The Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh temples
We arrived in Amritsar first because of its geographical location – this is probably the most north we will go in India on this trip. Considering I’m from Surrey, going to the province of Punjab was almost mandatory, and the temple did not disappoint. It is built with something like 150 kilograms of gold, which Alex excitedly began talking about the cost of it all with today’s gold prices. Naturally, I zoned out. The temple is beautifully constructed with many buildings around it, the main one being the very gold one pictured above. The complex is full of Sikhs paying their respects from near and far, and people drink the holy water from the pond, bathe in it, or douse themselves with droplets scooped up with their palms. We went twice – once at night with the hotel tour group, and once during the day on our own. Both times, the chanting / singing was resonant throughout the complex, as everyone echoes in whenever they can to the familiar tunes. It is quite peaceful to listen to, and also very interesting to watch people partake in their religion so devoutly.
Left: For a conservative nation, these people did not hesitate to strip down to their underwear to jump into the holy water. Interesting tidbit: there are also lots of Koi fish in the water. Right: The temple at night – just as beautiful and illuminating.
We took a tour with the hotel to get to the Wagha border, just about 30km away from Amritsar, to watch the nightly border closing ceremony between India and Pakistan. To us, borders don’t close every night (at least not the US-Canada ones, to my knowledge) and a ceremony at the border everyday is unfathomable, but this was even more over-the-top than I had imagined. Hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators flood in from all directions in the evening to watch this ceremony take place, and people get really into it with lots of cheering and chanting.
Border guards in their very elaborate costumes. These people are also very, very tall – imagine it’s part of the job description
We happened to go to the ceremony the day before the big India-Pakistan cricket match, so the spirits were very high…although perhaps it is always like this. A man walked around getting the crowd all riled up, and led many different versions of patriotic chants. The only word I could catch was “Hindustan”, but people of all ages were shouting, cheering, and booing the Pakistani chants at the right times. Prior to the ceremony starting, people were jovial and excitedly waiting for the ceremony to begin, and a big crowd of women gathered on the road where the ceremony took place, and started dancing to the loud music blaring from the speakers. It was awesome because they played Jai Ho (from Slumdog Millionaire), so I felt like I could be included in the infectious energy, too.
Left: The women dancing before the ceremony started – can you spot the many, many speakers blaring the music? Right: The Indian guards and Pakistani guards at the border gate.
Another important spot we stopped at was Jallianwalla Bagh the park where Mahatma Gandhi staged a peaceful protest in 1919, only to have the British soldiers come in and open fire mercilessly. It is a memorial site today where you can still see the well into which a lot of protesters jumped to shield themselves from the gunfire, but lost their lives in the process of doing so. When we were walking around in there, I seriously feared for Alex’s safety…but it seemed like the contrary happened. The people there were curious to see non-Indian people visiting, and we were pulled into many photos before Alex shut them down (because some of the men were standing creepily close to me and made me quite uncomfortable). When we talked to some Germans staying at our hotel, it seemed the same thing happened – the people at Jallianwalla Bagh were, of all places in Amritsar, the most welcoming of non-Indians. And so the quirkiness of India continues to intrigue us…
The sign says “People were fired at from here”
