The temple of Gold and bit patriotism!
“Ek onkar.. satnam karta purakh…” (Rang de Basanti Song)
It was the Alarm tone set yesterday night, with a intention to keep my mood alive to visit the “Golden temple” on a Lazy November Morning
Woke up..Removed the Blanket.Landed my legs on the ice cold marble floor of “Hotel Samrat” along with the leg i landed up in a couple of realities!
I was in Ludhiana right at the Heart of Punjab! I am here for some supplier meeting for the company and Today is the first Holiday since i landed up here!
Amritsar is about 140 kms from this place..So before getting into a second thought i just marked this day for the Temple of Gold!
Alright! Its already 6:15! There is a train at 6.30 from Ludhiana to Amritsar according to my roomboy Govind! Govind is not a boy though..He is a very old man hailed from Haridwar.He was my travel advisor literally in Ludhiana.
I went to the restroom had a quick shower! dressed up with a typical indian kurta and a jeans! then took a bag with my glasses camera mobile charger, jacket and toothbrush in!
All set! I locked the room and started walking outside!
Govind was sitting on a chair in corridor!
I said “Good Morning” .
He greeted me back and said “Jaldi Jao Nahi to Gaadi chal jayega”
He was right it was already 06.25. I came out of the hotel got a Auto wala and rushed to the Railway Station.
But i was safe! I got the train. Got a side seat.It was quite a easy Journey for me Just around 3 hours I reached Amritsar
Railway station. It was just like any other North Indian Station.People everywhere Sitting, Standing, Sleeping. Spitting.
I got out of the Station. Got a shared Auto to my destination!
Being a south Indian, and one never travelled to Punjab before, The Auto Rickshaws of Punjab found to be interesting for me. Kind of Re-Engineered one’s!
Around 12 people can travel in a Auto at a time!! I thought of Kerala Auto-drivers they will hardly take 4! Incredible
India!!!
In another five minutes I reached the last stop of rickshaw and the driver told that temple is just a half km away!
I started walking through a road as guided by Autowala .Both sides of the road had some colorful Shops crowded with people. Lot of people were selling the yellow towel to be tied in the head before entering the temple.
I bought one for 10 bucks and reached in front of my destination.
It is always a awesome feeling when you reaches your destination comfortably.
I gave my chappal and bag in the locker room and just walked into the temple!
Whoa! It was absolutely stunning! You will feel the positive vibes as u just enter this temple!
Just for a moment i thought about the 1984 sikh massacre, golden temple and Indira Gandhi! This temple have a lot to say…a lot…
It was a along que inside with “Wahe Guru” chants and it slowly peeked into the bridge from Gurdwara to the Akal Takhat, the heart of the temple.
In another half an hour I Reached inside the Akal Takhat, It was even overwhelming feeling of spirituality.
I sat near Akal Takht for a while and quietly observed the world around me.!
Sikhs, Kids, Beautiful Punjabi women ;)
It was around 12 o’clock when i decided to walk back to the cloakroom and a goodbye to Golden temple!
I got my Gadgets back from the cloakroom and started walking back through the way i came
Jallianwala bagh was about another half an hour from the temple. I made a quick visit there also.
The place where one of the most tragical incident of Indian freedom fight has encountered.
I saw Marty’s well which took life of about 120 people..The bullet marks on the wall!
If you hear closely..you can hear the yelling of the innocent people of Amritsar!
After that My plan was to visit the “Wagah Border” which was just about 35 kms from here and thus will compleate my day!
The had some bargaining and got a shared Auto to the ‘Pakistan Border’
There is a Khushwant singh book called ‘the train to Pakistan’ and this is ‘Auto to pakistan’ Ironic! ☺
Reached wagah in another half an hour!
While travelling i saw a green board saying “ lahore 23 kms” :O
“How close enemy is ?“ I wondered
There was a high level security check at the border..the BSF was filtering everyone into the stadium with micro precision!
Alas! I reached the stadium!
The Atmosphere was electrifying..10 or 20 times better than watching a Indo Pak Match at Wangde!
Here there is no Mawadi, Madirasi, Hindu, Muslim, Christian all are one and they have only one enemy! and that enemy is right infront named “Pakisthan”
Rahmans ‘Maa tujhe salaam’ was on high pitch! I felt like this man is playing BGM for my life!
People were roaring and the bsf guy in charge of the show was trying his level best to provoke the crowd to say” Bharath mata ki jai”
The Colorful Punjabi girls were dancing in the road! What a sight ☺
The same series of things were happening on the other side also! lot of songs and drama!
Then the parade started. The stadium was pumped with patriotism and It was a dream like experience!
In another one hour i left Wagah to Amritsar railway station to catch the train back to my room at Ludhiana.
With a heart filled with spirituality and patriotism .
Around 9 in the night i reached back in the ‘Manchester of India- Ludhiana ‘ .
I bought a parcel of Kadai chicken and Kashmiri pulao from “Pritam’s Dhaba” Near Cloak tower Ludhiana.
Then headed back to Hotel.
