My trip to Amritsar

The Amritsar tour has been on my mind for a long time. As soon as the date was fixed, I started to plan my solo trip. I took a two-day “visit to Amritsar”. “Places to Visit in Amritsar”.

I carefully planned both my days before leaving. Where to stay, which places to visit in which order on which day, and at which places to enjoy the famous cuisine of Amritsar, these aspects have been decided by considering these aspects.

At which place, and how much time should be spent, was also predicted. He had also prepared a list of the items that could be needed and kept all the items with him.

The duration was short, so the medium of air travel was chosen to travel from Delhi to Amritsar. It was necessary to make pre-determining so that I could make full use of my time during the journey and also see all the important places.

As a result, in Amritsar, I did not need to think about anything because I had all the instructions on a single piece of paper. I am satisfied that the journey was executed the way it was thought.

Delhi to Amritsar

The departure time of my plane from Indira Gandhi International Airport was 05:30 am. I was completely blown away seeing the facilities, grandeur, and security of the entire airport as per international standards. I was very happy to see the aura of this gateway to India.

It was interesting to see the huge variety of airplanes standing there. The interior of the airport looked like a city. My service provider was ‘Air India’. I knew that I could carry small things with me and sit in no queue.

That’s why I kept a small bag with me, as a result of which I did not take much time for security checks. There was some time to board the plane so I sat in the hall. Airplanes always impress me. Their size, flight, etc. In this curiosity, I kept looking at the airstrip and the planes through the windows.

On getting the information I started towards the plane. As soon as I entered her plane, the flight attendant greeted me by saying ‘Namaskar’. I also responded with folded hands. Even in this state-of-the-art service, the interview about Indian culture was mesmerizing.

I had requested and allotted the space opposite the window to see the wonderful view of the sky and the sunrise. We were informed through AIR on the plane that it would take us half an hour to reach Delhi to Amritsar. I was very curious about the flight.

Eventually, the aircraft started disembarking and reached the main runway. As soon as he increased his speed to take flight, an invisible force started pressing me into his chair. It didn’t take me long to guess that it was ‘G-Force’. Saw about it on Doordarshan but felt its effect for the first time.

In no time we came thousands of feet above the ground and got amazing views of the open sky. The different types of clouds and the rising sun in their midst had appeared in front of me as if coming out of a map of imagination.

Harmandir Sahib | Harmandir Sahib

After reaching Amritsar, my first stop was the Golden Temple or Harmandir Sahib or Darbar Sahib. Harmandir Sahib is known to be synonymous with service and I experienced it firsthand after reaching there. I saw people cleaning themselves everywhere on campus. People had put up pots everywhere.

Room arrangements were available free of cost for the people to stay. A free bus was also in service to travel from the railway station to the Durbar complex. After entering through the main door, there was a huge square courtyard made of white marble.

In the middle of the courtyard was a sacred pond and in the middle of it was the Golden Temple. The main gurdwara was completely colored by Kanchan. A bridge existed to connect the courtyard to the Golden Temple. The water of the pond is considered sacred. This reservoir was built by Guru Ram Dasji. The fish floating in it were also of golden color and looked very attractive.

After having a good look at the whole complex, I saw the people wishing for the sanctum sanctorum. The crowd was huge and I also became a part of this crowd. After walking for about 2 hours slowly, he entered the main room. There Ardas was being recited in front of the Guru Granth Sahib.

All this was being broadcast live from the video camera installed on the same. When a Punjabi channel passed in front of my eyes in my childhood, I used to see similar pictures. But at that time, it was not understood what it was and the depiction there. It was a pleasant experience to see the holiest pilgrimage of Sikhism, but they still had to see one custom — langar.

I had heard a lot about this tradition of service but was going to feel it for the first time that day. As soon as we entered the langar site, we were given plates and bowls. Many people were eating in the main room, so the rest were waiting outside for their turn.

After waiting for a while, we all entered inside. I found an empty space and took my seat there. The dining room was spacious and had seating for many people. At the meal, dal roti was served. There was also a different way of giving bread.

We had to keep our taxes in the form of begging, and the food servicers used to put the roti on their hands. The food was delicious. After eating, I put my plate in the cistern outside the room. There were many people working in an organized way to clean the plates. He was doing his work very efficiently in all senses of service. This experience was new to me.

Before departure, I sat in the courtyard for some time and gazed at the premises. With a pleasant experience, I exited the Golden Temple and proceeded toward my next stop — Jallianwala Bagh.

Jallianwala Bagh | Short Note on Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy

After visiting the Golden Temple, a symbol of service, it was time for Jallianwala Bagh, a symbol of sacrifice. Jallianwala Bagh is situated a few steps away from Harmandir Sahib. There is a stone pillar outside the entrance.

The figure of many human faces has been engraved on this stone about 15 feet high. This memorial has been built in memory of the Indians who were martyred by the barbaric bullets of the British on April 19, 1919.

At the same time, in the courtyard of the garden, the words ‘Jallianwala Bagh’ was written in Hindi, English, and Punjabi languages ​​on the wall of the blood group. My mind had started turning the pages of history.

But as soon as I saw the main gate of the garden, I suddenly stopped. The events of 1919 began to come alive in my memories. The narrow road through which he enters the garden was still telling his stories with the same bricks.

The matter is on 10 March 1919 when the British wrote another chapter of oppression on Indians. A law was passed in the Legislative Council at that time, i.e., today’s Parliament House. This was called the Rowlatt Law.

Under this, any Indian could be imprisoned at any time, without legal permission, without trial, indefinitely. The prisoner was not allowed to know about his crime, evidence, or even about the complainant. Even the newspaper was screwed.

On April 19, 1919, on the occasion of Baisakhi, many people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. Those people were opposing this law peacefully. The English soldier, “General Dyer’ posted in Amritsar, entered the garden with his detachment. He put up barriers on the exit so that no one could go out and started firing indiscriminately.

Soon, the brutal bullets of the British started penetrating the bodies of the Indians. Humanity everywhere began to fall on the earth in the form of dead bodies. Many people jumped inside a well located in the garden to save their lives. This scene of vandalism continued for 10 minutes, and then the sound of gunfire subsided.

But that did not pacify the cries of those people, which I was still able to feel. While passing through that path, he was touching those stones with his fingers. This was my heartfelt tribute to those martyrs.

On reaching the garden, I saw the Amar Jyoti, which burns eternally in the memory of the dead. The nature of the garden has changed a lot now. It has been made beautiful, but at that time it was just an empty space.

A solid triangle has been drawn to mark the spot from which the bullets were fired. This sentence is inscribed on it — “From here people were fired upon.” In front of him were many bushes that were carved in the shape of soldiers firing guns.

All of them were giving the impression of some kind of living depiction. After walking some more, at the end of the garden was the same wall made of red bricks, which had also suffered bullets along with those men. The bullet marks are still recorded on that wall, and they have been marked for the convenience of the tourists. There were 36 marks in total.

On that day, people thought that a still wall was worth taking pictures of, but hearing the sound of that wall moaning was not a rare thing. Shame you have come to hide your face in this wall.

After paying obeisance to the living witness of the incident that tainted the holy land of Amritsar with blood, I went ahead. A huge monument stands in the middle of the garden. As a symbol of this event, he always reminds the whole world how the human struggle took place in the land of India, which is the mother of human civilization.

It was also unforgettable for me to see the well that gave those people the means to save their lives. Then the well was closed from all sides and we could see inside only through the window. It was huge and deep. There was nothing to be seen except the darkness below.

I shuddered at the thought of what a terrible sight it must have been when people jumped into it. Next to the well, it was written, “124 bodies removed from here.”

I went a little further and then entered a museum built there. In it photographs and lectures of many of the dead and injured were displayed. It was sad to see those innocent people, but seeing another exhibition near them felt like some ointment.

A few years ago, there came a group of Britishers who, with teary eyes, apologized for this brutality. Its pictures were also there. Although the feeling of this guilt could not reduce India’s reputation, it could certainly become a means of their repentance.

With the end of the exhibition in the museum, the way for my departure from Jallianwala Bagh was cleared. After coming out, I looked back at that garden, and, after paying homage to those martyrs, I came out of the memories of 1919 and returned to the present day.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre caused further anger among Indians towards the British and, finally, India became independent on August 15, 1947. But we had to pay a heavy price for this freedom — partition. To really feel it, my next stop was the Wagah-Attari border on the India-Pakistan international border.

Wagah Attari Border | Wagah Border

Visitors will be able to find visitors to Attari Border Wagah Border within the premises of Golden Temple. That day at 2 pm I spoke to a person. He told me that he would take Him He would also take me to the Attari border and bring me back in the evening. I was very curious and hurriedly sat in that car.

There was only one place left in the car. I got to sit on the wooden plank. I knew that the journey was long and time-consuming. However, this inconvenience was lost in the eagerness to reach my destination.

After traveling for 1 hour, we stopped at the place from where we had to cover the distance of 1 kilometer to the international border on foot. I got into a queue with the crowd and was under the close watch of the Border Security Force.

The working method and discipline of these soldiers can be gauged from the fact that even after the afternoon sun and heat, we did not have the courage to break the queues and go ahead. If any man made such an attempt, he was put somewhere behind in the queue. The whole thing was quite entertaining to watch. I was also a part of this curious crowd, carrying a cap and a water bottle.

The fierce sun was also determined to test our patience, but when there is a real desire to achieve a goal, then the obstacles in the path seem insignificant. In the end, after our search and checking, we reached the entrance of the venue. Everyone else was moving forward in curiosity, but I stayed there, or rather, my feet stopped on their own.

On my right hand, I saw ‘Seema Bada’. In fact, in its territory a few meters from the border, India has made fences or barriers with barbed wire and nets, which help in preventing illegal infiltration from Pakistan into India.

I had read about these fences many times and also seen them on Doordarshan, but was seeing them for the first time directly. I came across the border for the first time.

In front of me, I saw the entrance, which was very high and on it was written “INDIA” in big letters. This scene brought a proud smile to my face and carrying this feeling inside me, I also entered the venue.

The food there was made on-site. It was a circular area. On three sides, from bottom to top, there was a place for people to sit, which was full and people were standing.

The Grand Trunk Road (GT Road) on which I stood crosses the border and enters Pakistan. On this road, there were doors on both sides of the border, and next to them were hoisted with the national flags of India and Pakistan. ‘INDIA’ was written on one side of our door and ‘India’ on the other.

In the space between the two doors, the gunmen commandos were standing eye to eye with their Pakistani counterparts. There was a white line between the two commandos, which was the actual international border. Across the I saw Pakistan. Only a handful of people appeared there. I had a different feeling about being an Indian that day.

In such a short time, it was a difficult task to tie the majority of the experiences related to nationality into the bundle of our psyche. I was explaining my eyesight to get them quickly that the BSF men asked me to go up the stairs.

Due to a lack of space, I reached the top step and stood at a place where the crowd was less. After getting still, I started looking at the surrounding scenery, and then my eyes fell on the fields behind, and I became very emotional with what I saw there.

In the middle of the fields, I again saw the same fences. As far as the vision went, the obstruction was visible. The actual limit is known from the boundary column, but those nets did not seem to be less than any limit. I was really saddened to see these lines ruining my Akhand Bharat. I always feel sorry for the fact that India was partitioned.

Taking care of myself in those moments, I became aware. I saw two Border Security Force personnel patrolling their two-wheelers along with the enclosures.

I was watching all this when I thought of the 90-degree angle border. Like I said that the boundary is displayed from the border column. There is a pillar near the venue, whose special thing is that from here the boundary makes an angle of 90 degrees, hence it is called the 90-degree Seema Pillar.

Two BSF personnel were deployed for its security. Solar-powered electric bulbs were also installed near it for illumination. It was very interesting for me to see all this live.

On the main road, Border Security Force personnel and trainers were also in plain uniform. He was doing the work of inspiring enthusiasm in the audience. Slogans were being raised praising the country. He would say “Bharat Mata ki” and all the people would proudly answer “Jai”. Similarly, the slogan of “Hindustan Zindabad” was also deepening the color of patriotism in Fiza.

The voices of veneration of Mother India kept coming out of my tongue unintentionally, but there I was feeling its threat in every particle of my body. Only then some women were given tricolor flags and they were asked to run near the border and come back again. This series started with two women, and the convoy continued to grow.

The tricolor wavering in his hands, as well as patriotic songs, were infusing immense energy into Sama. After this, the program started. In a planned manner, Indian and Pakistani soldiers started performing a symbolic demonstration of the force.

Sometimes by slamming the feet and sometimes by showing aggressive postures with the hands. It sounded like a real movie with the upbeat tunes behind it. For 1 hour, in that atmosphere, the feeling of patriotism kept stirring inside us.

In the evening, both the national flags were lowered in a dramatic manner and the border gate was closed. With this, the grand finale of this wonderful program came to an end. Before I left, I looked at those border barriers again. While diving in the ocean of patriotism, once again the waves of sorrow threw me some distance.

I came outside the main venue after walking with the crowd. I turned and looked at that huge entrance. In my limited memory and eyes, I could capture as much of the honor of the nation and the history associated with it.

After seeing the history of partition and this priceless heritage of Amritsar, it was time to face history in another way. My next stop was the Historical Museum.

Historical Museum

The following day, I visited several places.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Fort | Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum: The fort of the founder of Amritsar and the museum contain many stories about his life.

Here at the National War Memorial | National War Memorial: Here the story of every battle fought by the Indian Army, Navy, and Navy is duly depicted. How the soldiers sacrificed their everything to maintain the integrity of India has been explained by the multidimensional method (light, voice, and tableau). A very high sword has been made in its main courtyard, whose tip is towards the sky. A seven-dimensional movie (Seven-D) is also shown here which is dedicated to the Indian Army. In this building, divided into several sections, full tribute has been paid to the army.

Partition Museum | Partition Museum: Partition Museum was very important in my pre-scheduled program. The story of an accident can best be told by those who have been affected the most. Similarly, Amritsar, who had experienced the wounds of Partition firsthand, could narrate the vision very well. The Partition Museum is located behind Harmandir Sahib. From the outside, it appears to be an ordinary place, but on Going inside, it is filled with living history. There are four floors in this museum, and on each floor, some aspect of the partition is displayed in detail. Whenever I used to think about partition, my thinking used to be limited to the division on the ground. It was never thought that, apart from land, there was also a division of money, culture, sports, railways, government machinery, etc. The Partition of Akhand Bharat has always been a painful aspect for me, and to talk about it or remember it makes me very happy. As soon as I entered, pictures appeared in front of me of what the land of Amritsar would have seen in 1947. As a result of the massacre, bodies were lying all over the road, and there were vultures sitting side by side eating these dead bodies. Burnt houses, crying people who left everything hanging on the roof of the train and were going towards nothingness.

Many people donated objects from their loved ones (who had experienced the tragedy of 1947) to the museum. That object and their experiences were also there.

All those poignant scenes were beyond imagination and description. Today’s shining bright India has seen such a day too. It is very difficult to think of it. Today’s people are unaware of what freedom is and at what cost, because we have had it naturally since birth.

So, after the formation of Pakistan, there was no means for printing its currency, so till the time the Reserve Bank of Pakistan was not functional, its currency was also printed by the Reserve Bank of India itself. Army units that were in their area were given to Pakistan. Similarly, the operation of the railway was restricted to the Indian border.

The tracks laid in Pakistan thus came to their share. International players representing undivided India are also split. The players who played together earlier also played face-to-face for India and Pakistan.

The refugees’ exhibition was poignant. Temporary arrangements were made for a large number of displaced people. It seemed as if only a temporary city had been settled.

Before leaving their house, people gave the keys to the house to their neighbors and told them that they will return when everything becomes normal. From this sentence, the culmination of mental torture and compulsion can be estimated. Leaving your home, business, and loved ones with the reassurance that they will come back sometime. Actually, it was never going to occur.

Even the business was affected by the division. After the partition, the customers of Indian businessmen based in Karachi and Lahore had to get export permission from the government for supply. It has become mandatory for them to write “Made in India’ on their products.

After staying there for 3 hours, it seemed that nothing had been missed. The fine details related to the partition were mentioned in the museum. In the last room, there were several provisions for recording the reactions of the guests.

People were so impressed that they waited for their turn to record their views. An artificial tree was also built on which people were hanging their handwritten messages and drawing them on a page.

I also recorded my thoughts in the visitor’s book and left this magnificent building of history with the comfort that I would come back sometime.

The land of Amritsar is full of valor, sacrifice, and service history. On one hand, this holy earth has made the words of service paramo dharma meaningful, while on the other hand, it has preserved the feeling of nationalism.

When I saw the bravery of the brave soldiers of my country at the Attari border, I groped the history of India in the Partition Museum. With this, my visit to Amritsar came to an end and I left this land with mixed memories.