This ain\u2019t no Bollywood, this ain\u2019t no disco, this ain\u2019t no foolin\u2019 around.<\/p>\n
Not that I spent much time trying, but nothing I could have done would have prepared me for this place. From the moment one steps off the train in Varanasi, to be greeted by the full frontal assault to all senses, every living second is an eternal struggle to survive. The mere act of traversing a single city block, if completed without being killed or driven insane, feels like the most monumental of accomplishments.<\/p>\n
On the street, the vehicles\u2019 horns are blaring every second of every day \u2013 and they\u2019ve apparently been modded in some way, because they\u2019re frickin’ louder<\/em> here than anywhere else. Sidewalks? Forget about it. You take your chances in the street, along with the bovines, the mountains of rubble and trash, and every kind of wheeled contraption the imagination can conjure \u2013 the latter all coming at you as fast as they\u2019re able; giving no quarter, taking no prisoners.<\/p>\n