The absence of ancient Hindu structures in Kashi is something I have always lamented about. The shrines are certainly ancient, and that is something that has always attracted me to the city. However, I miss the beauty of the ancient structures that we see at other sites. This feeling is intensified when I see marble and concrete and tiles in temples that once would have been beautifully adorned with evocative sculptures, and worn by the passage of time, touched by the hands of seekers who came before. This time , this desire to see some remnants of an ancient Hindu structure in Kashi came true when I managed to visit the Kardameshwar Temple. The Kardameshwar temple is not one of the main temples in the city. It is part of the temples on the Pancha Kroshi yatra, a pilgrimage which takes one on a circumambulatory tour of the whole city. The temple is located on the outskirts of the city, on the western bank of a tank called the Kardama Kund. The Kardameshwar temple is one of the...
We happened to see this vehicle, probably one of the new ones belonging to the police or the army. It drew all eyes towards it, and cameras and mobiles were pulled out, and the tourists went click....click....click! I wondered if it would be all right to take pics, considering that these belong to our state security forces, but there were plenty of policemen around, and none of them seemed to care about the photography, so I decided to go for it too! It looks more like a tank than a van, right? I saw a couple more such vehicles at Mantralaya later, but did not dare take pics there!!!!!