Amritsar: city of Sikhs

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Amritsar is dirty, noisy and smelly. We liked it so much we decided to stay 5 days.

Let me explain: the key attraction is the golden temple, the holiest place in India for Sikhs. We went on day 1, in the midday sun, and in all honesty I was ever so slightly frazzled by heat and underwhelmed. It's a temple, it's golden. Um.

But we went twice more, early morning and late at night, and were entirely won over by the friendliness of the Sikhs, their eagerness to explain their faith and rituals, and their friendly, curious interest.

We sat chatting for a time with three Sikh men, in their early 20s. The one who spoke the least English had the most earnest desire to speak to us, to ask us something. We braced ourselves for all manner of questions but would probably never have predicted the topic that lit up his eyes:

What did we think of Bobby Sands? What was the situation in Northern Ireland now?

Chatting about an IRA hunger striker in the Sikh capital of India comes quite high on the random scale. We answered as best we could.

Of course, the Sikhs had their own separatist struggle, which culminated in a bodged storming of the temple and ultimately the assassination of Indira Gandhi, back in 1984.

Still, it took us by surprise, one of many... Not least a trip to the India Pakistan border, where every sunset the gates are closed with a very special ceremony. Imagine the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. Now imagine it with the world's campest MC, plus Bollywood disco dancing and some very earnest goose stepping.

We took pictures, but couldn't quite capture the mix of patriotic fervour and high camp of the ceremony.

Meanwhile our own picture requests carry on apace. Amritsar isn't on the traveller circuit, so we are stopped approximately every 5 metres by people asking for '1 photo' of us and our exotic pale skin. When we sat in the temple gardens an entire family of 12 silently materialised around us to take a picture, as though we were part of the attractions laid on by the temple.

I'm starting to know what the Taj Mahal feels like.

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Comments

[Michele Cossa]

Hello 2
Just got back from France and caught up with your last 2 entries. Great stuff! I got organised and registered. I am not on facebook anymore so cannot see your photos. What a shame! Will have to use my imagination but it should not be too difficult because your descriptions are so vivid. I can even see the smile on your face... I hope that by the end of your travels you will have the courage to put on one of these local dresses. I think it's wonderful that for once tourists are at the other end of cameras. Dear Marianne, ENJOY and thanks again for sharing these amazing times with us.