It is a scene which has repeated itself every day for more than three thousand years in this holiest of India's cities - a place as ancient as Babylon or Thebes - which Hindus consider to be the beating heart of their religion. While modern India rushes headlong to embrace many of the material aspects of Western capitalism - even Varanasi has an outlet of McDonald's - standing on the 'ghats' of Varanasi at dawn, it seems as if time is standing still.