16th-17th of April 2011
Introduction:
Living in Chandigarh made me discover several religions but especially the main one in this part of the country: Sikh. To summarize it, those are the men who are wearing a turban over their head and not cutting their hair. To be honest I really liked this style because often it was making a colorful combination with a suit or just with a normal wear.
Also the Sikhs are known about being, for the main part of them, part of the middle class with quite a lot of administrative functions in the government or in the army. Maybe it is also part of the history where during the British occupation those people were the main ones fighting against it.
Anyway, a lot of our Indian friends and the one very close to us were Sikhs (just like Robin, Preet, Anmol...) which allowed us to do even the "turban night" parties launched by our Brazilian mate José.
Something more I did like with this religion was the hospitality they have. Indeed, when you go to one Gurdwara (the Sikh temple) you can always have food for free no matter your religion, skin color or political views. It is something that really touched me first time I went to such a temple. This experience made me think about Europe or the western world where the religion or/and culture used to teach us the same but unfortunately it is changing because pursue of material self accomplishment or maybe also because of the social policy of the state which made you think that if you don't take of somebody the state will.
Well I think I said enough about my general thoughts ...
So the trip to Amritsar:
I think this was my first time taking a local bus instead of private taxi... indeed, it is something that has to be experienced in India mainly because they drive crazy...:) we travelled again on Friday night and reached Amritsar around 1am. The bus dropped us near the Golden Temple so this is where we went to.
Well i can tell that during the night the Golden Temple is charming. It is a complex of a 3 floors Temple shining in gold surrounded by a lake.
General info: men need to have their head covered when getting into the Gurdwara no matter if they are Sikhs or not. If you don't have a turban, the temple can provide you a small one for free or you can buy your own outside.
We did a small walk and went to look for accommodation. We knew that the Golden Temple complex was offering a place to stay to the tourists for free but it wasn't really easy to find. Well in the end Mato (My Slovakian roommate and friend) found it so we went for a small sleep (in a big dormitory where a lot of people were already sleeping)... it was indeed a small sleep because we waned to assist to the first prayer in the Gurdwara (First Ardas) at 5:30am... we arrived in the temple with all the Fidels and went to the last floor we we attended the ceremony. On the corners there were screens with the prayers translated in English. I was really fascinated because they were all about peace in the world and comprehension between the people and cultures. In the end of it was given to us a holy food (which is by the way delicious but impossible to remember the ingredients).
When it was over it was already the morning. We went for a walk around the temple and of course we took several pictures. The temple really looks majestic!
We had a break to eat and drink something at the square which hommages all the victims of the Amritsar massacre (very sad story and tiny connected to Ganghi's no violence revolution. A story which you can read more about here: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre)
Living in Chandigarh made me discover several religions but especially the main one in this part of the country: Sikh. To summarize it, those are the men who are wearing a turban over their head and not cutting their hair. To be honest I really liked this style because often it was making a colorful combination with a suit or just with a normal wear.
Also the Sikhs are known about being, for the main part of them, part of the middle class with quite a lot of administrative functions in the government or in the army. Maybe it is also part of the history where during the British occupation those people were the main ones fighting against it.
Anyway, a lot of our Indian friends and the one very close to us were Sikhs (just like Robin, Preet, Anmol...) which allowed us to do even the "turban night" parties launched by our Brazilian mate José.
Something more I did like with this religion was the hospitality they have. Indeed, when you go to one Gurdwara (the Sikh temple) you can always have food for free no matter your religion, skin color or political views. It is something that really touched me first time I went to such a temple. This experience made me think about Europe or the western world where the religion or/and culture used to teach us the same but unfortunately it is changing because pursue of material self accomplishment or maybe also because of the social policy of the state which made you think that if you don't take of somebody the state will.
Well I think I said enough about my general thoughts ...
So the trip to Amritsar:
I think this was my first time taking a local bus instead of private taxi... indeed, it is something that has to be experienced in India mainly because they drive crazy...:) we travelled again on Friday night and reached Amritsar around 1am. The bus dropped us near the Golden Temple so this is where we went to.
Well i can tell that during the night the Golden Temple is charming. It is a complex of a 3 floors Temple shining in gold surrounded by a lake.
General info: men need to have their head covered when getting into the Gurdwara no matter if they are Sikhs or not. If you don't have a turban, the temple can provide you a small one for free or you can buy your own outside.
We did a small walk and went to look for accommodation. We knew that the Golden Temple complex was offering a place to stay to the tourists for free but it wasn't really easy to find. Well in the end Mato (My Slovakian roommate and friend) found it so we went for a small sleep (in a big dormitory where a lot of people were already sleeping)... it was indeed a small sleep because we waned to assist to the first prayer in the Gurdwara (First Ardas) at 5:30am... we arrived in the temple with all the Fidels and went to the last floor we we attended the ceremony. On the corners there were screens with the prayers translated in English. I was really fascinated because they were all about peace in the world and comprehension between the people and cultures. In the end of it was given to us a holy food (which is by the way delicious but impossible to remember the ingredients).
When it was over it was already the morning. We went for a walk around the temple and of course we took several pictures. The temple really looks majestic!
We had a break to eat and drink something at the square which hommages all the victims of the Amritsar massacre (very sad story and tiny connected to Ganghi's no violence revolution. A story which you can read more about here: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre)
Pakistano-Indian boarder:
That was our last stop of our weekend trip and maybe one of the funniest: the ceremony of closing the boarder between India and Pakistan.
To reach the boarder, we rent a driver who dropped us next to the boarder military zone. We walked for a bit and bought some flags just like the Indians did in front of us and then we reached something like a stadium.
Regarding the people influence at this moment I wasn't feeling confident that we will be able to see something at all... and then we saw a man with a sign written "foreigners only"... after checking out ID he let us in and we arrived on reserved seats for the foreigners which were very close to the boarder line and also to the spectacle. Uhuuuu !!! :)
So the place where we were was looking like a stadium separated in the middle by the boarder and a metal gate: on one of its sides - Pakistan with people who were screaming "Pakistan", on the other side - India with the people screaming "Hindustan". To summarize it, it was looking a bit like a football fans singing battle where people can reach themselves only with their voices: so close but in the meantime so far... I am not a big fan of boarders...
Anyway, we were supporting of course India :) The whole ceremony was a soldier march on both sides which was getting very close to gymnastics with the legs of the soldiers going above their heads. The most remarkable sign was in the end when two soldiers (a Pakistani and an Indian) open the gate shake their hands and then close it again. Really nice experience!
We went back to Amritsar from where we took the local bus to go back to Chandigarh. Quite intensive 24h but for such an amazing experience.
That was our last stop of our weekend trip and maybe one of the funniest: the ceremony of closing the boarder between India and Pakistan.
To reach the boarder, we rent a driver who dropped us next to the boarder military zone. We walked for a bit and bought some flags just like the Indians did in front of us and then we reached something like a stadium.
Regarding the people influence at this moment I wasn't feeling confident that we will be able to see something at all... and then we saw a man with a sign written "foreigners only"... after checking out ID he let us in and we arrived on reserved seats for the foreigners which were very close to the boarder line and also to the spectacle. Uhuuuu !!! :)
So the place where we were was looking like a stadium separated in the middle by the boarder and a metal gate: on one of its sides - Pakistan with people who were screaming "Pakistan", on the other side - India with the people screaming "Hindustan". To summarize it, it was looking a bit like a football fans singing battle where people can reach themselves only with their voices: so close but in the meantime so far... I am not a big fan of boarders...
Anyway, we were supporting of course India :) The whole ceremony was a soldier march on both sides which was getting very close to gymnastics with the legs of the soldiers going above their heads. The most remarkable sign was in the end when two soldiers (a Pakistani and an Indian) open the gate shake their hands and then close it again. Really nice experience!
We went back to Amritsar from where we took the local bus to go back to Chandigarh. Quite intensive 24h but for such an amazing experience.