Family Drive to Tranquil Amritsar from amazing Dehradun!!!!

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Waheguruji da Khalsa Waheguruji di Fateh!!!!!!!!!!



Well my very first Blog this one and I reckon its best to start with the visit to the Great Golden Temple.................wishing for the blessings of the Great Gurus to get me a good start!!!!



As usual it was one of those days of my holidays (Remember....I am a Merchant Navy Officer, nothing much to do in Holidays than Holidaying!!), when I had nothing to do and suddenly this long pending wish of visiting Amritsar with my wife and family popped up in my mind!!!!

Off I went to my Mom and reminded her of her long due wish of visiting our Holy Gurudwaras in Punjab. Naturally she was excited and now it was time to remind same to my brother.......After some persuasion over our Morning Bed tea, prepared with extra efforts to perfection (To assist in the persuasion process to materialise the family trip) he take to the conclusion, off course after much persuasion on his behalf to get the YES from my Bhabhi.........who thought that might as well take the trip as such it was a weekend and children had school off.

So finally all set........and agreed, we decided to get ready and hit the road as soon as possible!!!! Well that's how it is with me.I don't' much believe in pre planning and luckily all in family subscribe to it, well dependant again on their convenience!!!!!

My wife , as usual always ready to hit the road packed,along with Bhabhi and Mom, all the clothes and her usual BIG Black Snack bag that could easily keep a backpacker well fed for good one month!!!! When intimidated she would just put the onus on me ""Jab Gaddi chaloege tab bolna mat chips kahan hain.....snacks kahan hain (While driving you are the one who always want tid bids to eat!!!!)....anyway....the snacks are always welcome while driving, I think they go well with driving!!!!! On the other side my elder brother the more responsible and serious type, checked on the car and oil top-ups and, including Hawa panni and confirmed all was in order to hit the roads.





Next day,an early morning wake up call from my Mom (She is our alarm whenever we have to wake up unusually early any given day) and we soon were all set to hit the road.Well, of course we had the usual Ardas (Pray) session by my Mom with participation of the whole house (My Brother,Bhabhi,and 2 sweet children)....off we started our pilgrimage on our XUV 500 under teh shadowas of the twilight stars an auspicious start I reckon!!



As usual as soon we hit the clear highway I pressed the gas a bit and there came my Mom's instructions "Beta, SLOW".Well I assume myself to be a slow river anyway, as I enjoy a smooth ride soaking in the environ, rather than driving rash and fast and missing the beauty of the highways!But then that's how Moms are........my brother on my sides murmuring Instructions very gently on how to take the turn,when to slow down, when to overtake,when to give a horn or speed up, all the time ensuring that I didn't feel intimidated by his instructions. Anyways I enjoyed it as it was one way of him showing his care for me and his family!!!!!



After some distance we started having the urge of Good Hot Tea, and viola, mom came to rescue.She took out her Big tea thermos from the back and started pouring hot tea in tea cups for al of us! That show moms are they know their children well to anticipate the next move!



After a few hours drive and a stopover at Ponta Sahib Gurudwara we stopped at out favourite tea stop at the junction of Nahan/Chandigarh highway! Its a beautiful spot perched high up in the hills with a couple of tea shops and eateries and blessed with a beautiful weather generally. We stopped and ordered our favourite Pakodas and Hot Indian Chai and as in the mean time took the opportunity to empty our bladders, in the Toilet at the back of this tea shop(with PCO written on the door!!!!



After the refreshments we started off again meandering through the lovely drive through hills,villages and a bit of forest and reached Chandigarh!

""Chandigarh aa gaya check your seat belts, keep an eye on the traffic lights"" -my brother.Actually for we guys in Dehradun traffic lights still are catching on!!!!

Soon we were on the highway and zipping across, passing cars and trucks/buses and in no time we were in Jalandhar, passing fields with crops gave way to huge malls and buildings.

We agreed on having our dinner at one of the road side dhabas....Asli Punjabi Dhaba.....with char-payees on the courtyard and loads of trucks parked.What beautiful ambience, driving across Highways I was come to simple formula that- The amount of Trucks parked outside the Dhaba is directly proportional to the quality of food served in it........and again the formula proved its point...

We ordered our fav chai and for food a wide platter of Makhani dall,Tadka Daal,Mushroom-Aloo,Gobi-Aloo,Sarsoon ka Sag along with Tandoori Rotis! Looks like a big spread but then we were one hungry family with cravings for authentic punjabi dhaba food which we quite miss in Dehradun.....so "Jo aata haai aan do".........



After this scrumptious meal.....I was in no mood to drive and handed over reigns of the car to my brother....who was in Formula One mood sraight on quite eager to reach Amritsar from the go!

How Hypocritical elder brothers are.....he is the same guy who was always instructing me to drive easy on highways....and now...himself!!!!!!

As exported we reached Amritsar in a couple of hours.We decided to head straight to the Sarovar/bathed and changed into fresh clothes and bowed at the Temple......and sat around the Sarovar....watching the Golden temple glowing in the lights and crowned with a bright moonlit night!What peace......you get sitting by the sarovar watching the temple...specially late in the night when the day crowd has dispersed and the quiet of the night casts a charming spell at the place!!!!!!!!!You really have to experience it to feel it! Later we checked in the hotel and rested for the night!

After a good night sleep we woke up to the Voice of Gurbani emanating from Gurudwara.Mom had already woken bathed and visited the Gurudwara early morning!

Dressed up we came out and after paying our respects at the temple and proceeded to our fav. breakfast joint in Amritsar, Manjeet ke Kulche Chole, what a treat it was.........Grilled kulche dripping with butter along with ghee drenced chole....heaven!!!!!

After our big cholesterol heavy breakfast we settled to a cool lassi at the famous lassi stall....sweet lassi with full servings of desi malai......wow!!!!

Usual shopping followed with the ladies meandering in-out of the clothes shops for Punjabi suits/Juttis/Salwar Kameez/Papad wadiyaan and haggling with the ever-smiling shop keepers....these guys are geniuses...putting up a smiling face for all the customers....Children and we males had a tough time keeping pace with the Shopping ladies and after 3-4 hours of procession we finally gae up and entered the Jaliyaan wala bagh........





Tragic it is and every time you go there it reminds you of the brutalities the British raj brought to our countries...........with Jaliyaan wala being one of the cruellest of all.....hundreds of people,including old folks,ladies and small children shot at cold bloodedly by an army of armed men....all because they decided to attend a meeting in a field!!!!!! Cruel......yet a piece of history that should be known and told to our younger generation.....for them to make informed decisions.





It was already 2 Pm and time to head to Wagah Border for the evening Flag Lowering ceremony..................ohhh what a site it is......to see the whole process of lowering the flag in flamboyant style by both sides (India and Pakistan) displaying their skills and hatred towards each other....with each side trying to show off their best to the ENEMY on the other side......its a bright and adrenaline rush infusing show quite popular with the younger generation.....but, I would admit that it seems a bit over the top and more commercialised of sorts now to me......all in all a good show ending with usual photo or two with the Smartly dressed CRPF Jawans in full pleasantries.



By the time the day the day ended we were totally tired. We decided to have Langar and soon we were off to sleep in our cosy beds at the hotel room!

Morning was early with Mom waking us up.....and everyone freshened up,packed off the bags and after our prayers at Gurudrawa headed straight to the car and started our journey back to Dehradun.



All tired still but yet relaxed and satisfied we were driving back......with less enthusiasm than the journey in, yet with calm mind and new hopes of better lives ahead!



Please find some photographs related to the journey which you can relate with the text.



Hope you enjoyed this small sojourn of our's and would appreciate you comments on further improvements!

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