A day full of contrasts

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What a full on day of contrast yesterday was.



There are many monuments and statues around Amritsar, to various important people but also just because, like the ones depicting dancers we saw on the way to the Golden Temple, the primary site for Sikhism. Apart from being a stunning complex with pristine, hurt-your-eyes white marble buildings and paving surrounding the rich golden temple which sits in the middle of a lake, the whole atmosphere is quite special. People calmly go about their devotions, praying, purifying themselves in the water amongst the large crowd. No one is bothered by anyone else or by tourists taking photos. It is a very peaceful and tolerant environment.



The kitchens provide thousands of free meals 24 hours a day and there are permanent and volunteer staff. We get a tour through and it is a slick operation with many people, all happy and chatting cooking, chopping, rolling chapattis snd washing dishes. We get to try our hand at rolling chapattis - mine turn out as round as my pizza bases, maybe they redid them after I left!



We could have gone into the Golden Temple itself but it didn't feel like the right thing to do. It is obviously a special place to the Sikhs and it felt tacky to just go and stare.



After leaving the serenity of the temple, we went to the gardens where the 'famous' massacre took place in 1919. A crowd of locals had gathered on private land to protest a law that meant Indians could be held on sedition charges with no trial. It was an open area surrounded by houses with several narrow lanes leading to it. The local paranoid British colonel Dyer sent in troops and opened fire. Hundreds were killed, some drowning in a deep well. The only reason more weren't killed was that armoured vehicles couldn't get down the alleys. Even at the time the British government acknowledged it was a travesty and only after some time was Dyer 'censured' and retired. Twenty years later, the governor at the time of the massacre was shot and killed in London by a Sikh who had been there on the day. He was tried and hung. I wonder how Indian people today feel when they visit this memorial. It is hard to understand how arrogant and ignorant the British administrators were.



Next contrast, a spot of shopping in a fantastic place with every handcraft imaginable. I am surprised we left st all, let along with as little as we bought. The work was sbodlutely beautiful. Shawls, bedspreads, quoting, embroidery, brackets, carpets ... but no teatowels.



Then, up to the border with Pakistan for the flag lowering ceremony. Thousands of Indians flocked to the arena around the double set of iron gates between India and Pakistan. The crowd on the Pakistan side seemed smaller. There was lots of noise, flag waving and a Freddy Mercury look alike getting the crowd wound up before the real thing started. The ceremony itself looks quite comical at face value, lots of silly walks and hats and posturing (check it out on youtube). However it was actually quite frightening. The actions were very aggressive - quite like a haka - and the crowd were really wound up. Loud calls of 'Hindustan' and 'Pakistan' from each side. I really don't know what the outcome would have been if they had opened the border gates and let each side at each other. It gave us a feeling of how crowds can be swayed by a good puppet master. And such a contrast to the very peaceful feeling at the temple earlier in the day.



The final delight, at 9pm, well past my bedtime, was a return walk to the Temple. It was beautifully lit up and almost as many people there as during the day. Our guide took me into one of the rooms where the reading of the Sikh holy book takes place, they have someone reading it out loud continually. It was a large book with beautiful writing (albeit a copy of the real thing) and the reader was totally focussed. Again I declined to take photos.



The ceremony was the removal of the original holy book from the Golden Temple to it's bedroom where it rests from 10pm until being returned at about 4am. It is carried on a gold palanquin. I was positioned right at the spot where they prepare the palanquin - it was like a little bed and they change all the linen, spray and polish everything and then cover it with strings of marigolds. All very matter of fact but with some chanting and praying going on.



So, if you have got this far, you will be almost as worn out as I was! But it was a fantastic day with some real roller coaster emotions - tranquility, sorrow, hilarity, fear and some wonder in there as well.

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Comments

[Rusti]

Day of contrasts
Wonderful Gaynor - it seems too much to take in, let alone in one day! There is so much to see, but it is the experience that will remain with you. Love Rusti xx

[Tingting Huang]

Very informative blog
Thank you