The next morning I was up bright and early to catch the 6:40am train to Amritsar. This holiest of Sikh cities has been on my must-see list for quite a while so I was happy to finally have the opportunity to go. (I haven't mentioned this yet, but I ended up changing my flights around to spend an extra 12 days in India!).
At the station I very nearly fell fowl of a scam when some "helpful" chap told me that my train had been cancelled and I should go to a nearby travel agency to get a refund and buy a ticket for the next train. I was about to go with him when something clicked inside and I told him I'd just check with a station official first. Sure enough, as I headed over to the information desk, he disappeared. I have a feeling it was his friend's travel agency and they would have no doubt made a nice commission on my ticket exchange!
The Indian Rail system is an extraordinary beast: excellent connections and pretty damn efficient too, but confusing to navigate the purchase process and overwhelming at the stations, which are absolutely heaving with people, along with the occasional cow. Finally having found the right platform, train, carriage and seat I settled down for the 8-hour journey.
By the time I arrived in Amritsar I was quite weary and ready for another quiet evening although unfortunately in a less-than-nice hotel this time. I blame it on my laptop/ internet problems but I'd been less scrupulous than usual in researching hotels and ended up in one in the outskirts, far from the atmosphere of the old city. To make things worse the staff were some of the rudest people I've met but I won't go into that here: a scathing TripAdvisor review has already been posted! (I actually would have left if I hadn't already pre-paid online... damn the "convenience" of the internet!)
Fortunately Soma and Sunaj had arranged for some friends of friends of friends to show me around and my young host Sanam picked me up the next morning, for a day of sight-seeing on the back of his motorbike. After we'd stopped so he could introduce me to his mum, grandmother, brother-in-law and brother-in-law's brother and looked through several family photo albums, we finally made it to Sri Harmandir Sahib (otherwise known as the Golden Temple!).
Sri Harmandir Sahib literally means "the abode of God" and it is the central religious place of the Sikhs. The temple itself sits in a holy pool known as the Amrit Sarovar (from which the city gets its name). True to the nature of Sikhism, everybody is welcome to find spiritual solace here, regardless of cast, creed or race (so there are no areas which are reserved for Sikhs only, as is almost always the case in the Hindu temples). It was built in the 16th century and the upper floors are covered in gold, hence its informal/ international name: The Golden Temple.
How beautiful this place was! The temple dazzled, the holy pool shimmered and all around the Sikh pilgrims prostrated themselves. I can only compare it in beauty to the Taj Mahal: certainly two of the most incredible mad-made sights I've ever seen. It was very, very crowded and very, very hot in the middle of the day, though, so I almost instantly decided to come back for sunrise the next day, where there would be a better light for photographs and hopefully fewer people!
Next we visited Jallianwala Bagh gardens: a memorial to the atrocious massacre which happened here in 1919 when the British army opened fire on civilians carrying out a peaceful demonstration. Somewhere between 300-1000 Indian citizens were killed (numbers still in dispute) with over 1000 more wounded.
It was a bit of a strange place - the concept of a memorial garden is nice, and it was quite peaceful, but they were actually growing hedges in the shape of gunmen and the people having cheery snaps taken in front of the bullet holes in the walls, or the well in which people martyred themselves to escape the gunfire, didn't seem in the best of taste!
After hanging out in Sanam's brother-in-law's shop for a bit longer and visiting the wholesale market to pick up some copper tumblers and bowls which I'd been searching for for weeks (both this time and in my last trip in 2011!), Sanam's friend Vaneet drove us out to the India-Pakistan border at Wagah. Every evening at sunset there's a rather unique choreographed ceremony where the Indian and Pakistani security forces briefly open the iron gates separating the two countries and simultaneously lower their flags, amid much goose-stepping, stomping and scowling at each other! It was a strange but interesting spectacle - almost like a pantomime. The crowds on both sides were going wild!
After another quiet evening I did indeed get up at 5:30am and head back to the Golden Temple for sunrise. It was a good decision: the light was beautiful and although it was still busy, it was much better than the previous day. I spent a long time just sitting quietly at the side of the pool, enjoying the sights as the morning unfolded around me.
Finally I got in line to enter the temple itself. It was absolutely incredible inside. Sikh priests were playing instruments, singing and reading aloud from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (the holy scripture of Sikhism) while around the edge pilgrims sat quietly listening, meditating or reading. One of the most beautiful sights was looking out of the ornate, gold-encrusted windows across the calm, clear pool to the white marble edifices opposite. I wish I could have photographed it (but cameras weren't allowed inside)!
I was wearing my Indian "Salwar Kameez" for the occasion as it seemed appropriately respectful and you also have to cover your head inside. This outfit attracted more than the usual level of attention and I was again asked for so many photographs. One young girl wouldn't stop hugging me afterwards. So sweet!
After lunch, and a couple of hours relaxing in the park, I headed to the station to catch the rain back to Delhi. The next day it was finally time to leave my beloved India behind and fly on to Nepal!
At the station I very nearly fell fowl of a scam when some "helpful" chap told me that my train had been cancelled and I should go to a nearby travel agency to get a refund and buy a ticket for the next train. I was about to go with him when something clicked inside and I told him I'd just check with a station official first. Sure enough, as I headed over to the information desk, he disappeared. I have a feeling it was his friend's travel agency and they would have no doubt made a nice commission on my ticket exchange!
The Indian Rail system is an extraordinary beast: excellent connections and pretty damn efficient too, but confusing to navigate the purchase process and overwhelming at the stations, which are absolutely heaving with people, along with the occasional cow. Finally having found the right platform, train, carriage and seat I settled down for the 8-hour journey.
By the time I arrived in Amritsar I was quite weary and ready for another quiet evening although unfortunately in a less-than-nice hotel this time. I blame it on my laptop/ internet problems but I'd been less scrupulous than usual in researching hotels and ended up in one in the outskirts, far from the atmosphere of the old city. To make things worse the staff were some of the rudest people I've met but I won't go into that here: a scathing TripAdvisor review has already been posted! (I actually would have left if I hadn't already pre-paid online... damn the "convenience" of the internet!)
Fortunately Soma and Sunaj had arranged for some friends of friends of friends to show me around and my young host Sanam picked me up the next morning, for a day of sight-seeing on the back of his motorbike. After we'd stopped so he could introduce me to his mum, grandmother, brother-in-law and brother-in-law's brother and looked through several family photo albums, we finally made it to Sri Harmandir Sahib (otherwise known as the Golden Temple!).
Sri Harmandir Sahib literally means "the abode of God" and it is the central religious place of the Sikhs. The temple itself sits in a holy pool known as the Amrit Sarovar (from which the city gets its name). True to the nature of Sikhism, everybody is welcome to find spiritual solace here, regardless of cast, creed or race (so there are no areas which are reserved for Sikhs only, as is almost always the case in the Hindu temples). It was built in the 16th century and the upper floors are covered in gold, hence its informal/ international name: The Golden Temple.
How beautiful this place was! The temple dazzled, the holy pool shimmered and all around the Sikh pilgrims prostrated themselves. I can only compare it in beauty to the Taj Mahal: certainly two of the most incredible mad-made sights I've ever seen. It was very, very crowded and very, very hot in the middle of the day, though, so I almost instantly decided to come back for sunrise the next day, where there would be a better light for photographs and hopefully fewer people!
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| The Golden Temple (at sunrise the following morning!) |
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| Jallianwala Bagh Memorial |
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| An everlasting symbol of the tyranny of the British. Awkward. |
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| Indian Border Security at the Gate to Pakistan |
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| Goose-stepping to and from the gate |
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| "Stand-off" between Indian and Pakistani security forces |
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| A pilgrim bathes in the holy waters of the Amrit Sarovar |
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| One of the buildings around the edge of the pool |
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| Sri Harmandir Sahib |
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| Pilgrims sit at the entrance to the temple itself |
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| At the Golden Temple |
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