The Golden Temple of the Sikh faith in Amritsar.
A Statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Amritsar: The Border, the City and the Temple
We spent two nights in Amritsar in the state of Punjab. Amritsar is the holiest of cities for the Sikh faith and sits very close to the Pakistan border. The city is clean and easily managed and we stayed at a Holiday Inn but this was not your average American Holiday Inn. Here, it was a 5 star hotel that we paid about $100 per night for. This is the second hotel, after Delhi, where we were treated like royalty. When we first arrived in Amritsar, we drove directly to the India/Pakistan border to experience the Wagah Attari border ceremony where on either side of the border the soldiers do a choreographed march to show force and power on either side. There is an audience on either side to experience this and the India side was highly attended with a great show of patriotism. On the Pakistan side it was much more subtle. We could see the audience and the soldiers there but it the large gate remained closed so it wasn’t a great view of them. However, we were treated to a great show on the India side that lasted a good hour. See images in Gallery below. This was the first time Garmeet experienced the ceremony and he was quite proud of his country and really enjoyed the show. Cindy and I both agreed that was the best part for us, watching how much he and the others showed their devotion to the country.
The crowd at the Wagah Attari border ceremony.
A Packed Long Queue on the Hottest Day
After a great rest at the hotel, the next day we headed to the Golden Temple. The construction of the temple is the holiest temple of the Sikh faith and began with the 4th Sikh Guru Ram Das and was completed in 1604 but has been rebuilt over the centuries after having gone through several attacks. The current golden dome and other structures were built in the 19th century. Daily, thousands of Sikhs and people of other faiths visit the temple to experience it’s glory. We waited in a very packed queue for more than an hour, talking with a couple of Punjabi sisters but were pushed through the beginning of the line by a guard. It was a very kind gesture but both Cindy and I felt we should be treated any differently just because we were foreigners. But that tells you something about the generosity of the Sikh and Indian people, overall, that we have experienced. Once in, we experienced a few areas to show our respect and moved through quickly. We also visited the Jallianwala Bagh, a memorial for the people killed in Amritsar in 1919 by the British army led by General Reginald Dyer because they were protesting for independence against British rule.
After seeing the city and experiencing the Golden Temple and the Jallianwaga Bagh memorial, we headed to a shop to see some unique Punjabi goods. You will see in the gallery of images, how beautiful the space was, with statues and antiques of many different materials. We wanted to see what was unique about the clothing here and were shown many different prints and colors of kurtas and scarves. Beautiful! And, of course we purchased a few. After that we went to a park that was suppose to show how the Punjabis lived in the past. There were various structures that you could enter to see how people cooked, made rugs and clothing, blacksmithed, etc. Along with that there were puppet shows, magic shows, etc. We had game tickets and played a few of your usual carnival games and then ate at the restaurant. The food was probably the best part but the shows were fun to see as well. I’d say it was a little kitschy but that’s ok.
