Saturday 8th May 2010
10pm
Dormitory room, the Golden Temple, Amritsar
India
I just tried Kulfi - a type of Indian Ice Cream. I've no photograph but I just had it out in the super busy street. It's a different texture from other ice cream, the western type, this stuff is dense. Mine was served with some kind of transparent noodles on the top with a load of cherry sauce. The ice cream itself was in a carrot shape but less rounded and of a dark brown colour. It cost 15 rupees.
This is my last night here, tomorrow I'll go to Dharamsala, the adopted home of the Dalia Lama. I'll take it a bus there as early as possible tomorrow. I may have to take two. The only direct one leaves near lunch time but separate buses can be taken via Pathankot and will get me there earlier.
I had a nice communal dinner tonight with several fellow travellers from the dorm here, before which we visited Attari together, which is a place on the border with Pakistan. Every evening at the border gates there they hold a parade/show/ceremony.
Anyway, tonight I was joined by an interesting mix of people; Sun-Jin from South Korea, who had just completed an internship with Hyundai Motors in India and is now travelling; A French-Canadian girl, who has been on the road several months; A Steve from the Brighton area and of Sri Lankan descent, who had recently graduated in English Literature from Westminster University; Also two girls living and working in Delhi for a human rights law firm, one is from Orpington and the other Zurich.
The dinner hall was the busiest I'd seen it and trying to help with the washing up afterwards was nigh on impossible, though we managed 15 minutes all the same. They had yellow rice with he dinner tonight, yum.
...also at the border ceremony with us tonight was a girl called Emmy, a Swedish girl of 20 living in Berlin and working as a club rep.
At around 4pm 8 of us, who had all got talking to each other in the dorm earlier in the day, headed in a mini-bus - 75 rupees each - to the border with Pakistan at Attari for the daily ceremony held at sunset. There were thousands and thousands of people there and many opportunists street sellers pushing CDs and DVDs of the event.
We were sat in a circus maximus like arena with big gates half way along separating India from Pakistan. Indians cheering, dancing, shouting slogans are at one end egged on by an official Mr Motivator working them up into a frenzy. On the Pakistani side the men and women sat separated in a far more subdued manner.
The half-stadium like venue, as the seats run only along one side, with a curved section at each end looks down on a two land road which cars travel down until 4pm each day to cross the border by road. People piled into their seats on the Indian side and it was standing room only. Foreigners were accommodated in a separate section closer to the border gate however. The pre-ceremony build-up was dominated by loud music - party style, on both sides. It was hard to clearly see the Pakistani side but it was clearly less populated and less lively than the Indian one.
In turn girls on the Indian side ran 100 yards or so down the road carrying and/or waving a huge Indian flag; they ran up to the gates and then back where the came from with the friends and family taking pictures. This went on for a good 10 minutes with the chosen ones enjoying every second.
After this Bhangra music burst out loud and women from the crowd were again allowed onto the road this time all dancing together for a good 20 minutes or so to different songs while the observant Indian soldiers prepared for the official part of the ceremony and watched on.
All the younger soldiers directed the crowd coming in to their seats and advised them not to stand. They were all fine young examples of Indian men. In neat khaki uniforms, black boots, long white socks and all wearing big red hats with some kind of big fan on the top running from their foreheads to the backs of theirs heads like a mohican. They looked centurion like.
The ceremony consisted of lots of organised yelling from the soldiers and high boot marching down to the border gates one by one as they were cheered on by the spectators until finally the flags of each nation were lowered and the soldiers from both sides shook hands. It was a fun and interesting spectacle . The music was great.
I must get a CD of Indian and Bhangra music to remind me of this event in future years.
In the mini-bus down the driver played his tapes out loud and I looked at the desolate but beautiful landscape as the day was drawing in; the majestic 200 year-old Khalsa College; the unkempt country roads and the flat fields, their edges tree-lined and running off in all directions into the distance; cows and dogs idling by the road side; cyclists on their old and rusty bikes and rusty rickshaws full of people rushing by; occasional restaurants, isolated in the sparse surroundings. In the dimming light it all seemed nicely atmospheric, perhaps even romantic.
I hope the pictures of the ceremony come out well.
Earlier in the day all I did was eat at the temple for breakfast, where today a man made me hold his baby while he talked to me. Afterwards I wondered around the old town and the used the internet. I did some reading back at the dorm but not too much.
The dorm is a little busier tonight.
The old town is lots of old twisting alleyways that are easy to get lost in. Many roads in India do not have road signs, let alone small alleyways.
It was good to partially catch-up on my e-mail.
Yesterday evening I didn't see the cricket, India lost.
England play tonight against South Africa.
I've probably forgotten lots of things, many minor, that took place last night and this morning. I've lost count of the number of people who have said 'hi' in giggles passing by or attempted conversations with me. Several people sat around me this morning when I took a break from walking around the temple pool. It did get a tad overawing. Of course it is all friendly but it naturally feels odd to be subject to so much attention. One wonders what British colonialists felt hundreds of years ago, if it was same then then I can only imagine it may have hugely fed their egos.
Anyway...
I need to make a donation to the temple here for my stay. I'll do that after finishing my diary notes.
Tomorrow it is back to Buddhist India, and I hope much more learning of all things Buddhist. It should be exciting and interesting. I may stay there a few weeks. I just hope there are some good people, places and resources to make good use of.
Amritsar and the Sikh religion has made a big positive impact on me, although I only have a small grasping of their religion I've a lot of respect for it and its truly devoted followers.
But now back to the Buddhist road...
...time to donate, pack, and sleep.
...finally, I am sure Amritsar will be one of the defining memories of my time in India, I recommend it to everyone to come here.