Anyone been to Varanasi lately ?

[Roshanrocks]

Just want to confirm this news timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Swachh-Bharat-Modis-promise-of-cleaning-Varanasi-doesnt-appear-to-be-an-empty-one/articleshow/46811357.cms Swachh Bharat: Modi's promise of cleaning Varanasi doesn't appear to be an empty one Read article in the link (Someone asked me in some post for the link to the article or threatened thread deletion) ..lol.. so why bother posting the content when I can post the link :roti:) Good topic for

[Gollum]

My parents go there every year. They went in March this year and say that it is much cleaner, more organized compared to how it was in the past.

[Khalpat]

I have lived in the city for around 1 year. And easily this was the worst city I ever lived. There were no roads only small galiyaan, very dirty, crowded and bhai the area of peelikothi, you would not want to walk alone if you r hindu. Only a person like modi could do something for the place.

[Roshanrocks]

errr.. whats the issue in peelikothi? :nervous:

[amiret]

From that article :

" Deepak Madhok who runs the Sunbeam chain of schools in the city who will tell you that the cleaning of Assi Ghat began before Modi chose Varanasi as his constituency. "Our school kids were working on the cleanliness of the ghats on a war footing since September while Modi came in December," avers Madhok. "When our boys and girls were doing the work on Assi Ghat, not a single BJP man visited the place and the moment Modi entered Banaras, throngs of them came in overnight and flew away with all the credit." "

[seedhi]

Cleaning up the spirit of Varanasi Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world, is a place where spirituality and squalour coexist unabashedly. But now, Temsutula Imsong purges its ghats of their filth, and Mission Prabhu Ghat has generated over 30 lakh tweets in a month. She tells Kareena Gianani what made PM Narendra Modi sit up and take notice Every evening, the Dasaswamedh Ghat at Varanasi gears up in piety. Pundits in billowing saffron robes prepare to take stage. The conch shell reverberates as the sun goes down and incense sticks are waved with a flourish. Tourists with folded hands pray from balconies of homes around the ghat (they pay a fee to the residents who live near the ghat). Far in the distance, at Prabhu Ghat, at the same time every evening, Temsutula Imsong secures a mask around her face, picks up a broom and a bucket, and steps into swathes of filth. Withered marigolds offered by pilgrims squelch under her feet. She sidesteps the piss, the sh*t. On Mission Prabhu Ghat Soon after, passersby join her. Tourists pick up the buckets Imsong and her friends line up at a corner, fill them with water from the Ganga and splash it across the ghat. Some locals avert their faces and walk on. But Imsong is sure the ghats of Varanasi will be as clear as the spiritual epiphanies pilgrims claim to have here. “My aim through Mission Prabhu Ghat is simple: to clean all the ghats of Varanasi,” 32-year-old Imsong says over the telephone one afternoon, an hour before she would head out for her daily cleaning ritual. It all began after a boat ride across the Ganga. Mid-February, Imsong and her friend, Darshika Shah, bobbed away at the stretch between Assi Ghat and Prabhu Ghat. “I remember we were speaking about the evenings we had spent gazing at the Ganga, sharing our lives and secrets, when it hit us – Prabhu Ghat was nothing but an open lavatory. It is the prettiest ghat in Varanasi. But in broad daylight, it makes for a pathetic sight,” Imsong works for the NGO, Sakaar, which focuses on rural initiatives. Every day, at 4 pm, she, Shah, and two other volunteers assemble at one of the ghats (Prabhu Ghat, at present), and begin cleaning it. In no time, she says, at least 15, even 40 people join them. Over the past six weeks, Imsong and her group of volunteers have cleaned four ghats in the Varanasi. Imsong first approached the civic authorities to ensure she had the requisite permissions in place. When asked whether the officials offered to help her, Imsong smiles. “Not really. They seemed busy, and asked us to go ahead.” Imsong and Shah pooled in R5,000 for Mission Prabhu Ghat, and have already spent half the money on cleaning equipment. “Mission Prabhu Ghat has received an overwhelming response on social media — more than 30 lakh tweets. Even PM Narendra Modi acknowledged our work on Twitter. In the coming months, we want to use this attention to find enduring solutions to Varanasi’s plight. We could keep cleaning the ghats, but we realise that, in the long run, Mission Prabhu Ghat will work only if people stop littering the ghats in the first place,” says Imsong. Some indifferent locals Of course, Imsong and her team get their share of brickbats — men openly ogle at the girls, and locals who have living at Varanasi since decades tut-tut at the initiative. Others are plain indifferent. “I choose not to look at them. Because, for every person who dismisses this mission, there is a local, tourist or a pilgrim who joins in and cleans with us for hours. Once, a French tourist saw us, and exclaimed that she would go and bring her friends along. She did, and they stayed the evening to help us. That’s what matters to me,” says Imsong. In many ways, Mission Prabhu Ghat is just an extension of the work she has been doing since she was eight years old. As a child growing up in the village, Ungma in Mokokchung district in Nagaland, Imsong would take up the task of cleaning up her village as part of the youth group at church. “Once a month, for years, we would visit different areas of the village and clean it up. If the days were too dusty, I’d spray water on the streets. Otherwise, I’d carry a broom bigger than myself and sweep the streets,” she laughs. Changing the face of Kashi Imsong came to Varanasi two-and-a-half years ago because she wanted to be more involved with Sakaar. After graduating from St Mary’s College at the North East Hills University in Shillong, Imsong worked as an online educational tutor in New Delhi, and also finished her masters in Human Rights. “But my heart lay in working for rural initiatives,” she says. When Imsong first came to Varanasi, she was appalled at the dirt, the traffic and the apathy. “People have thrown up their hands here, saying Varanasi will be as it is — spiritual yet full of squalour.” But Imsong refuses to accept this. “So, I will change it. One ghat at a time.” http://www.mid-day.com/articles/cleaning-up-the-spirit-of-varanasi/16116172

Good on Narendra Modi for inspiring and encouraging people to take up the cleaning of Varanasi and other places.

[gs]

Regardless of the politics involved, I truly hope this city gets the prestige and sanctity that it deserves. I cannot comprehend something similar happening in a Mecca or a Vatican.

[Texy]

How did they it get so bad? Are these people complete morons? Absolute absence of civic duty is astonishing.

[coffee_rules]

How did they it get so bad? Are these people complete morons? Absolute absence of civic duty is astonishing.

Most traditional Hindu temples - are kept dirty. Esp in South India. This has been a major problem, a paradigm shift in culture of hygiene is needed.

[Yoda-esque]

Most traditional Hindu temples - are kept dirty. Esp in South India. This has been a major problem' date=' a paradigm shift in culture of hygiene is needed.[/quote'] On the contrary, temples in the South are much more cleaner

[Sachin=GOD]

On the contrary' date=' temples in the South are much more cleaner[/quote'] Yup. I've been to many temples all over India and the ones in South India, especially the bigger temples, were by far the cleanest ones.

[Gollum]

Most traditional Hindu temples - are kept dirty. Esp in South India. This has been a major problem' date=' a paradigm shift in culture of hygiene is needed.[/quote'] WTF, temples in South India are by far the cleanest.

[Detonator]

On the contrary' date=' temples in the South are much more cleaner[/quote'] He is not completely wrong. We Indians always have a bad habit of throwing garbage everywhere. There are times in year, where temples attract huge crowds. Any one who visit those temples during ceremonies would find it unclean. For eg., during Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Trichy/Tirupathi would have massive crowds and obviously it would look unclean after few days. On normal days, most of the temples is clean.

[Gollum]

He is not completely wrong. We Indians always have a bad habit of throwing garbage everywhere. There are times in year' date=' where temples attract huge crowds. Any one who visit those temples during ceremonies would find it unclean. For eg., during Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Trichy/Tirupathi would have massive crowds and obviously it would look unclean after few days. On normal days, most of the temples is clean.[/quote'] Bhai in Varanasi near the ghats you will find human faeces, in multitude. In no place in South is the situation that bad.

[BeautifulGame]

Talking of huge crowds and south Indian temples ,South India's Kumbamela(or Mahamaham) is early next year in Kumbakonam ,TN .Now that is crowd http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamaham

[gattaca]

Talking of huge crowds and south Indian temples ,South India's Kumbamela(or Mahamaham) is early next year in Kumbakonam ,TN .Now that is crowd http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamaham

Tirupathi gets huge crowds. It is probably the top visited hindu temple. I remember it was pretty clean.

[BeautifulGame]

Tirupathi gets huge crowds. It is probably the top visited hindu temple. I remember it was pretty clean.

Nothing compares with Kumbamela though

[coffee_rules]

He is not completely wrong. We Indians always have a bad habit of throwing garbage everywhere. There are times in year' date=' where temples attract huge crowds. Any one who visit those temples during ceremonies would find it unclean. For eg., during Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Trichy/Tirupathi would have massive crowds and obviously it would look unclean after few days. On normal days, most of the temples is clean.[/quote'] This. Esp those temples which serve free food (prasad), there is no concept of garbage bags. The food is thrown on the street and dogs will be all over them. The temples are neat and clean. I am talking about waste management, especially during special ceremonies.

[Gollum]

This. Esp those temples which serve free food (prasad), there is no concept of garbage bags. The food is thrown on the street and dogs will be all over them. The temples are neat and clean. I am talking about waste management, especially during special ceremonies.

I went on a tour to Tamil Nadu 2 years back, mainly visiting all their famous temples and was pleasantly surprised to see the cleanliness, waste management, behavior of the people etc. Also the Pandits were very polite and nice unlike in the North and East(Jagannath Puri and Kamakhya Guwahati are the worst) where they are so greedy, unruly and don't even know the mantras correctly. Also the transport near temple areas is very good there, lots and lots of people but traffic parking and all was available. Not surprised to find out later that TN is the no 1 tourist destination for foreigners in India. The temples especially are really majestic and the sculptures, inscriptions are unimaginably beautiful. Probably North had grand temples but were demolished by foreign invaders whereas South was unscathed. Hope temple authorities in north learn a thing or two from this state. :hatsoff:

[Khalpat]

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/in-varanasi-how-pm-narendra-modi-is-spending-his-mp-funds-766273?pfrom=home-lateststories

Varanasi: Many members of Parliament have one thing common - a patchy record on spending the substantial Rs. 5 crore a year allotted as their constituency development fund. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to beat that trend in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi. PM Modi sent his proposals for spending in November last year and hopes they are implemented by at least next month. His wishlist is simple - hand pumps, solar pumps and lights. And he wants them equally distributed in all the five assembly segments that make up his parliamentary constituency. RelatedFor This Child, the Prime Minister's Office Helps Out. But He Needs a Little More. A Year Ago, He Stopped PM Modi's Rally. Now, a Working Relationship. PM Modi Congratulates Students From Jayapur Village for Topping Exam The PM's aides in both Varanasi and New Delhi have also been rallying public and private sector companies to do some work in the 4700-year-old city, most of it under the corporate social responsibility scheme. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited or ONGC has been roped in to beautify all the smaller water bodies or kunds in Varanasi. ONGC is also funding a water ATM scheme in the city; the machines will be installed by Eureka Forbes. Then there is a major investment by a power corporation of Rs. 572 crore to fix issues like haphazard wiring in the city. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is working to de-congest roads through a 15-kilometre ring road. They plan to make main roads 60 metres wide and work is already visible in the city. But the most ambitious plan is to run a Metro rail service through the ancient temple town, known for its narrow lanes. Many have dismissed it as impossible. But Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) is already drawing up plans for the first 25 kilometres of the underground metro. Asked how feasible this was, District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav said the planners felt that if they could do it in Delhi's congested Jama Masjid area, they could do it in Varanasi too. "We are not trying to turn Varanasi into Kyoto," said Ram Gopal Mohale, the BJP mayor of the city, adding, "But we should learn from them and implement in our historic city too." Kyoto and Varanasi signed a sister city cooperation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Japan in September last year

I wonder why never ever a single media house tried to review the work done in Amethi and Raibareli from last 25 years. Anyways all the best to people of Varanasi, when I last visited the city six years back, I told to myself that never ever would I want to settle in this flithy town.