Dec 1-5 - Gaya & Rajgir, Bihar and Banaras & Prayagraj, UP

How it started

Around early Sep, Bharath, RV Subramanian (RV) & I were discussing about going to Banaras, essentially at the time to go see the grandeur of Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor at Banaras and get back. We decided to throw in Gaya & Prayagraj whilst we'd be in the area. We planned to do this trip early Dec given our schedule, unfortunately RV couldn't join due to constraints. So it was just Bharath & I from Bengaluru. 'Dec VGP Trip' WhatsApp came into being mid Sep, Col Krishna was added too who is currently posted in Gaya. No marks for guessing what VGP stands for, 'Varanasi, Gaya and Prayagraj! The only thing we did ahead of time was booking flights to Gaya and return from Banaras to Bengaluru, the rest of the logistics and planning was left for Col Krishna's Midas touch. I requested Col Krishna to join us for the temple trip across these cities, he was tentative and his trip was subject to his sanction of leave which we won't know until end of Nov.

Gaya, Bihar   

We flew from Bengaluru to Kolkata first thing on Thu, Dec 1, took a connecting flight to Gaya and landed on schedule Thu afternoon. Col Krishna picked us up at the airport and we were in Officers Training Academy, Gaya (OTA) in less than 10 minutes. As soon as we entered OTA, I started feeling nostalgic having lived across different army cantonments as a kid. Col Krishna drove past prominent areas within OTA like Drill Sq. Gol market and Officer's family accommodation, OTA mess, kind of like a car tour of the area and eventually we got to the NCC mess where we were to spend 2 nights. It was great to see Mrs. Sunitha Krishna & Sukritha (Col's daughter) after many years. We had a lot of catching-up to do, time just flew by. Col Krishna (Mr. Organizer) suggested we cover Mahabodhi Temple, Great Buddha Statue, Vishnupad Temple in Gaya Nalanda Ruins, Hiuen Tsang Memorial, Black Buddha, Manjhi Parvat & Vishwa Shanti Stupa in Rajgir. We covered Mahabodhi Temple & Great Buddha Statue Thu evening with Col and family and returned to the NCC mess for fauji style dinner. Friday morning first thing after breakfast Bharath & I went to Rajgir to cover the suggested places. Col has solid contacts in the area, we had local guides everywhere to walk us through these places. Fri evening we went to Vishnupad Temple and had special darshan and roamed around in OTA. I'd urge you take time to read through the links to get to know more about these places and rich history and heritage of our great country.

Mahabodhi Temple

Mahabodhi Temple

Bodhi Tree

Buddha 

Great Buddha Statue

Hanuman Mandir in OTA, Gaya

Morning walk in OTA Gaya

Nalanda Ruins

Nalanda Ruins

Nalanda Ruins

Hiuen Tsang Memorial

Hiuen Tsang

Black Buddha

Cable car to Vishwa Shanti Stupa

Vishwa Shanti Stupa, Rajgir

Manjhi Parvat

Banaras, UP

Col Krishna managed to not only take leave, also decided to drive us with his family to Banaras. We had breakfast on Saturday morning and headed to Banaras with a pit stop at Sarasaram, Bihar to meet with his colleague who was hosting an NCC camp for students. We had a good time at the camp seeing the Josh demonstrated by NCC cadets. We reached Banaras in the evening after a Lunch break with Bihari cuisine in one of the restaurants on the highway leading to Banaras. We had accommodation booked at NCC mess in Banaras Hindu University for Saturday and Sunday night. Col Krishna had arranged VIP darshan for us at Kashi Vishwanath Mandir and Kaal Bhairav Mandir that night. We were very fortunate to witness Aarti & Alankar at Kashi Vishwanth Mandir for ~45 minutes. We can't thank Col Krishna enough just for this. After a quick day trip to Prayagraj (read below), Sunday evening we witnessed Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat sat on a boat. We also did a boat ride to cover all the Ghats in Banaras. Must be said, Mr. Modi has really transformed the area, it's a lot cleaner and organized. Kashi Vishwanath Dham project was conceptualized as a project by PM Modi/PMO to create an easily accessible pathway to connect Baba Vishwanath Temple to the banks of the River Ganga. You can't get over the grandeur especially if you have visited the temple before Kashi Viswanath Temple corridor project was started by PMO. We had a light dinner on Sunday to make place for Pehalwan Lassi - 2 big Kulhads of absolute bliss. On Monday morning, Col Krishna & family drove back to Gaya, we had breakfast together - the usual drill in Banaras - Aloo, Puri & Jalebi. We had our flight back to Bengaluru in the afternoon. We visited Shri Vishwanath Mandir aka Birla mandir in BHU campus and Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir on Monday morning.

Baba Vishwanath Temple complex

Kashi Vishwanath Mandir

Kaal Bhairav Mandir

Manikarnika ghat - Doorway to heaven

Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor

Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor

Ganga Aarti

Pehalwan Lassi

Pehalwan Lassi

Pehalwan Lassi - Slurp 

Bharath - Col Krishna - me

Aloo subzi, puri aur jalebi

Birla Mandir, BHU

Prayagraj, UP 

Sunday, first thing in the morning, we drove to Prayagraj to cover Triveni Sangam and take a dip in the holy rivers confluence, we also visited Shankar Viman Mandapam & Hanuman Temple all close by in the area. We had lunch and headed back to Banaras for our evening plan.

Prayagraj

Prayagraj

Boat ride 

Triveni Sangam

Lete Hanuman Mandir

This trip won't have been possible without Col Krishna's immaculate planning and excellent hospitality during our visit. We had a whale of a time together and our heartfelt gratitude, Col Krishna (जाट राम) जाट बलवान, जय भगवान। :)

If you haven't been to these holy cities yet, please plan a trip. This is the bare minimum you should cover and the same would take you 4-5 nights. I'm itching to visit again, hopefully soon. Hit me up if you have questions. 

हर हर महादेव। हर हर गंगे।