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A stopover at the Border

Visiting the Golden Temple, Jalianwala Bagh and Wagah was like turning the pages of history

SOMBRE MOMENTS Indian border guards and their Pakistani counterparts during the daily closing of the Wagah border

The Shatabadi Express from New Delhi chugged into the ancient city of Amritsar with the winter sun blazing bright. We were thankful for it, as Amritsar is the coldest plain in India with the temperature dipping down to minus 2 in winter! Our three-day trip commenced with a visit to the Wagah Border.

Wagah, a one-hour ride from the main city, is the international border between Amristar in India and Lahore in Pakistan. Every evening before sundown an elaborate change-of-guard takes place.

From almost a mile away we could see the festive look at Wagah. The stands begin filling up as early as 3.30 p.m. The atmosphere was charged with nationalist fervour with people from both sides chanting slogans: Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram, and the sound of Allah ho Akbar and Pakistaan Zindabad on the other side.

The parade began with the 6-foot-plus BSF jawans marching up the pathway to the gate. Their legs flew high in perfect synchronisation and thumped soundly on the ground. Their exaggerated movements in mock intimidation provided comic relief to the atmosphere, laden with nationalistic pride and emotion.

Sombre moments

Then came the sombre moments as the gates on both sides opened and two nations that were once one were again without borders. The guards met on no man's land. Ceremoniously, amidst thunderous applause and more slogan chanting, the flags were brought down, folded and carried away. The gates were promptly shut and locked. The people from both sides then met at the barbed wire fence waving and greeting each other. People stood around watching, trying to capture the fleeting experience on their cameras.

Next on our itinerary was the Golden Temple. The narrow alleyways leading to the shrine and the rickshaws running blindly into the traffic and into potholes can leave your nerves frayed. We checked into our sparse but spacious rooms within the temple precincts. It was time to visit the temple.

Sri Harmandir Sahib, the temple stands in the centre of the Amrit Sarovar — holy pool of nectar. It was initiated by the fourth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Ramdas and completed in 1601 by his successor Guru Arjan Dev. A marble corridor runs around the shrine with a narrow quay to the entrance — an ornate archway with intricate inlay work. Verses from the Granth Sahib are inscribed on the doorway. The three-storeyed temple is dome shaped and the upper two storeys are gold plated. The walls within are decorated with elaborate inlay work in silver and gold. The Adi Granth, compiled by Guru Arjan Dev, rests on a throne beneath a jewelled canopy. We sat in the serene atmosphere taking in the peace and tranquillity and partook of the halwa, served as prasad, manna for mortals.

The Akal Takht next to Harmandir Sahib is the seat of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, governing body of the Sikhs. The Adi Granth is kept here. Every morning it is taken in procession in a beautiful palanquin decorated with precious stones, gold and silver to the Harmandir Sahib and is brought back in the night.

Community kitchen

The Guru-ka-langar or the community kitchen feeds up to 10,000 people a day, free of charge. The clanking of utensils can catch one unawares at first as you approach this complex. Volunteers wash the utensils in as many as ten changes of water. The cooking and cleaning goes on uninterrupted all 24 hours. We partook of chapattis and delectable dal served by volunteers.

The alleyways around the temple are lined with sovereigns and it is best to explore these on foot and do some haggling for best bargains. While you can buy replicas and photographs of the temple, kadas (the wristlet), paintings of the sikh gurus, the market is full of items ranging from salwar kameezes with traditional embroidery like Phulkari to the Amritsari jutis, shawls (that sellers will claim are Pashminas and will pass through a finger ring) and the famous Amritsari papads, warian, murabbas and dry fruits.

Celebrities, including Indira Gandhi, have been patrons of the century-old Kesar Da Dhaba. After finding our way through the narrow winding lanes, we were amply rewarded with desi ghee parathas, mah ki dal, chole, palak paneer, gulab jamoon, gajar ka halwa, and phirni and kulfi.

History revisited

The entrance to Jalianwala Bagh — a lone, narrow path gives one the feel of the helplessness of the martyrs as it lay blocked on that Baisakhi day of April 13, 1919. Bullet marks tell the gory tale of the massacre of 2,000 Indians. A Martyr's Gallery provides first hand experiences and houses the script of the letter Rabindranath Tagore wrote returning his knighthood.

Durgiana Temple is built much on the design of the Golden Temple with the main temple in the centre surrounded by a lake. Unfortunately it does not match the scale and grandeur of the Golden Temple and the maintenance also leaves much to be desired. The day had come to a close as we sat listening to the honey-drenched shabdh at the Golden Temple. The crimson rays of the setting sun on the golden dome were beautifully reflected in the lake and we reflected on the return journey we were to make the next morning and the more important journey on which we are all embarked. The serenity that had descended on us at Amritsar would serve us well on the onward journey.

SHEFALI TRIPATHI MEHTA

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