Fellowship to Amritsar
23 Rotarians from our Club made it to Amritsar for 2 nights and 3 days for an outing that many of us might not have chosen as a prime travel destination. The history of Amritsar is full of anecdotes. 3 days were obviously too short to check all those anecdotes, but it was enough to dive back in time and get a good flair of this place.
The city was once called Ramdaspur and later Ambarsar. Located in western Punjab and today just 28 km away from the Pakistan border, the city is the seat of the Sikh Religion and headquarters of the Amritsar District. The city is surrounded by lush green fields on all sides and is famous across the world for its traditional cuisine.
Golden temple
After touching down on time at the international airport Amritsar (all in one plane), we made it to the hotel in white Innova’s (98 % of the cars in Amritsar seemed to be white). Quick lunch and off to the highlight of any Amritsar trip: the Golden Temple.
The Harmandir Sahib literally means the Temple of God. Guru Amar Das had ordered Guru Ram Das to create a nectarous tank as a place for worship for the Sikh religion. Guru Ram Das instructed all his Sikhs to join in the work, under Bhai Budha’s superintendence, and engaged labourers to assist them. He said that the tank of nectar should be God’s home, and whoever bathed in it shall obtain all spiritual and temporal advantages. During the progress of the
work, the hut in which the Guru first sheltered himself was expanded for his residence. It is now known as the Guru’s Mahal, or palace.
In 1578 Guru Ram Das excavated a tank, which subsequently became known as Amritsar (Pool of the Nectar of Immortality), giving its name to the city that grew around it. In due course, the Harmandir Sahib, was built in the middle of this tank and became the supreme centre of Sikhism.
Jallianwala Massacre
Before seeing the Golden Temple marvel, we paid tribute to a place that represents one of the lowlights of Indian
history: we went to the memorial of the martyrs of the infamous Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. It stands in close proximity to the Golden Temple & remains a sad testimony to the violent colonial past of the city and to the valour of the Sikhs.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13th April 1919 when a crowd of nonviolent protesters gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, were fired upon by troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer. The civilians had assembled to participate in the annual Baisakhi celebrations – both a religious and cultural festival for the Punjabis. Coming from outside the city, they may have been unaware of the martial law that had been imposed.
The Bagh-space comprised 6 to 7 acres and was walled on all sides with five entrances. On Dyer’s orders, his troops
fired on the crowd for ten minutes, directing their bullets largely towards the few open gates through which people were trying to flee. The British government released figures stating 379 dead and 1200 wounded. Other sources place the number of dead at well over 1000. In their desperation, many pilgrims jumped into a well for shelter, today known as the martyrs well. This “brutality stunned the entire nation”, resulting in a “wrenching loss of faith” of the general public in the intentions of Britain.
Radha Swami Satsang, Beas
Some of us took the opportunity to visit the world’s largest Ashram, a place that is amazing in more than one way: it is spread over more than 1,400 acres, has some 25,000 people permanently living there, but can comfortably accommodate (bed and food) another 15 lakh people at any point of time! The Ashram has the world’s largest hall, sitting some 7 lakh people under one single roof and is spic and span. Also we enjoyed the ‘langar food’ before we
headed back to see the…
Changing of the guards at the Attari-Wagah-border
Wagah is the only road border crossing between Pakistan and India.
Every day at dusk, Indian and Pakistani border guards put on a show of one upmanship at the Wagah border crossing on the road between Amritsar in India and Lahore in Pakistan. Thousands on both sides of the border show up to watch, from the stands, everyday as the soldiers try to outdo the other side by marching and performing drill in an exaggerated fashion, with impressively high leg kicks.
One soldier stands at attention on each side of the gate. As the sun sets, the iron gates of the border are thrown open (literally) and the two flags are lowered simultaneously. The flags are folded and the ceremony ends with a retreat that involves a brusque handshake between soldiers from either side, followed by the closing of the gates.
Amritsari food and Bombay foodies
Both evenings had culinary highlights:
Thursday night – after another legendary “room party” (Thank you Malti for taking so good care of everyone), we had all sorts of Punjabi starters, mains and deserts at the Hyatt Gardens. The Chef did his best to embrace all sorts of local Punjabi village cooking styles.
The local cuisine of Punjab is heavily influenced by the agriculture and farming lifestyle prevalent from the times of the ancient Harappan Civilization. Locally grown staple foods form the major part of the local cuisine. Distinctively Punjabi cuisine is known for its rich, buttery flavours along with the extensive vegetarian and meat dishes. Main dishes include Sarson Da Saag and Makki Di Roti.
Along these lines, most of us “daring one’s” went out Friday evening to try 5 different Amritsar Dhabas. No trip to Amritsar is complete without tasting the famous fish and chicken recipes. With the initial part of our tour happening in the new city, we also went to the old city where we had a huge repertoire of the famous Dhabhas.
Most of us returned Saturday afternoon to Bombay after a trip full of beautiful memories, full stomachs and full suitcases, wondering why it took so many years to actually make it to Amritsar. I, too being among the first timers, already look forward to returning to this buzzing city…
A big thank you especially to Ritu, Mudit and the fellowship team that made this trip possible!
-Write-up & pictures by Rtn. Christopher Bluemel