We had an early start this morning as we had a 9 o’clock flight to Amritsar which is in the Punjab, about 35 kilometres from the Pakistan border. Many tourists go out to the border to watch a choreographed ‘changing of the guard’ ceremony. Given the short time we have here, we decided our time was better spent in the Holy City. Our first introduction to Amritsar was that we had 2 drivers waiting for us at the airport. We I’d emailed the hotel to organise a pick-up, I received no response from them, so I booked a driver through the rental company I am using. Luckily, all ended well because they work for the same company anyway!
Once we settled in at the hotel, it was time to explore. Amritsar is most famous for two historical events, the first being a massacre of Indians by the British Army in 1919, featured in the 1982 movie Gandhi and the second being a Sikh uprising in 1984 based in the Golden Temple, which ultimately led to Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Once we sorted out the drivers, he took us somewhere near the Golden Temple and gave us some directions. We walked around some crowded streets and decided that the directions didn’t make any sense and caught a rickshaw to the temple. This was a great way to establish our bearings.
The temple attracts around 200,000 visitors daily. There is always a background of spiritual music and you can always get food at the temple, although not prepared to meet western hygiene standards. The temple was amazing and there was some good advice on some of the signage around the holy pool.
We found people to be extremely friendly and accomodating. There were many requests to have the abnormally tall guy to stand in a photo with the smaller statured indian family. We met this gentleman (below), who didn’t speak a lot of english, out with his grandchildren. He was curious about where we’d come from and how long we were staying and seemed keen to practice his english with us.
From the temple it is a short walk (when you know where you’re going) to Jallianwalah Bagh, the scene of the British massacre. There is now a tasteful memorial and some nice gardens and it presents more opportunities for locals to get photos with the tall guy.
Then it was time to change religions, so we visited two of the more important Hindu temples in Amritsar. The first was a bit like a children’s adventure park with lots of crawling through tunnels and low doorways required as you are taken through some spiritual journey before meeting the yogi and getting a red dot and a garland. Generally in the Hindu temples, photography is not allowed inside. The second temple we visited is similar to the Golden Temple but much smaller, but still quite spectacular.
To round out the day, we went back to the Golden Temple at night, as we’d heard it was very spectacular under lights. They weren’t wrong … Firstly, there was me being a Sikh…
Then there was Deb looking very Indian (except for the red hair) in one of her new outfits… Dress and pantaloons… This is the traditional Punjabi attire.
But the Temple itself was absolutely magnificent in the night. With the Sikh music and the constant bustle making it a truly unique experience.
So although a very quick visit, we both thoroughly enjoyed our day in Amritsar. For me it is a place I’ve long known about, and it’s troubled history makes it all the more fascinating. It was also a good break from the hustle and bustle of Delhi which is now so highly developed. Coming to a place like Amritsar takes you back to ‘old’ India and a different India to the one I have known on my previous work visits.
Anyway, we fly to Varanasi tomorrow.
Until tomorrow!
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