Onto Amritsar & The Golden Temple

After finally getting a glimpse of the Dalai Lama at the 40th Anniversary celebrations of the Tibetan Children’s Village, and sending a heap of stuff we don’t need back home, we have finally left the mountains and head to Amritsar.

Deciding that a five hour bus journey on these mountain roads was more than our backs could handle, we opted for a taxi to Pathankot and a train from there to Amritsar. We arrived a little early and spent an hour or so sitting on the platform eating fresh pakora, channa filled roti and drinking chai, whilst everyone stared at us rather intently. Tevo read his book aloud and before long we had a crowd of Sikh men shaking his hand and declaring his brilliance to all. I think he rather enjoyed himself.

When we finally found our carriage on a very long train, we found our seats were taken by a young girl and her father. Reluctant as they were to move, we finally managed to assert ourselves. We waited several days to be able to book these seats and I was not about to give them up lightly. However, it seems they either oversell the tickets for this train, or many simply do not have a seat. This means that the spaces between us and the children are seen as fair game for shoving up. Once again, we had to assert ourselves for the kids not to lose their seats. All in good humour though, and by evening we arrived in dusty dark Amritsar, the holiest Sikh city in India.

Bas, our dutch travel writing friend in Naggar recommended we try Mrs Bhandari’s Guesthouse in the old Cantonment area. And what a recommendation!

A beautiful oasis and well-maintained (well there’s a first) Art Deco guesthouse with an easy atmosphere (including an ‘honesty’ bar), swimming pool, well kept gardens, children’s playground and the most amazing accommodation. We are in ‘The Den’, formerly the children’s nursery – apparently the best room in the place. A large open plan room with two smaller rooms leading off, a bathroom with a huge cast iron bath, and tastefully furnished with period furniture and features. It’s like the British are still here! Mrs Bhandari is Parsi and married an Indian army officer back when such a marriage would have been highly frowned upon. She is 99 this year and remembers the 1919 carnage at Jallianwala Bagh, when, under governor O’Dwyer’s orders, the British opened fire on a peaceful demonstration killing 379 people and injuring 1500. We are visiting the remembrance gardens later today.

Yesterday we visited the Golden Temple, the holiest of sites for Sikhs, many of whom make pilgrimages here from all over the world. We wandered through the most gruesome galleries depicting Sikhs at battle and facing torture and martyrdom. Tevo and Roisin just loved it! We joined the community kitchen for lunch where everyone, regardless of age, creed, caste, class, whatever; eats together. They feed tens of thousands here daily, for free, with huge vats of dahl and piles of chapatti, it’s almost biblical. We then joined in the washing up, and everyone made us really welcome and seemed genuinely pleased to have us there. As do most people seem in Amritsar. Smiling Sikhs everywhere, although Tevo says his cheeks hurt from having them pinched so much.

We returned this morning at 5.30am for dawn at the temple and were rewarded with a beautifully lit temple glistening at the centre of the huge tank of a pool. We met a really friendly man who showed us around the central temple and invited us to join in the ceremony of morning prayers. We saw ‘the book’ – a very sacred text that is read from constantly, each man reading for one hour, and it takes 47 hours to read it in its entirety. People read from the book to pray for things they want and be thankful for what they may have achieved. The waiting list is rather long. To read the printed copy, you will be able to get a place in 2009, but for the original, the wait is until 2117!

We seem to have acquired our very own cycle rickshaw drivers who wait outside the compound for us and then take us to wherever we choose. They waited for four hours yesterday. No-one walks here, so we while clinging on for dear life, we whizz our way around town dodging traffic and waving at school children.

This afternoon we are off to the border with Pakistan to witness the closing ceremony.

Tomorrow we leave for Delhi and then onto Agra.