Le Monde - A Poetic Travail » Amritsar

5 Things to do on tight budget in Amritsar

Nisha — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:57:44 +0000

If you are on a whirlwind day tour of Amritsar, like we were, then the following question would have cropped up in your gray cells more than once.

What am I going to do in Amritsar?

Well, here is a gist of what we did.
We’d chalked out our plan with the help of the rickshaw fellow and the receptionist at the hotel.

1) Have stuffed kulchas, paranthas or Lachedar parantha for breakfast at the any one of the many dhabas around the bus stand. Or you can savour on Sarson ka Saag & Makki ki Roti or Rajma Chawal. I can tell you that we had the some of the best stuffed kulchas and paranthas in our lives. Served with curd & pickles , mmmmmm finger licking stuff.

2) Next step invariably is to reach the Golden Temple. You can take a shared 6-seater to the place. It costs Rs. 5 per person. Immediately on entering, you have to remove your footwear and deposit at the huge footwear depository. While here, let me tell you, none of the people working here are full time workers or get paid for what they do. It is aam Janta doing kar seva. After washing our feet we enter the main complex. As you take the stairs down, I bet, you will be over awed by the spectacle in front of you. The beautiful Golden Temple. Rest is for you to discover.
3) Jalianwala bagh is definitely the next. Entry is free. This is the place where over thousand innocent Indians including women and children were shot mercilessly by General Dyer and his troop (unfortunately comprised of fellow Indians!). I will be surprised if your gut does not rend or your brain does not go numb. This was one act which was the beginning of the end of British Raj in India.
4) Next is our favorite, Wagah Border. All of us know that when Indian and Pakistan play a cricket match or any other matches it is no less than a war. When you visit the Indian-Pakistan border for the flag down ceremony at the end of the day there are thousands of Indians on Indian side shouting Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistan Murdabad and similar emotions echo from across the border. For a minute we feel, are we in the midst of another war?
Please ensure that you reach before 3:00 pm as seats get filled up fast and be prepared to sweat it out for 2-3 hours. Winter is definitely preferred. But nights could be pretty cold.
5) Shopping … How can a trip to any location be complete without Shopping ! There are several markets where you can shop for anything and everything. Hall Bazaar at Chowk Fawwara for clothes and handicrafts. Karhas, Khanjars etc. right out side the temple. Guru bazaar for Jewellery and Carved items.

There are many other things to do in Amritsar if you are on a longer holiday.
Have Fun!

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To Wagah Border

Cuckoo — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:06:22 +0000

Contd from Golden Temple.. ..

[We saw all kinds of people at the temple, all with a different hope and faith. Our next stop was Wagah border.]

As I have mentioned earlier, the city of Amritsar is very small. The distances are very less; in my language walkable. You hardly see a taxi there. Shared autorickshaws are available for Rs 5/- only for a distance of upto 2 Kms. From the Golden temple, we took an autorickshaw for Bus depot. No, not the sharing one.

The bus to Wagah border via Attari was at every half an hour. Earlier, we were suggested by our hotel people to hire a private taxi which would have costed us around INR 2500/- . It being a budget travel, the suggestion was ignored very conveniently.

It was 4:30 when our bus started moving. It went through fairly well maintained roads, surpassing the small towns and fields, stopped at midway stops taking locals on board. In no time the bus was fully packed. The distance of 28 kms looked much more.
We wanted to reach there before sunset to see the ever inspiring flag ceremony. We were told the bus goes right upto the Wagah border gate. When the engine stopped finally; I, the optimist, was still hopeful that it’d go further as I couldn’t see any gate or army men there.

No. that was not the case.
We had to get down and since we were the last to do so, all the shared autos had already left for the border. We asked a rickshaw puller about the distance. “Paas hee main hai” (It is very near). Since there was no other mode available and we were running short of time, we engaged him for Rs 20/- . It was another thing that his definition of ‘near’ was 2 kilometers.
As luck would have it, chain of his rickshaw was also ‘derailed’ mid way. Wow ! We are being tested for our nerves.

With high anxiety level, eyes fixed on the setting sun, holding Rs 20 in hand to save some precious moments and I was ready to jump off the rickshaw. Probably I was in half standing position. Later PP said, it would have been nice to capture me in video.

Anyway, we were dropped at a place which looked like a large picnic spot with tens of tourist buses and private cars parked on either side of the road. A scene similar to outside a stadium where Indian cricket team is going to play a Twenty-20 match. Crowded, disciplined but in a hurry as if they’d miss the start of that match.
We realized we were still more than half a kilometer away from the entrance gate. With all kinds of hawkers on the way, we reached the entrance. Hundreds of people were walking in.

No, not so soon we were going to enter. Stopped at the entrance. Ok, so except for our cameras we can not carry anything, not even our cell phones or mineral water bottle !! Armymen, I love you for being strict on this.

But places like this also encourage and flourish illegal business. There were illegal keepers of our valuables, of course with support from the system.
There were two guys each with two sacks. They took our belongings which contained all important docs, credit cards, passport, cash, cell phones etc and gave a two inch receipt. In goes my handbag in that sack and I move towards the queue for security check.
Once done, we could hear the announcements and the cheering.

It had started !

To be contd.. ..

Technorati Tags:- Amritsar, Wagah Border, Bus journey

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The Year That Was

Cuckoo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:40:41 +0000

Another year. Another set of to-dos. And a time to take stock… Don’t frown for this late post, we are still in January month.

Year 2008 was a good year in terms of travel for me. I managed to balance between my work related and personal travels. All the trips were short since now I don’t go on long term trips.
In the year 2008 I have been to a few places abroad (USA & Europe) and in India. I am yet to write about my foreign trips mostly because I hardly get to see a newer place or anything new about an old place. And I am yet to write about some of the trips done within India last year as well.

New York

Antwerp

On homeland, apart from my usual trips to Delhi which I have stopped counting, the year started with a two day trip to Nagaon, few hours drive from Mumbai… not posted yet. Then a 10 days trip to Goa happened which seemed very less for the kind of variety it offers us. After 17 posts, there is still lot remaining to write about. This sojourn kept me going for first few months of the year.

Goa

Then after two short trips abroad, towards the end of rainy season a trip to Lonavala was a refreshing change. Will go there again. It has much more than what we experienced.

Lonavala

In November, there was another trip to Delhi.

New Delhi

And from there out of the blue I could snatch a day to visit Amritsar. It was totally a different experience altogether and I am yet to wrap up the stories about it.

Amritsar

Come December, and a trip was planned for Ganapatipule with extended family, a strikingly beautiful coastal place in Konkan region. My first but definitely not the last visit there.

Within Mumbai city, besides daily regular chaotic places, I could see Mani Bhavan, Sanjay Gandhi Park, Bandra Fort, Elephanta (thrice), Gateway (n times) and so on.

Mumbai

Let’s hope the coming year brings me more. Will write later about my wish-list.

P.S.- Hmmm… people do not travel for months and they maintain a successful travel blog; I travel so much that I am unable to maintain my travel blog. Irony.. they call it.

Technorati Tags:- Delhi Amritsar Antwerp New York Goa Ganapatipule Lonavala
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Golden Temple

Cuckoo — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:05:32 +0000

Contd from Jalianwala Bagh.. ..

Our next stop was Golden Temple, just 400 meters from this place.

Our next stop was Golden temple; we walked up to the place. The road leading to it is full of regular shops on either side selling famous Amritsari papad-wadiyan, Jutti and souvenirs.

From outside, the temple with a clock on the tower, gives an illusion of any heritage building hosting some museum or so but once you deposit your shoes, cover your head (it is compulsory), dip your feet in water and descend those white marble steps, the Golden temple is revealed to you in all its glory. You are in a different pious world altogether.

Name- Sri Harmandar (Punjabi pronunciation for (Hari + Mandir)) Sahib, also known as Sri Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple and is named after Hari (God) the temple of God. The Sikhs all over the world wish to pay visit to this temple and pay obeisance (mattha tekna) at Sri Harmandir Sahib in their Ardas.

There is something special about this temple. Unlike erecting the structure on the higher level, a common tradition in Hindu temple architecture, it got built on a lower level and unlike most Hindu temples having only one gate for the entrance and exit, Guru Sahib got it opened from all four sides though for security reasons not all of them are open now.
Also, unlike many orthodox temples, he made it accessible to every person without any distinction of caste, creed, sex and religion thus creating a symbol of new faith, Sikhism.

The main central structure of Sri Harmandir Sahib is a three-storied building and the front faces the bridge which connects it to the 15 feet wide circumambulatory path. The path runs round the main shrine and it leads to the ‘Har ki Paure’ (steps of God).
The third storey, in the form a single room, rises exactly on the top of the central hall of the main sanctuary and a regular recitation of Guru Granth Sahib is held here. The dome of this room is in the shape of inverted lotus on top of which is a Kalash having a small umbrella.

What I noticed was that the architecture of the temple represents a unique harmony between the Muslims and the Hindus way of construction. It is said that this architecture has created an independent Sikh school of architecture in the history of art in India.
The temple has been damaged many a times. It bears the scars of the violence of partition, the atrocities of Jalianwala Bagh and operation Bluestar. Yet each time the city has rebuilt its shrine with unshakable determination.

The temple has quaint captivating magic that results in an overwhelming atmosphere of devotion. Make your parikrama of the Harmandir Sahib, sit alone meditating, dip for a holy bath, partake of the langar and move on reassured of the faith in humanity.

We had limited time with us, still I wanted to visit it again after dark.. .. to see its immense beauty in night. The shining façade of this graceful gurudwara is accentuated not only by hundreds lights but by the faith and devotion it commands from its followers, many of whom are not even of the Sikh faith.

We saw all kinds of people there, all with a different hope and faith. Will write small stories about them later.

Hari = God
Mandir = temple
Ardas = Prayers

Our next stop was Wagah border. To be contd.

Technorati Tags:- Amritsar, Golden temple