INDIA. Uttar Pradesh. Benares (Varanasi). The last Kashi Naresh, Dr Vibhuti Narayan Singh was a learned and humble man, without any royal airs. He lived in a simple palace, the Ramnagar fort. Pictures of him with his family were taken sometime in the late 1980s, on his birthday. Revered by the people of Varanasi, the Kashi Naresh is traditionally the chief cultural patron and an essential part of all religious celebrations. Celebrations are always round the corner in Varanasi. Be it Saraswati puja or Sivatri or Ramlila or Dussehra, there is never any shortage of gods to be worshipped. In fact, rising before dawn to go for a hly dip in the Ganges is by itself a celebration of an ongoing faith.