Word: varanasi
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...people and injuring hundreds more. The same loose grouping of Islamic radicals are also suspected of being behind a series of attacks in India in the last year that included three blasts in New Delhi last October that killed 60 and three more in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi in March this year, which killed 20, as well as smaller attacks in Bangalore and Hyderabad...
...Tuesday night, two crude devices-unidentified explosives packed into pressure cookers and fitted with a timer-exploded within minutes of each other at a temple and a train station in Varanasi, the greatest of all Hindu pilgrimage centers on the Ganges in northern India. Police say 21 people were killed and more than 60 injured. Fearing a violent Hindu backlash, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm and put security forces on high alert across the country...
...Hindus in a burning railway carriage-at the time thought to have been set alight by a mob of Muslims, but now ruled an accident-sparked an anti-Islamic pogrom across the western state of Gujarat in which 2,000 more Muslims died. And yet, 24 hours after the Varanasi bombings: no Hindu riots, no Hindu nationalist stoking the crowds, no knee-jerk accusations from the security services...
...VARANASI With a 2,000-year history as a pilgrimage destination, Varanasi doesn't lack for places to stay. But the stylish Hotel Ganges View, located at Assi Ghat, is in a class of its own. Only recently converted from a private residence, the 100-year-old guest house retains a convivial charm. Each of the 13 rooms is individually decorated with antique furniture. The roof terrace is ideal for watching the sun rising and setting over the river. Doubles start at $16. Call (91-542) 313-218 for reservations and ask for room nine, complete with frescoed ceiling...
...SHOP WITH A VIEW Amid a congested web of alleyways and devotional shops that make up the old city stands the 226-year-old Vishwanath Temple, commonly known as the Golden Temple for its gilded domes. Because it's Varanasi's holiest shrine, it's not welcoming to non-Hindus, who are considered impure. Armed guards at the periphery bark questions, demanding to know where you're from, and why you want to enter. The body pats, as much an antiterrorism measure as a search for concealed cameras (photographing the temple is a sacrilege), are disconcertingly thorough...