- Is The Golden Temple the best temple in India?
- A very bad day for the British
- A soccer game/a circus/a war……the Pakistan border
Punjabi food is my favourite in India. For some odd reason, however, I made a big
mistake when I arrived in Amritsar, Punjab.
I saw porridge on the menu and I quite fancied a change from curry for
breakfast. The porridge was made with
olive oil. Dear Indian Cuisine, I will
never cheat on you again.
The Golden Temple, the Sikh’s most important shrine is
renowned for being the most lavish temple in India. Only 5 hours by train from Delhi for some
reason it had eluded my weekends whilst I was based there. So I felt I had to make an effort to go to
this temple and see if it could push Akshardham off my ‘best temple in India spot’ (click here to read post). So what do
you think?
Quite pretty ehFor me there was no comparison. The energy of the Golden Temple surpasses any
other temple I've come across in India.
The Sikh religion was founded primarily due to a need for
equality at a time that the caste system (driven by Hinduism) was prominent in
the country. The main thing I’ve seen
from Sikhs in India is their value on hard work. It’s a generalization but you very rarely see
a Sikh not doing something productive. I've also been turbanated and danced at a Sikh
wedding so I’m slightly biased. However,
the amount of people and energy at sunrise was spectacular (and this was an
average day).
Here's me when I got turbanated back in Jan...
A good example of the energy of the place is Guru Ka Langar, the free kitchen they have that serves up to 80,000 meals every day. It’s a clockwork operation from lines of volunteers handing you a plate to the turbanated cleaner coming round every 15 minutes to get the room squeaky clear for the next c1,000 hungry punters. The food is unbelievable, no olive oil porridge in sight. Just Dharba quality Punjabi food.
Among the other sites in Amritsar is the Hindu Durga temple
which oddly is a replica of the Sikh Golden Temple. On a smaller scale and kept up in true Hindu
style ie. in bad need of maintenance. Although to be fair the trout in the water looked a lot happier!
The most important site in Amritsar is one that changed the
course of Indian Independence. In 1919 a
peaceful protests was taking place in Jallainwala Bagh gardens. A British Brigadier ordered to fire
continuously on the crowd for ten minutes.
The majority of bullet holes still remaining are all around the exit
gates which are where the army had been told to aim when the protesters tried
to escape.
c375 people were
killed and all of a sudden the world took
notice that the British India relationship was not working. It was key driver in Gandhi’s ‘non-violence’
position. The Richard Attenborough film depicts the event well; it’s one of the
greatest films from the last century and if you are visiting or even just
interested in India I highly recommend a watch:
One of the outputs of Independence was Pakistan and friction
with India hasn't stopped since. So it’s
odd that despite continuous militant attacks and nuclear ego tricks on both
sides that once a day they have a little dance off. The border crossing at Wagah just outside
Amritsar is home to one of the most bizarre shows I have ever seen. Either side of the
border are grandstands packed full of people.
The only visible difference on the Pakistan side is the separation of
men and women. Both groups spend about
30 minutes showing off that they can put on the biggest party (luckily without
a bomb in site).
The Indian crowd...
It’s weird, really weird.
Despite the heavy presence of the army on each side they wear special
uniforms which just add to the humour.
Although, despite the funny hat you wouldn't mess with this fella.
To lead the madness there is an MC (yes an MC) in a
tracksuit with a microphone shouting at the crowd whilst bollywood music pumps
out of massive speakers to encourage them.
Indians then run towards the border crossing at quite a pace in a line
dancing to tunes such as Jai Ho whilst the crowd goes wild. Imagine a cross between a soccer game and a
circus. The army then get involved in
the dancing in the more formal section of the show by marching up to the border
with and kicking up in the air. The lads kick their own face infront of the
opposing army. Considering the splintering noise from the speakers it's a very weird way to look at 'peacetalks' but for one hour every day it works. Shame it's all for show.
Here's a video of the ceremony from Michael Palin's BBC show. He makes it look pretty formal but trust me, behind the cameras the place is a circus!
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