Amritsar

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December 25, 2010: Amritsar

Sam Wrote :

First, I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas.

We woke up early and after viewing the pictures I had taken of the Golden Temple last night, we went for breakfast. Thankfully, Tejas was feeling a lot better than yesterday.

The guide picked us at 9 am and first headed to the Jallianwala Bhag Monument. The Jallianwala Bhag is where a British General had ordered his troops to fire into a crowd of Punjabi men, women and children who were protesting against the British occupation of India. In the minutes that the firing lasted, approx. 1200 people had lost their lives. Some women and children had jumped into a well located on the property to avoid the bullets. Unfortunately, they all perished as well. The site is now a memorial and it is a hallowed ground. You can still see some of the bullet holes on the neighboring buildings.

After that, we went to the Golden Temple. We checked our shoes in at the gate, donned appropriate head gear and entered the temple complex. Inside, the Golden Temple lies in the middle of a lake shinning brightly. Around the lake, a rectangular wall is built with gates at the middle of each section. There is also a wide marbled walkway around the lake where worshipers get to admire the temple. We immediately joined the line of worshippers wishing to visit the temple and enjoyed the hymns being played thru the complex.

When our turn came, we entered the Golden Temple and walked around each one of the three floors. Sikh worshippers were everywhere, deep in prayer. It was a wonderful and spiritual time. On the top floor the guide had us sit on the floor and recited a short prepared speech on the construction of the temple, Sikhism and the state of Punjab. I then decided that once we were out of the Temple, I would advise him that we no longer need his services and go our on way.

As it happened, he excused himself as soon as we out of the temple complex and bid us adieu. Not too soon for my liking. We then decided we would walk the streets of Amritsar and return back to the temple before heading back to the hotel. Our taxi was scheduled to pick us up at 4:15 pm and take us back to the train station. Our return train to Delhi was scheduled to depart at 5pm.

As we were departing the Temple gate, I noticed a local gentleman deep in prayer just outside the gate looking in. When he opened his eyes, he saw me looking at him and he asked if I would like to hire his services. He said he was a cycle rickshaw driver and that he could show us the old city. I joked with him that there is no way he could ride his rickshaw with us four as his passengers. He assured me he could.

I asked him to take us to a Hindu temple not too far and he quoted me Rupees 40. As he started pedaling the rickshaw thru the tiny streets and lanes, I had the idea of hiring his services for three hours. For that he quoted Rupees 100 ($2.50). He offered us to take us shopping as well as to the Hanuman Temple. Something about him just clicked with us and off we went on a great adventure. His name was Achalal and we just felt comfortable with him.

At the second shop, it was apparent that Tejas was not feeling good and that his fever had returned. I asked the shopkeeper if there was a clinic around and he gave the rickshaw driver the address of his family doctor.

On the way to the doctor’s office, Achalal, told us that he would like to take us to a small Sikh Temple, that was very special. Apparently, he and his wife were trying to conceive a child for six years without any luck. Finally, someone suggested they visit this temple and as they say, all wishes are granted. He is now the proud father of an 18 month old boy, Satnam.

The doctor took Tejas vitals and quickly wrote out a prescription for 3 pills that would readily be available from the neighboring chemist. When I asked him his diagnoses, he claimed my son had a small viral infection in his tummy. Rupees 100 later, we were on the way to Achalal’s famous Sikh Temple which was located deep inside Old Amritsar. The lanes were barely wide enough for one rickshaw to pass, god forbid you meet another rickshaw going the other way.

The temple turned out to be very cute and quaint. The temple priest offered us Prasad and we spent some quality family time there and also recited the Hanuman Chalisa. As soon as we left there, Tejas was back to his normal self and I decided I would wait before getting his prescription filled. Of we went shopping for some Punjabi mojri’s (leather sandals with curved toes). From there we visited other shops and temple. It was a grand old time and Achalal went out of his way looking after us and especially the kids.

When I inquired if he owned the rickshaw, he said he did not. He rented it from the owner for Rupees 40 per day and somehow managed to eek out a living but was unable to save any money.

We returned to the Golden Temple but did not have enough time to go back in. We said our farewell prayers from the outside gate looking in and then said our goodbye to Achala. After which, we took an auto rickshaw back to the hotel.

There, after a quick late lunch, we found out that the train had not yet arrived from Delhi and thus the return journey would be delayed as well.

The Amritsar – Delhi train scheduled to depart at 5 did not leave the platform until after 6:30pm. We are not scheduled to be in Delhi before 1:30am. Ouch!

We finally got into the train station at Delhi at 2am where we were met by Ankit Mehra, the local Sita Tour rep. A very pleasant fellow who walked us to the waiting car. Once in the parking lot it became apparent that Delhi was experiencing one of its famous fogs. Matter of fact, the fog was so thick, we could hardly see 5 feet ahead of the vehicle. The driver, Abdul, was something. How he could drive us back to our hotel is beyond me. The streets were deserted. No wonder. It was hard to make out where the road was and where the gutter was.

When we got to the Grand Hotel, I was shocked to see 2 bus loads of people waiting to register at the front desk. That’s where Ankit proved himself. He got us ahead of everyone and checked in within minutes of us arriving at the Hotel. It turns out, the bus loads of people were coming from the airport. Their flights had been cancelled / re-scheduled due to the fog.

I was just happy to get to bed. I had also arranged an adjoining room for the kids for the duration of our stay in Delhi.



Yamini wrote:

Tejas woke up feeling a bit better this morning but still not his usual self. We had breakfast at the hotel and met our guide, Mukesh at 9am.

We first headed to Jallianwala Bagh. This is a park that symbolizes the atrocities committed by the British on the Indian soil. It is where General Reginald Dyer mercilessly gunned down hundreds of innocent men, women and children who had gathered in the park on the day of Baisakhi in 1919. Mukesh briefly explained the memorial and let us have 20 minutes to explore. I felt sick to my stomach when I saw where so many had jumped into a well to escape gun fire only to die drowning. There were gun shot markings all over the walls in the park. A really sad place to be. The kids sure did ask us a lot of questions here as it was really hard for them to understand what had happened here.

We then headed to the “Golden Temple”. This temple is the most revered shrine of the Sikhs. The name Golden Temple originated as the sactum sanctorum Akah Takht has its roof covered with pure gold plates. The Sikhs from all over the world come to visit the shrine at least once in their lifetime. The four gates in four directions are an open invitation to all to visit the shrine. The “Guru Ka Langar” offers free food to over 45,000 worshippers every day. All visitors must remove their shoes and cover their head before entering the temple premises.

We removed our shoes and handed them over to be placed in a cubby for a token, then covered our heads, washed our hands and feet and proceeded onto the premise of the Golden Temple. Wow! Another beautiful gem of India! This temple really is breathtaking. We have seen so many photos and bollywood films with this temple but being their in person truly felt incredible. There were so many people there but yet felt so peaceful. We stood in a long line up to enter the entirely gold temple which sits in the middle of a beautiful holy pond. As we entered the temple quietly, we listened to the holy prayers and did our own prayers and thanked God for a wonderful and safe trip. At the top of the temple Mukesh sat us down to give us a bit of insight into the Sikh religion and the Golden Temple. The children could not understand a thing he said as he was so quiet and hard to capture our attention. Tejas and Shivani came and whispered in my ear that they didn’t get what he was saying. I told them not to worry and we would explain later but for now just to take in the peace and beauty of the temple.

We then were lead out and walked around the pond, for some reason in the opposite direction than everyone else. Here I got a chance to feel the holy water and bless the children and ourselves. What an amazing feeling. I could have spent a lot of time just sitting there but really felt rushed by the guide. He then showed us where they served Langar (meals) and how it was prepared. This was really something. I have never seen such huge pots and the roti making on a conveyer belt was pretty neat. We were told they make 10,000 rotis in 1 hour!

We left the temple wanting really to spend more time there. The guide also made his way, thankfully. Sam connected with a bicycle rickshaw driver named, Achalal. Achalal translated means “good one”. Sam joked with him and told him his name was Bhuralal, meaning “bad one”. We all had a good laugh and enjoyed our precious time with the sites, sounds, smells, temples and shopping (oh and doctors, thanks to Tejas)in Amritsar. Thanks to Achalal for showing us a great time! I pray Achalal and his young family have a wonderful life together. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, especially with Tejas feeling a lot better now.

We then headed back to our hotel for a late lunch and then to the train station to board the train back to Delhi. I am not looking forward to the long journey back and lets hope for no more delays!

Hopefully, we will be able to visit Amritsar again.



Shivani Wrote:

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Today we get to visit the Golden Temple! After seeing it in movies like Rab De Banadi Jodi, we get to see it in person.

The Golden Temple seems smaller than in my dad’s pictures, and in movies. It is also way more beautiful in person. The Temple is very peaceful inside and outside.

Once we got to the gate to enter the Temple, we had to cover our head’s, then we would take our shoes off, then we would give them to the person at the counter, and they would give us a chip. After, we roll our pants up because we had to walk through a special bath to clean our feet. After we finished washing our feet, we walked around the lake that was outside of the Temple. The lake is called Lake Sarovar.

After we walked around the lake, our guide took us to the line up, to get inside the temple. The line up was very long, but went by quickly. Once we got inside the temple, I was amazed. The architecture in the temple was more amazing then the Taj Mahal. The architecture in the Taj Mahal was amazing, and a 10 on the wow factor, but the Golden Temple is a 100. The experience at the Golden Temple was- I can’t find the word to tell you how amazing it was.

Our guides’ portion was over, and we still had time to explore Amritsar before we left. My dad found this rickshaw driver named Achalal. Daddy told him his name was Buralal. The rickshaw driver asked us if he could take us shopping, dad said that, that was fine and we went shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got so many suits, and I finally got my… MOJRIS! I thought I was going to leave India without them. I got 4 pairs, Gold, Silver, Black, and Blue with red (which happened to go with what I was wearing).

When we got back to our hotel we grabbed a bite to eat, since it was almost time to be at the train station.

The Train Ride:

I forgot to mention something that happened on the train ride coming to Amritsar.


On our second to last stop before we got to Amritsar, my dad got out to take pictures, the trains intercom had said that the stop would only be for 2 minutes, but dad thought that it would have been 2 Indian minutes. Well, the train started moving before he had been seated, so I started freaking out and I also started bawling. Mom tried comforting me down but it wasn’t working, so she had to get up and see if he was on the train. A few minutes later she came back, but I didn’t see dad. I started crying again. I heard my dad’s voice, and there he was. He was just taking pictures at the front of the train. I was so mad at him… and scared.



Tejas Dictated:

Today is Christmas…but not back at home yet.

Today we visited the Golden Temple. It is a very special temple for the Sikhs. The temple is covered in gold. I couldn’t really understand the guide here, but my mom said she will explain the temple later but said I was really lucky to have visited this special place. The water around the temple is holy. I drank some and washed my face with this water. We also got to see where they make all the food to feed everyone. It is a huge place.

After we left the temple our guide left and we got to on a cycle rickshaw. It was much more fun than an auto rickshaw. We went through the skinny streets of Amritsar. We went to shops and even went to a doctor there. The rickshaw driver, Achalal, took us to a temple where he said if we all prayed I would feel better…..and I did!

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