Memories: Ten Years in Banaras

Ten years ago, on this very day, I started my journey to Banaras. Fours years, I spent there. I'd be lying if I said those four years were filled only with happiness and peace, without even a hint of sadness, and pain, and loneliness, fights and uncertainty, and sans the nihilistic cloud over an existential entity. But I'd also be lying if I said the time I spent there haven't had a profound effect on my being. Six years after I left the ancient city, the memories I made there are still clinging to me, intricately vivid. Sometimes, I even find myself longing to be back to that shore and those crowded alleys. Although, I’m not sure if I’d enjoy reliving those day-to-day mundanities. But as I flip through the bundle of my memories, I find that the most evocative of them all were the ones I spent with my close, dear friends. The friends, whose small detail of an absurd behavior still makes me chuckle sometime. The friends, whose mere thought turns me somber. The friends, who have become a huge part of my life, whether they realize it or not. The friends, who were always there; and the friends, including myself, who sometimes weren’t. But I guess we were just nineteen something young bloods with restless soul and flawed perception. Today, as we are already embarking on our individual journey, I wonder where will we be in the next ten years. But wherever we be, I’m certain that these memories will be with us, just as lucid and contagious.