This past weekend, the Essel Towers posse (Heba, Heather, Tim, James, and me), headed to Amritsar, which is in northern India, in the state of Punjab. Amritsar is the center of the Sikh faith, and home of several significant religious and historical sites, including the Golden Temple and the Jallianwala Bagh memorial park.Heather and I splurged and stayed at the Ranjit Svaasa hotel, which I highly recommend. It's US prices per night, but is lovely, restful and calm, all of which we were in much need of.
To get to Amritsar, we took the Shatabti Express train from Delhi Station to Amritsar. The train ride was a pretty cool experience - we got to see a fair bit of the northern Indian countryside. They fed us three times, so we literally rolled into Amritsar station. The only slightly questionable part were the speedy little cucarachas that came out when we had our meals. Luckily, none of them decided to disembark at Amritsar along with us. Coming back, we were only able to get a flight, which was also an experience. The Amritsar Airport looks as though it has been thoroughly bombed, but in fact, it's just under construction. Some highlights:
- The list of forbidden items
- The subsequent, lengthy list, of persons exempt from following those rules (Prime Minister, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, various Ministers, etc.)
- The nameless name tags, which somehow play into security proceedings? (Think paper and elastic address tags that are usually at the check-in counter, sans any information...very odd)
- Heather's bag being disemboweled, all in search of a less than 10 ounce bottle of Oil of Olay, while my 32 ounce bottle of water went undiscovered
- The bus that drove us from the terminal in a very tight (less than 30ft. in diameter) circle, in order to drop us on the tarmac in front of our airplane
- The sign for "Turkmenistan Air" side by side with "Uzbekistan Air" (Really. Heather has a picture)
Have I mentioned that I love the Golden Temple? Hands down, one of the most beautiful and welcoming places of worship that I have ever visited. I think that just the colors even appealed to me - all turquoise, white and gold, interspersed with bright flashes of color from saris and turbans. The Sikhs have a particular cobalt blue fabric that they use for some of the men's turbans. I'm not sure of the significance, but it's a beautiful color, especially when paired with bright-gold kurtas. I think my favorite moment of the trip was when we were waiting in line to go into the Golden Temple and the crowd began singing the hymns softly with the cantor inside the temple. Just gorgeous. The temple itself is very 'come one come all.' People are free to sit inside and listen to the music, view the holy book, read scripture, etc. We sat for a while, listening to the music, before heading out to receive our blessed sweet, which was similar to a dense, sweetened rice porridge. Despite the number of people and tourists, there is deep reverence here. Many people prostrated themselves as they arrived on the banks of the sacred pool, or reached down to touch the threshold before crossing into the temple. Out of respect, it is required that you go barefoot and cover your head in the temple complex. They have pools of clean water that you walk through to wash your feet, prior to entry. Very surreal - I quite frankly didn't think I'd go barefoot anywhere in India, but it all worked out ok.
After visiting the Temple and the very gory Sikh museum, we had Punjabi food for lunch. My mushroom tikka masala was fabulous! Our next objective was to attend the border-closing ceremony at the Pakistani-Indian border, known as the Wagah Border. Apparently, in an attempt to foster good relations between the two countries, a very elaborate ceremony has been devised for the opening and closing of the border each day. Because we were there on Indian Republic Day, the crowd was pretty fired up. The ceremony is like a cross between a step show, a pep rally, and a military parade. There is much goose-stepping and some of the best high-kicks I've seen outside of Radio City Music Hall. The Indian soldiers are clearly picked for their height - each of the border guards was well over 6' tall, and crowned with a high, fan-shaped red hat, to boot. Just by virtue of being female and foreign, Heather and I were christened "VIPs" and escorted to front-and-center seats at the rally. Oh, and did I mention our conveyance to get to this auspicious event? We paid Rs. 100 per person to be crammed into an SUV with 11 other people and ride for 30 minutes or so to Wagah. Very interesting.
Back in Amritsar, we had Kingfishers at a somewhat shady local bar called the "Bottoms Up" and then headed to a restaurant called The Green Zone in a brand, spanking new hotel called the Khyber Continental. Dinner was excellent, and the hotel was so nice that Heba, James and Tim decided to upgrade from their somewhat less auspicious accommodations downtown. It wasn't quite as quaint as the Ranjit Svaasa, but by all accounts very nice and clean - altogether a solid option if you're visiting Amritsar.
On Sunday, everyone had a lazy day and slept in. Heather had a massage at the Ranjit Svaasa that was, shall we say, interesting. I'll let you read her blog once she gets it posted. After everyone rallied, we headed to Jallianwala Bagh to view the memorial. It was such a nice day that everyone was lounging on the grass and enjoying the sunshine. There were little kids flying kites, which must be a regular pastime, as the trees were littered with colorful kites gone astray. More Punjabi food and I discovered fruit beer, which tastes a lot like Martinelli's, then it's jump in an autorickshaw and head back to the hotel to catch a cab to the airport. I rode in several autorickshaws this weekend. Little by little, our barriers are breaking down. The next step is bicycle rickshaws, and then maybe scooters. After seeing the myriad types of conveyances on Indian roads, the autorickshaws begin to look downright safe, if not reputable. I don't think I'd want to try it at Gurgaon speeds, but for a smaller town such as Amritsar, it was de rigeur. The glories of the Amritsar airport, I have already described above. The whole weekend was quite the experience, but so much fun and well worth it. If ever you are in India, you must visit Amritsar. Heather and I joked that James and Tim are our India traveling training wheels - both guys are very well traveled, as is Heba, and as much as it kills my feminist heart to say so, it's just damn nice to have dudes around when you're traveling in the hinterlands. By the time you all come to visit, we'll have completed the re-con and be ready to lead the charge ourselves.
That's probably more than enough from me. I'll post again soon about our Monday evening adventures at Beating Retreat. My Amritsar photos (ad nauseum) can be found here:
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| Amritsar - 1/25-1/27/ |
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