We were picked up at the hotel at 10.00 by our guide and driver, feeling very refreshed after a good nights sleep.
Our first stop was the Golden Temple.
As anticipated we had to remove our shoes and socks, and cover our heads, then walk through a foot bath to clean our feet before going into the temple area. It is a most impressive sight, just as you expect it to be.
We were very conscious of being totally outnumbered by people of Indian backgrounds. In fact in the 45 minutes that we queued to get into the temple we probably saw less than a dozen Europeans compared to hundreds if not thousands of Indians. Our guide told us that the Golden Temple gets more visitors than the Taj Mahal. It is a pilgrimage Sikhs want to make before they die.
The temple itself is incredibly ornate and although Sikhs do not have an idol to worship, just their scripture to follow, the ornateness of both Sikh Temples we have visited has been in contrast to this.
On the other side though is their langar, or the place where food is prepared and given to whoever wants it. The langar here feeds 100,000 a day and is open 24hours. It is staffed mainly by volunteers, Sikhs or those of different or no belief, and the cost is covered by donations of money or food, large or small. We looked around this langar as well. What an operation!
The Sikh religion has 3 basic tenets - to share with the needy, to be honest and work hard and to remember God throughout the day. It is a monotheistic religion built on the pillars of volunteering and meditation.
Another observation I have made over the last 2 weeks is the colour, particularly of the saris. Here it was even more colourful because of the men’s turbans as well. Blue, red, yellow, lilac, green, orange, all shades and then some black too. Taking a picture is a bit tricky, particularly at a religious site, but I got a quick snap!
From here we went onto Jallianwala Bagh, the scene of a massacre by the British on 13th April 1919. Prior to the massacre a law had been passed, known as the Rowlatt Act, decreeing that anybody could be arrested, whether they had committed a crime or not, and that if arrested they had no right to legal help or advice. On that day there was a festival and people had gathered, men, women and children. The army came and on the orders of General Dyer, shot into the crowd without warning and with little means of escape. Many hundreds were killed and even more wounded. Official figures are nearly 400 killed and 1000 wounded but it is thought to be higher than that. At the time the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab was Michael O’Dwyer and he endorsed General Dyers decision to fire at the crowds.He subsequently administered martial law on 15th April but backdated it to 30th March. This is seen as one of the most significant factors in the rise of the Indian Independence Movement.
We felt quite uncomfortable here, maybe ashamed, but also not knowing how we should feel.
Next was the partition museum. Another place where you look at how the British have been involved with the development of other countries, and leading us to ask questions about our history. As a result of partition half the population of Amritsar fled. 10,000 homes were destroyed. 570,000 people crossed this new border a few miles from here into Pakistan, and 471,000 from Pakistan into India, in just one week, making it one of the biggest migrations in history. The suffering was huge, communities were ripped apart, people lost everything. Of course the politics and religious tensions of India were complex already, but there doesn’t appear to be much for the British to be proud of.
Having done all that we sat and had some lunch and mused on our mornings activities. We had much to think about.
Now a bit of a contrast. To the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, 40km, at Wagah. We were told that 10,000 attend the ceremony every day, although that seemed a huge amount. Suffice to say, on the Indian side, the crowd of spectators was large and very noisy. We had to go through a number of passport and security checks and then were sat with the foreigners. Some of these looked Indian but maybe they hold other passports.
In the half hour before the ceremony started we were entertained by loud music and ad hoc Bollywood style dancing.
member of the Border Control Force was whipping up the crowd into a sort of nationalistic frenzy, and on the Pakistani side a similar thing was happening but on a smaller scale. Lots of people were wearing caps in the Indian colours or waving Indian flags. There was chanting and responses, none of which we could understand. Then the ceremony started. I’m not really sure how to describe it! Will try and load videos when we can! There was a lot of posturing by the soldiers on both sides, particularly when the big iron gates were opened. All very dramatic and quite bizarre but fun to be at.
And so our day ended, other than a return to our hotel and dinner. It really has been quite a day for all sorts of reasons!
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