AMRITSAR......THE NAME OF THIS CITY, IS OBVIOUS, TO TURN OUR MIND TOWARDS THE FAMOUS 'GOLDEN TEMPLE'....
After a memorable training at MDI-Gurgaon me n my friends planned our footpath to this awesome place. This was not a lightening plan that would have struck our mind in a wink of an eye. This was a pre-planned well structured tour from the very first day of our training tour cart. What training? This might call for another story... I will surely let you people know about this training some time later...
We were all set to go to Amritsar on 9th of August '08. After bidding farewell to our fellow mates at the training, we ran to our rooms in 'NALANDA' (Hostel at MDI) check out any updates about the city, as we had a brink about the forth-coming 61st 'INDEPENDENCE DAY' celebrations which may any time trigger a wave of fear in northern part of India (everyone knows the obvious reason). Well, to tell, it seemed calm and quite all around. We then packed our bags snorred till 16.00hrs...
Hunting for a nice hotel to have a 'pet'full dinner happened to be a nightmare, at the Kashmiri gate ISBT, with no hotels around. We saw a McDonald's outlet and a pathetic conditioned hotel which was just looking like an aftermath of a hurricane. No other go!!! we had to have our dinner in that same pathetic food center.
Please, if anyone is intending to travel to Amritsar from Delhi, I request you not to travel by private buses plying between the two cities. They treat you like a herd of sheep and you will realise it at a later stage after having waited for nearly 2 long hours. We had then come to know the meaning of 'hell'.
We reached Amritsar in a half baked condition, next day at 9.00hrs. Cycle rickshaw-walas will greet to their city in a very good way. I tell you, people, there at Amritsar, are very good by heart. They treat their city as their home and any new comer to the city as their own guest. I personally felt that. We happened to stay in a hotel and the same rickshaw-wala arranged an auto for us, for the entire day to visit all the places of sight seeing, nearby. We saw the beautiful 'GOLDEN TEMPLE' for which the city is famous for, and the massacre place 'JALLIANWALA BAGH' which are at a stone throw distance to each other. 'JALLIANWALA BAGH' is the place where Gen. Dyer ordered his men to fire on the mob who had gathered at this place, which was then a ground of nearly an acre wit a well at the centre. It turned to a havoc then; more than 2000 people lost their lives. A few managed to jump across the tall wall but a larger fraction had to shed their lives. Women jumped to the well (which is now occupied by many houses in the vicinity), along with their born ones. A few resisted but could not withstand the high velocity bullets. All these topics of history studies during our school days and few scenes from the films featuring 'BHAGAT SINGH' (one of the evolutionary heroes...as i call them so) run through our mind in a wink of an eye when moving around this place. One doesn't fall short of sympathising the people's sacrifice or empathising the mob's situation.
Well, after the choking memories of JALLIANWALA BAGH, we headed towards 'THE GOLDEN TEMPLE'. I should tell you, during the normal season, around 2-3lakh people visit this temple as a part their weekend plans and for pilgrimage visits; and to our fortune we had an opportunity to see a mass of that strength!!!.. The place is very awesome, and you indeed feel the holiness and the sanctity of the temple once you touch the holy waters of the temple. You feel great when you have this Golden monument in front of your eyes, which you saw it on your TV sets during special occasions. We fall short of our 2 eyes to view this great temple. Highly dignified people,fro the sikh community, come here not to just to have a visit, but to offer themselves for every task of the temple; be it a task of low cadre like sweeping the temple floor, keeping the shoes of the devotees in the shoe racks etc., to high tasks like managing the temple's issues. I feel, the sikh community is the only one, which keeps MOTHER INDIA a step above ones own mother (as per the sayings which i happened to hear from one of the person giving the sayings of his holy GURU GOBIND SINGH). This might be the reason for having atleast one person from every sikh family in the defence forces of our country. HATS OFF TO SUCH PEOPLE AND THEIR MOTHERS.
We also tasted the 'lizzatdaar' Lassie, which happens to be one of the tastiest drinks of Punjab. Heart taken scene at the Temple was, a six year old girl taking our shoes to the shoe rack at the guidance of her mom and a roadside vendor offering us a seat, when we were standing beneath the scorching sun, even when he himself was short of his seat. I can definitely tell you its only for the sake of offering their praying, that these people are doing such jobs. Everyone of them over there is rich in financial aspects as well as rich by heart.
The awesome experience being the parade show at the 'WAGAH BORDER'. The show runs for about a half past an hour, with the 2/3rd being the dance by the spectators for all the patriotic songs and the remaining being the 'parade'. No one should miss this show. Its amazing to see the neighbouring country just at our eye sight.
People dance with full enthusiasm on the melodies of patriotism. The decibel level shoots up to a high, when people peak up their voice to tel 'BOLO BHARAT MATAA KI...JAI', 'VANDE MAATARAM' AND 'HINDUSTHAAN ZINDABAAD'... and traces of 'INQUILAB ZINDABAD' too...!! Even I raised my voice to my fullest extent to have these words reach the other side of the border. The parade is really worth watching. These people (BSF) do it everyday, morning (to raise the tricolor flag) and then in the evening (to descend the same). Believe this; BSF and the Pakisthaani forces do this parade at the same time and its the mirror image what you see on the other side, and to our astonishment these both haven't practised it even a single day!! Isn't that something surprising and great?... You can view the glimpse of the parade in this video...
THANKS TO EVERYONE AT PUNJAB...
We then had our journey back the same night by train... (this is the awesome means.. and this time we had a sleep as if we hadn't slept from years together...after a cumbersome journey in bus the previous night)
