Amritsar

Arrived in Amritsar late at night (home to the Sikh religion) ... so glad I planned ahead and booked my guesthouse ‘cause I arrived to a really nice room with TV and air cooling (yay!).

My main reason for coming here was to see the Golden Temple and the Indian and Pakistan border ceremony ... plus I love the Sikhs! Sikh's are the Indians who don't ever cut their hair and wear the turban. I think of them as the gentle giants ... well in comparison to most Indians they are huge. The majority of them are the same build as westerners and I find them more gentle and calm (plus I’ve never been harassed by a Sikh). Their religion was born as a reaction against the caste system and they live by a strict moral code. Their temples are always free to enter (for everyone) and they don’t even ask for any money to look after your shoes. Plus all of their temples have a community kitchen that serves free food to anyone no matter what race or religion - the Golden Temple feeds around 30,000 people per day.

The day I visited the Golden Temple was just a normal day and yet I couldn’t get over how many pilgrims were there. People were lining up for hours to get into the actual temple ... allergic to lining up as I am, I decided I'd rather observe from afar and listen to the four priests inside the temple who continuously chant Punjabi from the Sikh Holy Book.

I also visited the attached museum which was an eye opener. The Sikhs have really had to fight for their existence - with the Mughals, the British and most recently Indira Gandhi (you may remember two of her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her in 1984 after she ordered the military to storm the Golden Palace).

The Attari/Wagah border ceremony was an hour rickshaw ride away. It’s a daily event so I was amazed to see 5000 people (mostly Indians) gathered to see the show. We all waited patiently to be let into the seated area - men and women separated - but once the guards gave the OK it was like being on the underground… pushing and shoving with such urgency that little children were being crushed in the madness. When I scolded one women for her behaviour she just looked at me and continued pushing. Once seated we had to wait an hour until the sun went down for the actual ceremony. There was an MC who wound up the crowd (which was very amusing) although I have no idea what they were shouting. Most of the action happened at the other end of the seating so it was a little difficult to see, but the atmosphere alone was worth the trip out there.

Next I head to Dharamsala and McCleod Gange - home of the Dalai Lama.

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