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
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