midnight
Equally suddenly the whole top surface of the stone table became bathed in light of a different quality -- light like daylight , that perhaps came upward from the stone , but if so came only a little way . To me it looked much more as if it began suddenly in mid-air and descended toward the surface of the stone . And there all at once , as clearly as if we saw it on the focusing screen of a gigantic camera , lay Benares spread before us , with all its color , its sacred cattle in the streets , its crowds bathing in the Ganges , temples , domes , trees , movement -- almost the smell of Benares was there , for the suggestion was all-inclusive . `` But why is it daylight in Benares while it 's somewhere near midnight here ? '' King demanded . That instant the sunshine in Benares ceased and the moon and stars came out . The glow of lamps shone forth from the temple courtyards , and down by the river ghats were the lurid crimson flame and smoke where they cremated dead Hindus .