'leave my Benares alone’

[Guest guest]

Tell terrorists to leave my Benares alone'

AMAN SHARMA

 

 

Posted online: Thursday, March 09, 2006 at 0124 hours IST

NEW DELHI/VARANASI, MARCH 8: ``Is it safe to go to Benares? Are many

people dead? Tell the terrorists not to touch Benares... It's Mecca

for me. I hope to breathe my last there,'' says an anxious Aamana

from Switzerland.

 

On the Swatantrata Senani Express, the first train to Varanasi from

Delhi this morning, this 41-year-old is not the only foreign tourist

worried about the holy city. For many of the 50-odd tourists, Benares

has come to mean much more than a stop in their exploration of Exotic

India.

 

 

 

This is Aamana's fourth trip to Varanasi—she came for the first time

in 1997 and ``fell in love with the city''.

 

Today she is taking Manzil, her 36-year-old friend from Mexico,

along. Both have taken Indian names following their association with

Osho. Manzil wants to pray in Varanasi for her friend who was

abducted and murdered in Mexico last year. ``I have been wanting to

come for a year. Finally, Aamana brought me... and this terrible

thing has happened,'' Manzil says. But the blasts didn't change their

minds about going. ``I hope they don't turn us back from the

station,'' Aamana says.

 

A chance trip to India while she was holidaying in Bangkok brought

Aamana to Aurobindo Ashram in Kolkata and then Varanasi. ``It was

like going to a different planet. Initially, I saw Benares's narrow

roads... I went to the Sankat Mochan Temple and a monkey jumped on

me. And I decided I'd never come back. But then I saw the Ganga, the

ghats... and I realised the spiritual energy... The place was as old

as Christ. Gods had walked the same ground.''

 

She stayed on, for full seven months. ``I stayed at Asi Ghat, saw the

Ganga all day and night, learnt yoga, meditation and playing the

tabla. Benares changed my life. And it called me back again and

again. Last time I came, I brought my mother G Jeanine as well. She

loved it too.''

 

As morning dawns and the train chugs into the Varanasi Cantonment

Station, the site of the second blast yesterday, Aamana and Manzil

found company in Americans Jason Michael and Laila. It's their first

trip to India. ``We just hope our stay is safe. We really want to see

Benares,'' says Laila.

 

``Please urge the terrorists in your paper to leave my peaceful and

holy Benares alone...I love this place, they cannot stop me from

coming here,'' Aamana repeats, before bidding goodbye.

 

World Speak

 

• WASHINGTON: US has sent condolences and wishes for quick

recoveries to victims of the blasts in Varanasi. ``Our hearts go out

to those who've lost their loved ones and we wish a speedy recovery

to those injured," State Dept spokesman Sean Mccormack said.

• LONDON: Condemning the bomb blasts in Varanasi, Britain has said it

remained determined to work closely alongside India in its fight

against the evil of terrorism. ``On behalf of the British government,

I totally condemn this indiscriminate violence. Our thoughts are with

the families and friends of the victims, and with the government and

people of India,'' British Foreign Minister Kim Howells said.

• New Delhi: Israel on Wednesday condemned the ``heinous''

attacks ``carried out ``with the clear intention of offending

religious sensibilities among pilgrims in one of the most sacred

sites in India,'' the foreign ministry said.

— ENS & PTI

 

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=89234