Amritsar

Me again-

So as I wrote, in May, Shoko, Sandip and I went to Amritsar in the state of Punjab.  It was truly one of the coolest, and most touching things I have done in India.  Amritsar is famous for a couple of things: the golden temple, the 1919 massacre, and the Wagah border.  I'll take all in turn.

The Golden Temple
The Golden Temple is the holy pilgrimage site for Sikhs.  Traditional Sikhs wear turbans on their heads, and it is a recognizable trait.  Prime Minister of India is a Sikh.  Anyway, the Golden Temple is an outer white square building, with an inner courtyard that contains the temple-with gold leaf decor.  there is a large kind of moat, kind of pond in the middle.  Several miracles happened in the water, including a leper who was cured.  (The leper was a man, and was to marry a woman as punishment since the woman kept obstinately telling her father that it was God, not her father, who put food on the table).  So many people come here to bathe in the water and to drink the water.  Doesn't sound that unlike some Christian traditions, right?

Inside the Golden Temple we could not take pictures, but it was basically the holy men singing the chants echoing throughout the temple complex, as well as a man reading from the big gigantic holy book.

Finally, lots and lots of pilgrims means lots of food, lots of people sleeping there.  You'll see some of what makes the food possible.

All in all, it is hard to capture the raw emotion, the sheer feeling of devotion that surrounded, and the echos, smells of food, clanging of plates, smell of water at places where people took a dip (like wet gym clothes that had sat for days).  It was just breathtaking to be around such heightened sense of spirituality, genuine humanity.  I cannot really put it into words.

Just outside the temple.

Sandip and Shoko getting ready for our tour of the Golden Temple

View of one of the four enclosing walls.  And some pilgrims.

Golden Temple feeds at least 80,000 people a day.  Totally volunteer force doing all the work from cooking, to serving, to cleaning.  Amazing to watch people come together.

On a busy day, could be up to 1/2 a million people.

The line to get the food.

some pots and pans

Volunteers preparing some of the vegetables.

Man giving out bread 

One of the many dining halls.

part of our behind the scenes tour of how the bread is made automatically.  These are bags of flour.

These volunteers are standing in front of a gigantic mixing bowl.

Flour used to "dust" the machine so it is not sticky. 

Dough comes out like this, then goes through 2 sets of rollers to make it flat.

This is the bread coming out of the oven at the end.  There are ladies at the end of this line waiting to put bread in the basket.  Thank you Henry Ford!

Shoko inside the dining hall.

Shoko and Sandip in front of the archway from the dining facilities back into the temple area.  Notice people behind them stepping through water.  It is to clean before entering.

Pilgrims circling the site.  In background is the golden temple.

Through that white gate is the dining area to give a sense of where we are. 

Volunteers cleaning dishes using black sand.

Shot of the temple and the moat/lake thing.

Another shot that shows a sense of the number of people.

Me and a guard with a big huge sword. 

Us with our gracious tour guide and host at the Golden Temple.

Ok, not part of the Golden Temple, but it is a political poster.  What is up with the weightlifters?

Massacre site
Many of you may remember this from the movie Gandhi.  It was when the British massacred a bunch of Indians who were gathered for a Sikh holiday.  British guy claimed he was attacked (not true), and most likely massacre was a retaliation for story circulating about an innocent British teacher being killed.

Literally the only alley in and out of the park in which the Indians sat.  Literally they were sitting ducks and had no escape.

The lead up to the garden.

Shoko checking out the bullet holes on the wall on one edge of the park.

Houses on another edge of the park-showing how enclosed it really was.

Martyrs' well.  People jumped down this to escape the bullets, and most of them died.

The Wagah-Atarri Border
This is the coolest thing!  Seriously.  It is one of the few places where Pakistan-India border is opened.  I guess back in the day it used to be this intense thing where there was a lot of hate on both sides.  Now, it is a huge tourist attraction in which the crowds on both sides, as well as the border guards, try to out do each other.  We get there, and both sides are blaring music, louder than each other, escalating. Then there are these random auntie flag runs.  Then, there is an announcer on each side that just yell aahhhhh at the top of their lungs, seeing who can last longer.  The side that wins, the crowd goes NUTS.  Then, the border guards do this uber-marching fast toward each other to the border, have a high-kick off, and then stare at each other.  There is a flag ceremony, then it all is done and border closed.  So freaking cool.

We tried to take video, but it isn't that great.  Look here for video clip from YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0ue-XGl9c

Shoko at the border.

Auntie flag running.  The main crowd is behind them, we are up close near the actual border.

Pre-show dance event

This guy did a flip (he is hard to see) and landed on his face.  it was pretty bad-they sat him by us, and he was bleeding out his nose the entire time.

The women lead it off.

Here come some men.

The Indian is in tan, the Pakistani in black.  They are basically doing a dance off  This was totally a battle of marching, high kicks, and theatricals.  Straight out of Zoolander.

And now the stare-off.

Open border.

We took this photo and BOLTED to beat the crowds.

Golden Temple at Night

Pretty.

This is the big chariot thing that the holy book gets transported in and out of the Golden Temple

The room in which the book "sleeps" at night.

The book coming to its bed at night.

Lots of people are sleeping there at night.

Shoko arrives! The 1857 Uprising Walk

First, Shoko came in May!  It was so nice to have an old friend with us and very comforting to say the least.  I know most of those reading started as new friends, and at some point have transitioned into old friends.  So nice.  sadly she is gone now, but we are better for having her here.  Plus we had an interesting experience with a puff pastry. But more on that later.

Second, we made her get up at o dark hundred Sunday to take a walk around some of the sights of the 1857 uprising of Indians against British rule.  (Also commonly referred to as the first war of independence).  I don't know much about this, but it is also the Sepoy rebellion.  Basically the Indians rose up-legend is that they were using bullet cartridges with pig and beef fat in them, which of course goes against Hinduism and Islam.  Spoiler alert, the British won.  This is not my strong suit since it has nothing to do with Akbar the Great, Shah Jahan, or any of my favorite mughals.  So for more info, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Delhi

Third, this is the second time I am uploading these pictures, so hopefully they will take, and you will see them soon!

Graveyard from which we started the walk.  A bunch of people involved in British side are buried here.

Us outside the Kashmir gate-a major battle point.

the Kashmir Gate.  The facade was damaged by the in the battle-the rebels were trying to come through the gate to the British.

View from on top of the Kashmir gate.

this is along the Kashmir Gate-a spot for rebels to run back and forth.  design is of course much older.

A mosque on the street on which we were walking.

Typical street view-the architecture from British era.

Messenger bikes ready for the day.

St. James Church aka Skinner's church.  Shout out to Andrew because I am sure he is related somehow.

COL James Skinner was half white British, half Indian (Rajput) so didn't fit in either world.  Still he commanded a part of the East India Army, regimen known as "Yellow Boys," which is still a regimen in the Indian Army.

This is a barber on the street waiting for business.

This is something significant-but I forgot.  Perhaps the house of the British ruler of Delhi?  Maybe Shoko can help?

Ah, so you all remember my favorite Mughal family?  Well. Aurangzeb (son of the guy who built the Taj, Shah Jahan).  Anyway. Aurangzeb has a pretty bad rep-imprisoned his dad, banned music.  Well he had a brother who had a library here.  This is behind the structure above.

Pile of ice on the road

So this is a random place in the middle of a busy intersection.  There was a British telegram office at this site.  When the rebels came, the British officers went inside and sent telegrams as to what was happening.  That meant British in other places in India got warning and were expecting an uprising. 

Oh also on the site-an artillery storage.  These officers blew up that too.  And guess what-none of them died. 

This is typical British construction.  We ate breakfast here.  Lonely Planet said it was a good breakfast and a lovely garden.  They led us a bit astray I must say.

Ok, now we are at Coronation park-it was to be a big park with statues for all the great people in Britain, including the King.  Remember that place at India gate that used to have a statue of King George?  Ok, probably not.  But that was moved here.

Also, they play cricket everywhere in this country.

So this is the glorious park.  You can literally picture how it was envisioned.

Gate leading into the main area.  Secured off because many family members came and stole statues of their ancestors.  Not sure how that worked-oh excuse me, I just have this 20 foot statue.  Move along, nothing to see.

So abandoned.

The King.