Politicians come here for photos. Then they leave. Crime happens everywhere. Accidents happen on the road. But the fire? The fire is permanent. The fire has been burning here for thousands of years.”
“The news will be forgotten tomorrow. The fire will still be burning.”
What the news showed me vs what the fire showed me
“Varanasi news today” on that day had:
“VIP darshan at Kashi Vishwanath, common man waits for hours”
“Ganga water level rises, boatmen worried”
“Road repair work delayed, residents suffer”
“Political war of words over temple trust”
The fire showed me:
A family saying goodbye to their father. They were crying. Then they were at peace.
A young priest who had just started. He was nervous. An old priest guided him.
A dog sitting quietly. Watching. Waiting. Part of the circle.
A foreign tourist taking photos. Then putting the camera down. Just watching.
The fire didn’t care about VIP darshan. The fire didn’t care about water levels. The fire just burned.
What a boatman told me
I took a boat ride at sunrise. The boatman’s name was Raju.
I asked: “Do you worry about the news?”
He said: “No. I worry about the current. The wind. The fog. That’s what affects my boat.”
“News is for people who sit at home. I am on the river. The river is my news.”
“The Ganga has seen everything. Empires rose and fell. Kings came and went. News was invented yesterday. The Ganga is eternal.”
The one story that mattered
I asked Raju: “Has ‘varanasi news today’ ever reported something useful?”