Grand Voyages, Great Lies

 The Punjab- Amritsar 

Sitting up on the ‘Balcony’ or rooftop of sorts at our guesthouse I can see hear, smell and feel the golden temple…if I wanted to compete the last of the five senses i could go down stairs and touch it. for it is open 24hrs a day 365days a year to everybody or all nationalities and religions. i feel honored as a Britain and a baptised Christian (not practicing) to be allowed in to a place so holy for seeks.

Its a beautiful place with the golden temple its self seemingly suspended on water which is surrounded by a white marble walk way….from one side a golden and marble bridge stretches from the marble to the temple itself. in the mornings many take baths around the perimeters. this morning, sitting typing at 5am on the roof top….my favorite time it seems….i was listening to the forever continuous chants from the temple when a group young Indian men emerge from the other side of my (until now) private rooftop…Amritsar is a hive of activity at all times of day and night but i didn’t except other people of my age and Indian tourists at that to be up and lively. after introducing them selves and questioning my strange behavior of sitting out in the cold the tell me about themselves. they are a group from Delhi who work for HP computer systems, and the are visiting Amritsar like me. Unlike me they have decided to take a bath in the temple this morning along with the many worshipers. it seems to me it is something or a novelty swell as a spiritual thing to do- as their supervisor a very cute and friendly guy is rallying them to get up and come and take a bath…be ready at 5.30..no later……ok, ok 5.45…we go no delay..and 5 min later latest 6am as he see though lively and excited the troops are unwilling to leave the warmth of their rooms.

I decline not because I wouldn’t appreciate a cold dip…I’d probably get cleaner then I have been in weeks but also as Kate is still trying to sleep in the room behind the door I lean against …..the main reason however is that two white girls going into a holy place to strip off and wash? Strikes me firstly as an unnecessary attention missile and also we would appear very disrespectful although our intentions would be anything but.

After more talk -which I’m sure wakes Kate- I’m fed information about the temple and various other places on my lists to visit….the Taj Mahal is a symbol of love…the architect chopped off the hands of anyone who tried to copy the architecture…..the golden temple wasn’t always golden….a Maharajaha donated/supplied the 34carat gold to cover the once white marble temple. The small artificial lake the temple sits on is the holiest lake in all the land….in all the world I am told.

The nice boys invite me to a bonfire they plan to have that night and introduce me to a few lady friends they have with them -who they are trying to rouse for the morning bath. these are by far the most genuinely friendly guys of a large group I’ve met so far…..a great contrast to 12 hours ago when we were watching the border retreat between India and Pakistan and constantly getting felt up by various men. after exchanging numbers and email which i gladly do return to my writing and they to their attempts at getting each other to their freezing bath.

The border change on the Indian Pakistan border takes places every evening. the border is about 30km from Amritsar and we took a cheap shared taxi with the forfeit of arriving just in time. this meant we missed out on the special seats reserved for foreigners and instead excitedly and anxiously plunged into the Indian crowd who were standing every which way and that to get a view of the Indian border security force and the Pakistani side. the whole event is very friendly and a bit of fun as the Indians and Pakistanis show up everyday to rally for their side. the 8 or soldiers dressed in what would be the equivalent of beef-eater high kick and march their way to the gate in pairs and both sides square up and in my imagination growl at each other much like rugby teams. a spectacle to watch and to feel part of within the local crowd…an mazing experience if you can escape the sleazy Indians with camera phones and wandering hands…though Kate suffered much more then me, a blond attractive female has little chance battling against the pop star/porn star stereotype of fair hair here in India.

We also visited the Jalamwalabagh where as a Britain i felt like a trespasser,another Britain we had traveled to Amritsar with also said he felt guilty, as this was the place while during th unrest in Punjab amidst the struggle against British rule in India British general dyer unleashed random fire on an innocent crowd of demonstrating Indian locals. from what i have gathered (as my English history taught me nothing but medieval agricultural farming methods…the Indians were peacefully demonstrating against the enforcement of arrest without charge and they were banned from meeting in groups bigger then two. the general apparently saw them as a threat and squeezed an armoured truck down a tiny gap between two buildings to the ground here they gathered. he ordered fire, killing 2000 Indians.  the area is now a beautifully serene memorial garden….like said as a British person you are not so often but uncomfortably reminded from time to time about British rule in India….this is one of the more uncomfortable times. ( especially when 9 or 20 school girls on a trip in their tartan uniforms come running to make friends with you,asking for a picture…then asking where your from…..i was almost tempted to say the US.

The HP group have opted for a warm sweet Chai..presumably to make their dip in the water even colder…and have brought me a cup…as teens do they amusingly swap footwear between the boys and girls making jokes and referring to the boy in sandals as baby…..then they deliver birthday punches to the unfortunate candidate…..in a somewhat more prolonged and violent way then back home…the waiter bringing chai even jokes brandishing  stick….follows a conversation about traditions of birthday bump and a jokingly threatening
 roar as i tell them my birthday was only 2weeks ago.

We spend the next day getting lost through a maze of tall tightly packed whole sale stores. we’d stumbled in from the main bazaar and got a chance to glace at the fabrics without being hounded by shop keepers. from the lack of hassel should of guessed that these shops might be different. unfortunaly we only got told they were wholesalers after we’d fell in love with some fabrics and made them in to dresses and curtains in our dreams.

We set off on our over night journey to Jaipur where we’d catch a bus to Ajmer then another to Pushka. .We’d taken a chance as we were told there was a possibilities we moth might have to squeeze onto one bunk if there wasn’t another one available… but we were confident one would be as the seeing system always messed up anyway…..and unsurprisningly  we were right.  i slept well considering being moved on various other bunks. being on the train in India is one of the best experiences, the rattleing windows, doors and most probable tracks makes the journeys so different to the smooth quiter journeys back home…though not more so then the views. this ride we were treated to a candy cane of desert and towns on our way to jaipur. there is nothing better then the trains in India, especially standing at the open doors being battered by cold winds at 4am watching the world fly by, then stopping a Chai wallah on the way back to your bunk.

 The buses to Ajmer then to Puskar are easy enough to catch, though our young swarve rickshaw drivers in jaipur (one named tiger) who ferried us from train station to bus stand were dissapointed  we didn’t want to stay in Jaipur (I do want to return and visit at some point). They were helpful enough though at got rid of a tout who wanted us to pay for a deluxe bus to Ajmer.

So here we are in pushkar, the place to shop and buy jewlery, so its tourist area again and being back south in Rajasthan we can feel the sun once more. our hotel is cheap, friendly and lovely and the restaurants serving pasta and pizza make us feel like were on Holiday again. our porter at the hotel had to make us sit down and have a coffee so we would slow down. we had the intention to get clean asap after numerous days on the move without washing. We bombared him with questions of hot waater and laundry so he sat us down and made us relax first. then after some breakfast/lunch at 2pm we finally got clean. it is thee best feeling. we’d chatted with the manager after our lunch and he moved  us to an even nicer room with a loverly balcony, tv and a busy view of pushka- all for the same price.

A walk down the bazzars to find dinner confirmed the assurance that Pushka was the place to do shopping, Rajasthani handicrafts and traditional costume twinkled at us in the fading light, jewelry shops with hoards of interesting stones and gems glinted and sang…come take a look (as did the voices of the owners) the place was a long bazzar of heaven. Pushka was a little oasis (coincidently the name of our hotel) after the long hours of buses and sight seeing in Rajasthan.. here we will unwind and indulge in some retail therapy-in fact we already have slashed out at what must be the only vintage clothes shop in India, buying,  70s floral patterned dresses and trying on 40’s style skirts. Sensibly we have decided not to include that spend in our budget. It’ll only come to an extra hour and a half hours work when we get home.

Tags: 1, india

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