In the second phase of our mini-break with Mary and Derek we visited Amritsar, the capital of the Punjab region and spiritual home of Sikhism. We spent two nights staying in the city centre, a short walk from Amritsar's main attraction, the magnificent Golden Temple, the headquarters and spiritual heart of the Sikh religion.
The Golden Temple is India's most visited attraction, with more visitors annually than the Taj Mahal, although it sits off the main foreigner tourist trail. Unlike the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple is not a historic monument, it is a living, breathing place of worship. As visitors, we saw real pilgrims and a temple in full working order.
To enter the temple complex, you must remove your shoes and cover your head. Finding a head cover is no problem - the streets leading up to the temple are lined with men selling bright orange scarves for the princely sum of 10 rupees. There is a long corridor of shoe storage cabins and we battled through the queues to hand in our shoes in exchange for a token. We made sure that we kept these tokens safe - I'm not sure that we would have ever located our shoes among the thousands of other pairs without it! To enter the temple, you must first wash your hands, then walk through a channel of water to cleanse your feet before entering the main area.
The Golden Temple is a vast complex of buildings, built around a lake (the pool of nectar) upon which sits the temple itself. The complex is made from white marble and is pristine. It is filled with the sounds of music and chanting, which we later realised was being piped out from live musicians within the temple. We wandered around the different buildings on the site, including the main temple, watching pilgrims bathing in the pool and soaking up the atmosphere. The atmosphere in the complex is special - very calm, welcoming and comfortable. The ethos of the Sikh religion is that all men are equal and welcome at the temple; we were made as welcome as foreigners as anyone else in the complex.
There is a small museum in the complex outlining the history of Sikhism which, rather unpleasantly, includes portraits of martyrs as they looked after nasty accidents. It was very gruesome. There was also a portrait of two Sikh boys who had declined to convert to Islam (several hundred years ago) who had been punished by being bricked up alive (literally building a big block of bricks around them). All rather horrid.
The highlight of our trip was our visit to the Langar, the dining hall in which food is provided for free to any visitor, Sikh or non-Sikh, who would like to eat. The logistics of this are incredible - thousands of meals are served a day through a military-style organisational structure - and it was tasty too. You take a metal plate and spoon, and sit on the floor in rows whilst rice, dal, bread and a vegetable curry are served from buckets. The food was plentiful but you had to eat quickly as the next round of hungry people were waiting to get into the hall! Afterwards, everyone files out past the washing up section, where hundreds of people are chipping in to prepare plates to be used again.
Next, we travelled to the second main attraction of Amritsar, the daily border closing ceremony at Wagha, the only open road crossing between India and Pakistan. Whilst relations between the countries is generally not great (given that they've been at war practically since independence in 1947), the ceremony is a lot of fun and a change for both countries to show off their colours and engage in a good bit of pomp and ceremony. The ceremony takes place at sunset and consists of soldiers from both countries lowering their flags and locking the gates for the night.
In itself, this sounds simple, but the soldiers are dressed in glorious costumes (and they are all very tall) and spend the best part of an hour marching around doing amazingly high kicks and shouting. It's bizarre and very entertaining. One of the soldiers has the job of shouting into a microphone for as long as possible, which seems to be a competition between the two sides. There is no need for extra noise though as there are big stands set up on either side for spectators (thousands of them!) to cheer for their country and generally enjoy themselves. There were far more people on the Indian side which was decked with flags and people dancing in the aisles to the latest Bollywood songs which were played before the ceremony began.
Phil was keen to incorporate another attraction into our border visit, an old stepwell complex a few kilometres north of the border gate. Our driver was very reluctant to go here, but we persevered, up to the point when we were clearly veering towards dangerous territory and we (Phil and I) had a (very vocal) exchange of views, before I put my foot down and made us turn round. I'm happy to go off the beaten track for a stepwell when required, but not when it involves stepping into some of the world's most unstable debated border territory!
Before leaving Amritsar, we spent a couple of hours exploring the narrow streets of the old city, trawling through bazaars, buying sweets and watching a wide array of street food being prepared. This was the real India, and a highlight of our trip for Mary and Derek.
The final thing that I loved about Amritsar was rain - the first I've experienced in India for over six months. I might change my mind once the monsoon arrives but, for the moment, I long for rain. Not long to go now...
The Golden Temple is India's most visited attraction, with more visitors annually than the Taj Mahal, although it sits off the main foreigner tourist trail. Unlike the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple is not a historic monument, it is a living, breathing place of worship. As visitors, we saw real pilgrims and a temple in full working order.
To enter the temple complex, you must remove your shoes and cover your head. Finding a head cover is no problem - the streets leading up to the temple are lined with men selling bright orange scarves for the princely sum of 10 rupees. There is a long corridor of shoe storage cabins and we battled through the queues to hand in our shoes in exchange for a token. We made sure that we kept these tokens safe - I'm not sure that we would have ever located our shoes among the thousands of other pairs without it! To enter the temple, you must first wash your hands, then walk through a channel of water to cleanse your feet before entering the main area.
There are lots of large goldfish swimming in the pool
The temple is inlaid with memorials and slabs to mark donations to the complex
The main entrance seen from the roof of the Golden Temple
Mary and Derek modelling the local head-wear
Pilgrim bathing.
The glorious temple. It is stunningly beautiful
Phil looks like a rebel fighter and I look like a pirate. I've kept my scarf, I quite liked it!
There is a small museum in the complex outlining the history of Sikhism which, rather unpleasantly, includes portraits of martyrs as they looked after nasty accidents. It was very gruesome. There was also a portrait of two Sikh boys who had declined to convert to Islam (several hundred years ago) who had been punished by being bricked up alive (literally building a big block of bricks around them). All rather horrid.
The highlight of our trip was our visit to the Langar, the dining hall in which food is provided for free to any visitor, Sikh or non-Sikh, who would like to eat. The logistics of this are incredible - thousands of meals are served a day through a military-style organisational structure - and it was tasty too. You take a metal plate and spoon, and sit on the floor in rows whilst rice, dal, bread and a vegetable curry are served from buckets. The food was plentiful but you had to eat quickly as the next round of hungry people were waiting to get into the hall! Afterwards, everyone files out past the washing up section, where hundreds of people are chipping in to prepare plates to be used again.
Lunch in the Langam
Five minutes later
The pile of dinner plates
Fed and watered, we moved next to see Jallianwala Bagh, the site of the horrific 1919 massacre of hundreds of non-violent protestors by a group of British soldiers. Jallianwala Bagh is a large walled garden, with one narrow entrance and exit, which was blocked by the soldiers as they open fired upon the crowd which included lots of women and children, leaving no chance for escape. There is a well in the gardens, and over 100 bodies were found in this after the shooting, belonging to those who had jumped down in a desperate attempt to escape. There had been unrest in Amritsar for several days before this occurred, and the British soldiers may well have been frightened by the crowd, but there is no doubt that this was not our finest hour. Walking round the Jallianwala Bagh as it is today, a peaceful and well-kept garden, was more than a little thought-provoking.
Bullet holes can be seen in the walls of the park
The word "tyranny" tends to turn up a lot on plaques about the British
Next, we travelled to the second main attraction of Amritsar, the daily border closing ceremony at Wagha, the only open road crossing between India and Pakistan. Whilst relations between the countries is generally not great (given that they've been at war practically since independence in 1947), the ceremony is a lot of fun and a change for both countries to show off their colours and engage in a good bit of pomp and ceremony. The ceremony takes place at sunset and consists of soldiers from both countries lowering their flags and locking the gates for the night.
In itself, this sounds simple, but the soldiers are dressed in glorious costumes (and they are all very tall) and spend the best part of an hour marching around doing amazingly high kicks and shouting. It's bizarre and very entertaining. One of the soldiers has the job of shouting into a microphone for as long as possible, which seems to be a competition between the two sides. There is no need for extra noise though as there are big stands set up on either side for spectators (thousands of them!) to cheer for their country and generally enjoy themselves. There were far more people on the Indian side which was decked with flags and people dancing in the aisles to the latest Bollywood songs which were played before the ceremony began.
Pakistan
An Indian soldier in costume
The gate to India. Given that he disapproved of partition, I'm not sure that Gandhi would have been keen on the idea of overlooking this border ceremony every day
Marching towards the gate. The kicks described above are performed with straights legs going up to above the head (almost 180 degrees). It's pretty impressive!
Phil was keen to incorporate another attraction into our border visit, an old stepwell complex a few kilometres north of the border gate. Our driver was very reluctant to go here, but we persevered, up to the point when we were clearly veering towards dangerous territory and we (Phil and I) had a (very vocal) exchange of views, before I put my foot down and made us turn round. I'm happy to go off the beaten track for a stepwell when required, but not when it involves stepping into some of the world's most unstable debated border territory!
Before leaving Amritsar, we spent a couple of hours exploring the narrow streets of the old city, trawling through bazaars, buying sweets and watching a wide array of street food being prepared. This was the real India, and a highlight of our trip for Mary and Derek.
The old city of Amritsar
Derek enjoying a chai
The final thing that I loved about Amritsar was rain - the first I've experienced in India for over six months. I might change my mind once the monsoon arrives but, for the moment, I long for rain. Not long to go now...
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