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Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005
Articles Tagged ‘Amritsar’
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India by Train
Monday, November 21st, 2005From my last post in McCleod Ganj, Fabien and I have traveled all the way across India, 2000 km (1600 miles) to reach Darjeeling in West Bengal. The last week has consisted of a lot of transportation and some interesting stops along the way. From McCleod Ganj, we took a bus about 2 hours to Kangra, a small town west of Dharmasala where we spent an afternoon and evening visiting the Kangra fort and the town. They must not receive a lot of tourists because we were mobbed by large groups of school kids wanting to have their picture taken with us, asking our names, where we come from, etc. We were also stopped by an Indian doctor (who was a Christian) who invited us to come for coffee so that we could talk about Christianity and the decline of India due to all of the “idol” worshippers. Fabien and I politely declined and said that maybe we would drop by if we had time. We didn’t. When we reached the fort (which was much further than the estimated 3 kilometers) we were exhausted by all of extra attention. The views around were magnificent, though. Kangra was bordered by two rivers, the hills were green, there were orange trees, it was warm and sunny. We tried to find a secret place behind a wall to have our picnic lunch, but before long we were discovered and posing for more pictures. Since I had recovered from my stomach bug and was reenergized by the warm weather, I was not too bothered, but Fabs was at his wits end by the end of the day. It’s not easy to stand out in a crowd.
The next morning, we took a “toy train” from Kangra to Pathankot. We arrived about 40 minutes early (it was our first train) to find out that the train was about 45 minutes behind schedule. Throw away your watch when in India… The train and the journey was precious. It was tiny, about 6 or 7 cars with only one aisle of seats. Of course it was packed full of people, so we took turns sitting on the hard wooden benches and hanging out of the doors of the train. I think our maximum speed was around 35 km/ hr (that’s about 25 m/h), but we had lots of time to enjoy the scenery, rolling green hills, tiny villages, rivers and lakes. There were also interesting people to watch (us included)- there was a sadhu who seemed to get a kick out of making faces at me. He was wearing the traditional orange robe, no shoes, wild unkept hair and carrying a stick. At one point he stuck his tongue out and curled it over his nose. Later he offered me a joint. At some point a group of teenage boys who had been staring me up and down tried to start a conversation with me. A bit flustered from the day before, I said that I was French and the my English was very bad. Survival skills.
When we arrived in Pathankot, we had a two hour break. (It was about 3 and we hadn’t had lunch) so we visited the train station restaurant where we had a Thali, it’s an all-you-can-eat meal, where you have several different types of dishes, always with rice, dal (lentils), chapati (Indian flat bread) and several spicy dishes of potatoes and veggies. For two meals and two sodas we payed 60 rupees (that’s about $1.20.) We also checked the train reservation office to find out that our train connection to Darjeeling was full for the next week- time to go to plan B. From Pathankot, we took a regular train to Amritsar (another 2 hours.) We didn’t have assigned seats so we chose a car that didn’t look full, we didn’t realize that it was a sleeper. A very friendly man told us it was okay to take a seat, we didn’t need a reservation. Over the course of the train trip, we had a very nice time conversing with a group of Indians. Two guys and a guy with his mom none of whom spoke much English. We took a lot pictures with our digital camera and everyone was so excited to see the picture we had just taken on the screen. By the end we had exchanged addresses, they were ready to take Fabien home. (Men always approach Fabien first and many times they ask him questions about me, most men aren’t used to speaking directly with women they don’t know. On the other side, Indian women almost never talk to us.) We were quite excited when we got off the train in Amritsar.
After 3 weeks of budget hotels (around $5-6 per night), we decided to splurge in Amritsar for a two-star hotel. We got a nice big room with a padded swing (I’m not sure what it was meant for) hanging from the ceiling. It was also very warm, a shock from the cool temps in the mountains, but a welcome relief. Amritsar is in the state of Punjab, where the largest majority of Sikhs live in India, and also the most economically prosperous. The main tourist attraction is the Golden Temple, an enormous complex consisting of the temple (the dome is gold-plated) which is surrounded by a large pool, a library, numerous hostels for the pilgrims, a kitchen and dining hall where they give out 30,000 free meals per day, a museum, and some other meeting rooms. There is no charge to enter, but you have to remove your shoes and cover your head (men included). You can recognize Sikh men by the turbans they wear (they don’t ever cut their hair, they wrap it in the turban their whole life.) We happened to choose the birthday of the Guru who founded the Sikh religion to visit the Golden Temple and the place was packed. Again we were accosted by groups of Indian tourists wanting to take our pictures. Now I know what show business is like! Our faces must turn up in family albums across the sub-continent. In honor of the birthday, there was also a big parade with adults and children in traditional costume. All in all a quite festive day. We were also determined to book our train tickets to Darjeeling, so we found a tourist offer that assisted with train bookings. After more than 1 hour in the office (a slow internet connection and lots of full trains), we managed to book our train for two days later. First to Delhi, about 10 hours. An overnight stop in Delhi, then 36 hours to Darjeeling. Whew-hoo, lots of time to mingle with the locals. The tourist office also convinced us to take a small tour to the border of India and Pakistan. Everynight at sunset, there is an elaborate show between the Indian and Pakistani border place in which they lower the flags and close the border for the night. It is such a spectacle that they have built grandstands on both sides for people to come and watch. There were so many people it was hard to see everything, the soldiers were decked out in tall (peacock-looking) hats, and they marched around while a man with a megaphone encouraged the crowds to cheer for their respective sides. Little Indian flags waved in the air. A bit of patriotic competition between two countries still engaged in a border war. A bit strange but it provided an unusual evening of entertainment.
We spent our next two days in Amritsar casually visiting the city. This city is also well-known for textiles, and you can see street after street of shops selling saris, tailored suits, shawls, etc. We also visited a small memorial park dedicated to Indians that were killed in a skirmish with the British in the early 20th century.
On Wednesday, we began the infamous 4 day voyage across India. The first day was a long, slow train to Delhi. When we arrived in Delhi, we felt like old pros, so we went back to the hotel we had first stayed at, got a room for about 7 hours, showered, ordered room service at midnight, and tried to get a few hours of sleep. Up at 5:30 the next morning to catch a train that left at 7 (unfortunately from a more obscure train station)- we were the first on the train, so we secured our backpacks and had a little breakfast. We had a 3-tier/ air-conditioned car which meant that we had small beds with linens, a decent amount of space and shared the car with middle/upper class Indians. For the next 36 hours we read, stared out the windows, conversed with our neighbors, ate, ate again, and slept. We slept a lot. Something about the lull of the train and the lack of exercise makes you so tired. We crossed through the poorest state in India, Bihar, where many of the villages are without electricity, running water, paved roads. From the window of the train you can stare into people’s lives, you see right into their little homes (many were thatched huts), you can see the people bathing in the rivers. There are always small fires, to cook, to keep warm, to burn trash. By the time we reached New Jalpaguri (the closest train station to Darjeeling), it felt like we had traveled to a new world. The people have more Asian features, the plantlife is tropical, the sun sets an hour earlier. We spent one night in New Jalpaguri before catching the bus to Darjeeling…which more than deserves it’s own post. To be continued.
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