Sunday, January 31, 2010

Amritsar: Home to the Sikhs and Mrs. Bandari




Amritsar was equivalent to a trip to the beach for us (except the beach was Mrs. Bandari's lawn). It gave us our first few days to completely relax with no shopping, haggling, or hassling (as there was nothing to buy) and our first real moments to truly 'people-watch' without a monkey stick. We arrived into Amritsar at midnight on the rather fancy Shatabdi Express train from New Delhi. Now, by fancy, I mean we each had our own seat and dinner was provided. By fancy I do not mean particularly clean, on-time, or relaxing, but I have now lowered my expectations for 'first class' and 'fancy'. We were taken to a rather shoddy hotel where we slept off the train ride and, upon waking up, promptly moved quarters to Mrs. Ratan Bandari's Guesthouse. Mrs. Bandari's has been the strangest place we have stayed in so far and certainly one of the most enjoyable: the strange mix between army barracks, water buffaloes, open fires, and hot water bottles provided a rather 1930s British colonialist feel. We were virtually the only guests there and spent several days under the sun just reading with only the occasional grazing buffalo to disturb us. We refused to eat at Mrs. Bandari's (as the food was ridiculously overpriced!) and so for 2 days our only foray into the city was a block away to chow down on a variety of street food (spicy noodle dishes, fried eggplant and cauliflower, milk sweets, and chai). In these 2 days we spent no more than 2$ per person per day! Street food has been harder to find than we expected although we have been pleasantly surprised when we have found it: cheap and filling.

Amritsar is known for 2 things: The Golden Temple and the Wagah Border. The former is the most important place for worship to the Sikhs and the latter is an absurd border ceremony performed every evening at the Pakistani-Indian border. Each of these takes less than three hours to fully appreciate and, since we had 4 full days, we took our time getting there. We were not disappointed buy our wait. For 3 days, we went into town each day and simply sat outside the Golden Temple peacefully 'people watching'. We were never once hassled or harangued and the locals got just as much of a thrill at watching us as we did them. Therefore, upon our entrance into the temple complex itself on our fourth day we were fully ready (well, almost...one has to enter barefoot and I hate being barefoot in public places so attempted unsuccessfully to tip-toe my way around the entire time). The complex was beautiful! It has been the most beautiful site we have seen so far: both spiritually and aesthetically. The reverence the Sikhs felt for the place was palpitating and the sheer magnificence of the shining, golden reflection of the small Golden Temple into the pond surrounding was astonishing. The fact that we got a free lunch was also pretty great. The kitchen at the Golden Temple feeds more than 10, 000 people per day for free with amazing efficiency. As one enters the kitchen, one is funneled through a vast line where one receives a plate, a bowl, a spoon and is then instructed to a place on the floor to wait. One is then met with server upon server carrying vats of curry, dal, fresh chapatis, and sweets. Even though the lunch is free, it is never-ending and was spicy and delicious. The experience of eating alongside pilgrims, locals, visitors, and those who could not afford to eat on their own was a humbling experience and reminded us to be mindful of all those around us in India who come from vastly different backgrounds and share intensely different experiences than do we.

Now, the Wagah border was a very different slice of India altogether. The notorious Wagah border ceremony takes place each evening at 5pm and is a show of both affection and bravado between the less-than-friendly states of Pakistan and India. Punjab once spanned both borders and its people continue to share many commonalities. However, after partition, Punjab was cut in two and the result is a rather tepid relationship with neither Pakistani or Indian allowed to cross. The ceremony itself is really just a flag-lowering and gate-locking formality which has turned into a 'who-can-scream-louder' and 'who-has-the-best Bollywood-tunes' event. Shuttles run back and forth from the center of Amritsar to the border each afternoon and after paying 75 RS each we were sped to the border just in time to get front-row seats in the VIP (aka 'foreigner' section). Upon sitting down, it was difficult to keep our mouths closed as they kept popping open in shock and awe as we watched groups of Indians dancing in the aisles to the theme song of 'Slumdog' to waves of Indian men jumping up and down shouting "Long Live India", screaming like maniacs, and wildly waving enormous Indian flags about. Unfortunately for the Pakistanis, the Indians certainly had the better speakers and were allowed greater movement to dance and jump about but I can't really say that their soldiers performed any less gallantly than did those on the Indian side. We would have loved to have witnessed the ceremony from the Pakistani side as well, but that will have to wait until sentiments on both sides are cooled. While the entire 'na-na-na-na-boo-boo' atmosphere was perfectly ludicrous, it was a truly Indian affair and one which I have yet to experience anywhere else. Perhaps the U.S. and Mexico could try this rather than a wall?

We are now in electricity-challenged Varanasi, but have lots to relate regarding our 1AC (first-class) sleeper night train experiences, why Lucknow is really more 'Luck-maybe', and why there are so many Western 'hippies' in this holiest of cities: Varanasi.
Stay tuned!

1 comment:

  1. I visited the Wagah border in 2003, but on the Pakistani side. It was one of my most memorable visits while in Pakistan. Glad you made it there to experience the daily tradition of the border closing. Though you're right, the India side and the Pakistani side are two very different experiences!

    Elli

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