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Published: July 16th 2008
Apart from the Himalayan area, most of India seems to have only two types of weather: hot and sweltering! Having spent the past several weeks at altitude, we had been somewhat sheltered from it. As our bus descended down to Amritsar and the temperature soared to sweltering, I was reminded of another aspect of India that was pleasantly rare in the highlands: staring. It was instantly noticeable. As the bus filled up for the last three hours to Amritsar, I accummulated a handful of unblinking starers, plus a few purposefully misplaced hands. It's just something I'll have to get used to again I suppose!
Amritsar is a huge city of over a million occupants. Walking through the streets to search for a hotel, we were bombarded by the usual vehicle honks: some high pitched, some mercifully lower pitched, some in a tune, and all just plain loud and obnoxious. Our usual policy is to check three hotels before deciding. The first two were filthy construction sites so we jumped on the last one when we saw it. It was basic but it had a semblance of cleanliness, and it was right on the rooftop. This backfired against us in the
middle of the night when we realized that the back-up generator was inches from our open broken window and
very loud!
That night we went out for dinner but got a little put off when we saw several cockroaches scuttling around under the table. We ate up our
thali quickly and then moved locations to a clean-looking air-conditioned restaurant for a dessert of ice cream and mango. Just after we'd ordered, a mouse ran right across the restaurant. I would take mice over cockroaches any day, so we stuck with this restaurant for the rest of our stay! We were amused a little later when two older Europeans walked in looking very tired and dishevelled. They looked at the menu and were happy to see burgers - they needed some meat apparently and had been searching all over for a restaurant that wasn't vegetarian. I didn't like to point out to them that the burgers listed were either vege, vege with cheese, or cottage cheese burgers. It was a purely vegetarian restaurant! Desperate for meat, they got up and walked out. Good luck to them - I almost guarantee they ended up with a veggie curry by the end
of the night!
All of the big city madness aside, the two main reasons for coming to Amritsar are the Golden Temple and the border closing ceremony at Attari, border to Pakistan.
The Golden Temple
The most famous icon in Amritsar is the Golden Temple, built by the Sikhs. When we visited at the early hour of 7:30am (it was too hot to stay in bed much longer!) it was already quite full of worshiping Sikhs and visiting Indian tourists. I guess it was too early for the westerners as we saw none. We had to deposit our flip flops for safe keeping and cover our heads before we could enter. I came prepared with a shawl, but Scott had to borrow a bright orange bandana - very fetching!
The temple complex is a large square white building, parts of it inlaid with intricate detail, kind of like the Taj Mahal when seen up close. In the middle there is a huge pool and in the middle of that is the Golden Temple. We walked around the whole thing and had our pictures taken with so many locals - they just seem to love the
me-with-a-westerner photo. For every one that took their photo with us, ten more wanted to shake our hand. It's hard being a celebrity! It was nice to get some positive interactions, though, rather than just stares and gropes from men!
Inside the Golden Temple there was a group of holy men singing and playing traditional instruments as everyone said prayers before getting herded along. Everyone placed their hands into the holy pool, took a scoop, and drank it. Given that it looked rather murky and green, I am guessing that there will be some rather sick people tonight! We politely smiled, declined, and moved on. On the way out, there were huge bowls containing an edible paste which everyone took a handful of. Having been sick in India way too many times, however, we declined again. Being as sick as Scott was in McLeod would be pure hell on the impending bus ride back to Delhi!
We then headed to the Sikh museum which told the grisly history of the persecution of the Sikh people through annotated paintings. Next, we left the temple and collected our flip flops before heading to the site of the massacre of hundreds of
Indians demonstrating for independence by British troops in 1919. It is now a memorial garden, parts of it still baring the gun shot marks.
The Border Closing Ceremony at Attari
We had expected the ceremony to be attended by 20 to 30 foreigners. Boy, were we mistaken. The whole thing was a huge party of mega proportions!
We shared a taxi for the one-hour trip to the border with an Australian couple. When we arrived at 4:30pm the gates were still closed and we had to wait for a while, fending off the hoardes of kids selling postcards and DVDs. Already there was quite a crowd waiting. Around 5pm, the gates opened and there was a surge as people pushed and shoved to get through first and practically ran to the check-in point. Men and women had to get into separate lines (er, not exactly lines, more like separate mosh pits) but luckily for us, foreigners automatically got to sit in the VIP area, so we were shuffled through first!
The border area had huge stadium style seats set up on each side. One area was for the foreigners and the VIPs, the next area was
for the women, and the last was for the men. Everyone piled in and the guards were going crazy, blowing their whistles and gesturing wildly for people to sit down and squeeze up to cram more in.
It was baking hot. Each side tried to out-do each other with their music. We waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing happened. Then, at about 6pm, a man wearing the colors of the Indian flag started to clap and rouse the crowd with chanting. The Pakistani side did the same. As we all chanted, "Hindustan!", they all chanted, "Pakistan!"
Then the events started. People were taken from the audience and they had to run along to the border carrying the flag, turn around, and run back. Some people got quite passionate about it, waving it defiantly at the Paskistanis when they got close to the border. Then the dancing started. To a barrage of Hindi-pop, a group of spirited Indian women formed a circle and busted out all of the Bollywood moves. When a teenage boy tried to join in, the guards clipped him around the ears and sent him running. Only women allowed I guess! The Pakistani side looked much
more subdued. No running or dancing, just chanting. I am not positive, but I believe that the koran forbids dancing. The Indian side was much more fun by the look of things!
After more shouting of "Hindustan" and "Pakistan", the official border ceremony began. The guards were ready - we had spotted them practicing their kicks during the dancing! They came out in a line and began a shouting contest. First the Indian guard would shout, and then the Pakistani guard would try to outshout them. Then, one by one, they did a fast and funny walk to the gate and kicked their legs up nearly vertical. It was like something from Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks. When they were all at the gate, the flags on both sides were lowered. They were supposed to stay diplomatically at the same level all the way down, but we couldn't help notice that the Indian flag seemed to be slightly above the Pakistani flag the whole way down! The flags were taken down, folded, and marched away for safe keeping: end of ceremony!
There was then a stampede to get to the gates. Everyone ran down from the bleechers
and to the border for a photo of the gate. It was pretty chaotic. We took a quick look and then headed back to find our taxi driver and the Australians, stopping on the way for a quick photo with one of the guards. What a night! It could only happen in India!
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patricia
non-member comment
You still boiling in india and we're freezing...
... in London. It's very nice and CLEAN and Amanda is loving it! Reading your blog it's hard to imagine that we're in the middle of the Indian madness just a couple of days ago. We do not miss the mess, heat or smell, but I do miss the food and lot's more... somehow. Just wait until you hear the details of our last day there. Thanks for sharing the experience in Amirstar. Loved the descriptive way you write... i can picture as if I was there. Happy travels Patricia