Amritsar means "Lake of Holy Nectar". It's one of the oldest cities in Punjab and has a proximity to Pakistan. You can see acres of land irrigated for farming. The land is prolific with abundance of air, water, wealth, health and willingness of people to work. The mesmerizing view of Golden Temple and the Wagha Border parade are the few instances which give Amritsar an opportunity to take pride in itself.
The Golden Temple :
A night view of Golden Temple (or Harimandir Sahib) which is a home to Guru Grant Sahib which is the last guru of Sikhs. The shrine is the most fascinating one as for its history as well as its present. The entire top portion of the temple and its fencing are made up of pure gold, the work of which was accomplished under the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
This is the interior view of the temple at night. Worth watching and admiring. Everyone is supposed to cover their head while going in. Though I could not understand the significance of it but i guess that is to mark a respect to the guru. Well, I must not forget to mention that the delicious prasad here is made up of absolutely pure ghee and is too very tasty. Infact, you get it at every spot of small temples within the shrine. After having prasads at 2 such temples we were completely full and had no place in stomach to eat it at the third one :)
We had taken this snap at around night 11 o ck when the ceremony of shifting the holy Grant Sahib to adjacent building was taking place after prayers. You can see the shining thing at the centre? Well that is actually a 'palkhi' through which the Grant Sahib gets carried. The whole night the actual place of the book in the Golden Temple gets cleaned by various people from Sikh community (it's a form of their Kar Seva, a nice concept...i feel every religion should have something like this) and the Holy Granth is restored at around 4 am with prayers.
This is the Golden Temple at day time. During day time people have a bath in the waters of the shrine. You know something surprising. This water whe
n tested for bacteria content shows it as nil. It is that pure even when people have a bath. Well, the reason is these fishes in the waters (on the left). Nice pets. :)
The Jallianwala Bagh:
This is a famous spot where peaceful protesters were mercilessly massacred in 1919 under British Office order of Gen. Dyer. More than 1500 people were injured with close to 500 killed in the casualty.
This is the narrow lane through which the armed battalion of Britisher soilders went in to fire the protesters.
This is the place from where the firing took place. Your blood really boils when you stand here. Well, one reason could also be 'coz it was scorching 43 deg there!
Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh - This is the entrance and perhaps the only remains of the palace now.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama Museum - The museum displays the entire life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was a brave, powerful, wise, kind, committed and intelligent king of his time. He owned the famous Kohinoor diamond which he put on his throne and the Britishers din't dare to invade his territory till the time he was alive. A very admirable man who assumed the throne and began his ventures to capturing the enemies right since 15th year of his age.
Wagha Border :
Do I need to say anything about this spot? Its the border between India and Pakistan. Every evening there is a co-ordinated parade that takes place between the two countries. Worth watching parade where both the commanders look very aggressive, perform superb and carry the dignity of their countries with equal pride.
The time when both the country men are right in front of each others open gates. They salute each other with stamping feet and move on. A heart warming scene. The crowd on the other end belongs to Pak. A lots of seats are still empty. What made me further annoyed was that there were barely a few ladies to watch the show. You could even count them. Yes, they were only 5. A very disappointing number. Isn't it? Perhaps they need a ladies reservation bill more badly :(
And have a look at this one. This is the crowd on Indian side. Jam packed. While the parade was going on, there were comparees on both sides. The one on Indian side would scream, "Hindustan" and we replied in "Zindabaad" while the one on Pak side screamed, "Jio Jio" and they replied in "Pakistan". The patriotic feeling grew very stong at the very spot.
India, no man's land and Pakistan - The land on this side belongs to India and on other side to Pak farmers. While the one in between is that of no one. They could grow some good plants in between but weeds enjoy on the area as it belongs to no one. The fencing is shorted with High Voltage Power to avoid border crossing. Surprising that nothing can tame the air that crosses the borders. It's a strange, sad but true feeling.
Attari Station- The famous station from where Samzhauta Express to Pak departs and arrives. This was our last stop. And now we were off to our last destination, Chandigarh.
The Golden Temple :
A night view of Golden Temple (or Harimandir Sahib) which is a home to Guru Grant Sahib which is the last guru of Sikhs. The shrine is the most fascinating one as for its history as well as its present. The entire top portion of the temple and its fencing are made up of pure gold, the work of which was accomplished under the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
This is the interior view of the temple at night. Worth watching and admiring. Everyone is supposed to cover their head while going in. Though I could not understand the significance of it but i guess that is to mark a respect to the guru. Well, I must not forget to mention that the delicious prasad here is made up of absolutely pure ghee and is too very tasty. Infact, you get it at every spot of small temples within the shrine. After having prasads at 2 such temples we were completely full and had no place in stomach to eat it at the third one :)
We had taken this snap at around night 11 o ck when the ceremony of shifting the holy Grant Sahib to adjacent building was taking place after prayers. You can see the shining thing at the centre? Well that is actually a 'palkhi' through which the Grant Sahib gets carried. The whole night the actual place of the book in the Golden Temple gets cleaned by various people from Sikh community (it's a form of their Kar Seva, a nice concept...i feel every religion should have something like this) and the Holy Granth is restored at around 4 am with prayers.
This is the Golden Temple at day time. During day time people have a bath in the waters of the shrine. You know something surprising. This water whe
n tested for bacteria content shows it as nil. It is that pure even when people have a bath. Well, the reason is these fishes in the waters (on the left). Nice pets. :)The Jallianwala Bagh:
This is a famous spot where peaceful protesters were mercilessly massacred in 1919 under British Office order of Gen. Dyer. More than 1500 people were injured with close to 500 killed in the casualty.
This is the narrow lane through which the armed battalion of Britisher soilders went in to fire the protesters.
This is the place from where the firing took place. Your blood really boils when you stand here. Well, one reason could also be 'coz it was scorching 43 deg there!
Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh - This is the entrance and perhaps the only remains of the palace now.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama Museum - The museum displays the entire life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was a brave, powerful, wise, kind, committed and intelligent king of his time. He owned the famous Kohinoor diamond which he put on his throne and the Britishers din't dare to invade his territory till the time he was alive. A very admirable man who assumed the throne and began his ventures to capturing the enemies right since 15th year of his age.
Wagha Border :
Do I need to say anything about this spot? Its the border between India and Pakistan. Every evening there is a co-ordinated parade that takes place between the two countries. Worth watching parade where both the commanders look very aggressive, perform superb and carry the dignity of their countries with equal pride.
The time when both the country men are right in front of each others open gates. They salute each other with stamping feet and move on. A heart warming scene. The crowd on the other end belongs to Pak. A lots of seats are still empty. What made me further annoyed was that there were barely a few ladies to watch the show. You could even count them. Yes, they were only 5. A very disappointing number. Isn't it? Perhaps they need a ladies reservation bill more badly :(
And have a look at this one. This is the crowd on Indian side. Jam packed. While the parade was going on, there were comparees on both sides. The one on Indian side would scream, "Hindustan" and we replied in "Zindabaad" while the one on Pak side screamed, "Jio Jio" and they replied in "Pakistan". The patriotic feeling grew very stong at the very spot.
India, no man's land and Pakistan - The land on this side belongs to India and on other side to Pak farmers. While the one in between is that of no one. They could grow some good plants in between but weeds enjoy on the area as it belongs to no one. The fencing is shorted with High Voltage Power to avoid border crossing. Surprising that nothing can tame the air that crosses the borders. It's a strange, sad but true feeling.
Attari Station- The famous station from where Samzhauta Express to Pak departs and arrives. This was our last stop. And now we were off to our last destination, Chandigarh.
Nice Blog. Felt very proud to my country and yeah obviously the traditional punjabi aroma :)
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