Amritsar
Thursday, February 21st, 2008So finally I left for amritsar – delhi was great fun, alot better than what I had expected. Alot of people either hate mumbai or dehli, alot of the time they don’t like the first city which they visit but have become accustomed to india in between and can therefore cope with the touts, the rickshaw drivers, the food…. they cope better with india I suppose. I took the 6 o’clock train from New Dehli train station to Amritsar which is in the state of Punjab, a state where most of the dishes you see in your local indian have originated from. It is also famous for the Golden temple which is the focal point for the sikh religion. One last piece of general knowledge is that punjab straddles the border between pakistan and india – the city of lahore which is in the news alot these days is just across the border, my train actually runs all the way across to that city – a service that is very recent and a sign that relations between the two countries while still quite hostile, has improved over the last couple of years. I even went as far as the border for a look, but more about that little excursion later.
Back to the Train – I alluded previously to the poverty that exists and the sickening industry that drives and profits from peoples misery. Never was it more encapsulated than on this trip up north. Somewhere along the way a group of people boarded the train with their master – their mission was to clean as much money from the passengers either by shame, entertainment or by exploiting peoples good nature. Luckily for me I had a seat away from the aisle so I could keep myself safely out of the way. One by one they came along – People with some awful mutilations – missing arms, legs, eyes. One poor girl had no chin – she tugged at peoples sleeves grunting her begs for money. There were some small kids no more than 4 years old doing tricks and stunts no doubt causing distration while one of their mates reaped the goods in someones pockets. Then there were the ‘uniqs’, who are boys/men who have been castrated as children and go around dressed in saris (traditional indian female dress) causing a major fuss basically trying to embarass people into giving them money. You can be sure the ringleader was there aswell keeping an eye on his slaves. It really makes you feel uneasy, I’m sure reading this will make you feel bad, you can imagine what being there felt like!!
The trip was scheduled to take 8 hours, but 10 miles outside amritsar the train broke down and we had to wait 3 hours till someone fixed us back up. I was starving as I was banking on getting a reasonably early lunch in amritsar (I missed breakfast again) – the thought of the good punjabi food was keeping me going. While I sat in the carriage pretty much everyone else disembarked to catch the last of the days sunshine or just out of pure curiosity as to what was going on with the train. Some were so impatient that they called whoever it was to pick them up from where the train had stopped. I sat there with my bags and started to chew on a bar of chocolate to quell my hunger a little bit. The chocolate is something that will always attract the attention of the nearest indian kid, the little lad who was in my vicinity was unique for an indian cub – he was incredibly shy. I offered him a piece of chocolate but he couldn’t muster up the courage to come over and take it off me, so I placed it on a piece of newspaper beside him and pretended to look away. Slowly he inched his fingers in the direction of the chocolate but not paying enough attention he knocked it off the seat and onto the dirty floor. Poor lad was heart broken, twas my last piece of chocolate so its not like I could offer him anymore. Oh well.
When we got in to the town eventually I made my way to a hotel in the old town close to the golden temple. It was getting close to sunset so I wanted to see it set in the golden temple. You need to remove your shoes and have something on your head to enter the temple – the only thing I had at hand was a big rug. I looked like one complete numptie with that rolled up in a ball and stuck on my head, everyone else (including non sikh people) had nice neat little hankies on their heads, I mean like people here stare at you in this country at the best of times, you can imagine the attention I was getting now. People actually pointed, kids laughed but sure I suppose it gave them a little bit of entertainment. Enough about what I looked like, its the temple itself that takes all the attention. It is fabulous. Surrounded by a lake which inturn is surrounded by a large white fortlike structure the Temple sits right in the middle and is as the name suggests made out of Gold. Seeing it at this time of the day is really recommended. I sat by the side of the lake admiring its beauty until I could no longer fight off the pangs of hunger and off I went to try and find the towns best thali.
I didn’t find the best thali – quite possibly the best in all of india – until the following afternoon. After staying up to watch liverpool kick inters ass in the champions league I wanted a really long sleep in – but this country conspires against all well laid plans. 4 times the considerate bastards rang me up to see if I was okay, if I wanted tea the last one was one pleading with me to go outside as the sun was shining at it was a beautiful day. I just wanted sleep but its impossible to be mad when people are being that annoyingly nice!! I got up eventually and booked a taxi to take me on a trip that evening. The taxi was due to leave at 3 so that gave me enough time to go an search for this legendary thali. I found it after about 20 minutes and ordered the special thali. It was savage, looking at it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was almost afraid to eat it it looked so good. The star of the show was the bread that came with it which was called parantha. It was a layered bread so you had to peel it off bit by bit then dunk it in the lovely currys before lopping the lot into your mouth. I had to be rolled out of the place!!
So back to the trip I booked – all the way to Atari which is a town west of Amritsar right on the border with pakistan. It is the only point where you can cross into pakistan via land from india – I know what you are thinking!! Pakistan, Elections, Explosions – what the hell is he at? Now don’t worry – I wasn’t going over there to check how the elections are going – the lack of a passport being the main deterrent. My Quest was to witness the most bizaare ceremony I have ever come across in my life. Everyday at sunset the pakistani and indian army before a crowd of thousands have what is effectively a dance off. This might seem like ‘phil talking stuff up’, but it totally isn’t. I have video evidence. Both sides try to outdo each other with quick duck marches, throwig their legs up in farcical monty python fashion. On the other side the pakistanis who look alot cooler ad more dangerous in their uiforms don’t let their side down either. Its fantastic theatre and if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods do check it out. You end up walking away scratching your head wondering about what you have just witnessed with a small part of you wishing they did something similar on the road from butlersbridge to eniskillen!!
I decided to leave amritsar the following morning – met another irish dude (we are a rare enough breed out here) in the taxi the previous evening and he was headed up the mountains the following morning so I decided seeing as the prices in the hotels were dear that I would head on another bit. It can be easier to negotiate your way in india when you have someone else there to mind your bags when you go to the bathroom or go to see when your bus is leaving from etc etc. Before I left I took a little trip to see this little court yard in the middle of the old town in amritsar which was the scene of an awful atrocity commited by the british soldiers way back in the day when they opened fire on a group of peaceful protestors killing many hundreds. This bloody event has appeared in both RIchard Attenboroughs ‘Gandhi’ and Salman Rushdies ‘Midnights Children’ so it was a must see thing in amritsar for me. On one level it gives you some sort of connection between Ireland and India – this event bears more than a little resemblance to the first bloody sunday. India has also suffered from religious partition but on a scale so much bigger than at home. Hundreds of thousands of people have died for the flags or gods of either pakistan, bangladesh or india – food for thought.
I left for dharmshala up in the mountains proper after my visit to the park. I will look back fondly at my short visit to amritsar, its definitely a city I will come back to, for the golden temple alone you could spend days just staring at it. It will also act as a good break on the way from Dehli to Kashmir when I make that trip. I will wait until the situation up there has settled down somewhat.
Onwards and Upwards…
Phil Gill