Rowboats push off from the sandbanks at first light toward the Triveni Sangam, where the brown Ganges and the greener Yamuna meet. North of the railway line sits a different city, the wide gridded avenues of Civil Lines, where the stone towers of All Saints Cathedral rise above traffic and coffee shops.
Between the two, the old lanes of Loknath fry kachori from early morning, and students from the University of Allahabad crowd the bookshops of Katra. Summers are fiercely hot, the monsoon swells both rivers, and winter mornings arrive wrapped in fog. A Local Friend knows when to reach the river early, before the boats fill, and when to linger over dahi jalebi while the old city wakes.
