Mahanth S. Joishy is editor of usindiamonitor

Varanasi aka Kashi is considered by many among the Hindu pantheon as the holiest of the holy cities in India. That’s saying a lot for a country with thousands of cities that are thousands of years old. As a 10 year old I remember dunking my head in the highly polluted Ganges River in Varanasi with tens of thousands of other pilgrims, attempting to dodge the half-charred dead bodies being released upon completion of funeral cremation rituals on the banks. The corpses terrified me. This dip is a rite of passage that has taken place for countless thousands of years and may continue for thousands more. That’s Varanasi in a nutshell: old, frightening, bizarre, holy, mysterious, dirty, crowded, and spiritual all at the same time.

The cheerful and highly watchable Sunny Side of the Best Ever Food Review Show recently covered the chaos that is Varanasi, along with a sampling of the delicious vegetarian food to be found in this holy town. Despite no meat, the variety and depth of flavors to be discovered in Varanasi are legendary, and worthy as a destination for people from around the world looking for a tasty morsel or two. As with many of this channel’s videos in India and beyond, Sunny and team expertly show viewers the essence of a place from an American point of view, using an excellent sense of humor and simultaneously, respect for the culture all at the same time. Sunny- we hope you’ve fully recovered well from that little incident at the end!

Check out the video here. And have a fabulous Juneteenth!