Forty-five members, one city, three days. Kashi Calling ran from 7th to 9th October 2026, and Varanasi did not let anyone leave unchanged. The centrepiece was a full day among the looms. Members watched Banarasi weaves take shape, stood close enough to follow the rhythm of the shuttle, and began to understand how much patience sits inside a single metre of fabric. For a group that wears and buys these textiles regularly, seeing the process first-hand shifted how they think about the finished piece.
A saree stopped being only a saree. It became hours of skilled work by someone with a name and a workshop. But Varanasi is never only about cloth, and the trip made room for the rest of the city. Members attended the Mangala Aarti, with its early-morning quiet and devotion, and later took darshan at Kashi Vishwanath. The contrast with the day at the looms was striking, and it made sense of something about the city: faith, craft and commerce all share the same lanes here, and they depend on each other more than a visitor first realises.
The trip also included a visit to the Galleria, which gave members a look at the commercial side of Varanasi’s heritage and how it reaches buyers. Seen alongside the looms and the ghats, it completed the picture of a city that is recognised internationally for its cultural heritage and still makes its living from it.
Because the trip was run with FICCI and supported by UP Tourism, it also placed FLO Lucknow inside a larger conversation. Textile tourism is a growing idea in Uttar Pradesh, and members now have a first-hand reference point for it, along with connections to the artisan clusters and heritage sites that carry the state’s weaving legacy. Members came home tired, a little richer in silk, and noticeably more curious about the crafts of their own state.