Amritsar - some Info.

Was quite occupied with my office schedule(taking rest all the time) so i thought to beat it out last weekend and do something actively. I was all alone as most of my friends were out of town last saturday. So instead of beating the bush at home i decided to go to Amritsar. It was so foggy that day so i dropped the idea of driving in the car. Next option was train, which were already running late more than 5 or 6 hours every day, lastly i freezed on the terror vehicle of Delhi- The Deluxe BUS.

The total distance of the Holy city of Amrtisar to Delhi(kashmere Gate ISBT) is 434 Kms. With 0% visibility my bus was able to reach there in 8 hours, so with 100% visibility propably it may take less time in the Grand Trunk road. The cost of my ticket in the video coach bus was Rs. 290, there was a fellow sardar who bought a ticket of Rs.390 and was travelling with me in the same bus, he had been duped by his travel agent. . Later, i came to know that the actual travel fare is 200 only. So we couldnt blame each other for losing out.... Yeh hai Delhi meri jaan!!. Important lesson "NEVER GO AND BUY A TICKET FROM AN MIDDLE AGENT, INSTEAD GO TO THE COUNTER OF THE TRAVELS(public/private) OFFICE DIRECTLY".

GOLDEN TEMPLE

Amritsar got its fame from this Golden temple actually known as HariMandir. It is the temple which holds the holy book of Sikhs - The Granth Sahib and the samadhi of Guru Nanak. Dont expect to speak history more as i'm weak in that front from childhood, please see the link for it. But the present is more important to me. This temple is one word to put as "Marvellous". There is no discrimination here among people for eg a fellow sardar from who took your shoes and cleaned it before keeping in the rack might be a millionaire.

The temple is a small Dome constructed with Sikh architecture located amidst a pool of water. Nearly 75%-80% of the temple is covered with Gold plates both in the interior and exterior. The ground floor has the samadhi of Guru Nanak and the next floor has a really big book of the Holy Granth.

I really felt at home as i leisurely bathed, ate and took rest in the Gurudwara premises, since i was all alone and the duration of my stay there was restricted to one day i didnt go for any dormitary. I went into the dome by 9:00 AM in the morning and came out by 10:00 AM, not that much crowd as such. I got immense pleasure listening to the sufi songs played in the temple though i dont know Punjabi.

JallianWallah bagh

It is a narrow lane just adjacent to the Golden temple which leads to an enclosed park that was the site of a horrific massacre on 13th April, 1919. On that day, about 10,000 Indians had gathered to peacefully protest a law that allowed the British to imprison Indians without trial. British Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his 150 soldiers of the British Indian Army to block the only exit and open fire upon the men, women and children without warning, killing 400 and wounding 1500 others. There is also a well in the park where people tried to escape by jumping into to. There were about 120 bodies recovered from that well later. A stupi has been raised in remembrance of those who had sacrificied their life.

Durgiana Temple

This is a Hindu temple built similar to that of the Golden temple amidst a pool. Actually this temple is dedicated to Lord Narayan and his beloved Laxmi. but which really caught my attraction was that of a Lord Shiva in mediating posture, resembling Buddha. This temple is about 2.5 Km from the golden temple on the way to the railway station. I went exploring Amritsar by walk but checked with the rickshawman for the cost from going to the Durgiana temple to Golden temple, which was about Rs. 15.

Wagah Border

Thirty km from Amritsar is Wagah which is the border between India and Pakistan, where you can view the ceremonial changing of the guard at dusk. Be in your seat just half an hour before sunset. Make sure you have a grandstand view of the high-stepping guards as they go through the immaculately contrived nightly parade of closing the border and ceremonial lowering of the flags. It was happy to see some kinda of patriotism which is deeply lacking in the southern side from the heart except during cricket.
mainly i had been there to get glance of those pakistani chics in the galleries, got a good view of them too :)

Eating in temples, dhabas, sleeping in railway platforms and parks, interacting with various kinda people in your butler language, In short It was really a worthy visit going such places in this diversified land. You feel like a nomad without any restrictions.

Trying going alone to some places, it really gives you lotsa confidence(dont try to do that in Tamilnadu, better get an anticipatory bail before doing that).....