A Visit to the Holy City of Amritsar in India

The Amritsar is one of the holiest cities of India. 'Amrit' is a Hindi word, which means 'nectar'. This city is famous for the Golden Temple, which attracts numerous tourists through out the year. People throng the city to visit the Golden Temple, from all over India and world. India-Pakistan border is just 50 Kilometers away from the Amritsar. Tourists visit the city so that they could visit the Indo-Pakistan border also.

Few weeks ago, we decided to visit this holy and sacred city. We got the reservation done in a super fast air conditioned train, packed our luggage and arrived at the station on the D-Day. We boarded the super fast train early in the morning, at about 6.00 a.m. We settled ourselves in the cozy push back seats. After about half an hour, we were served tea with some snacks. We had our tea and enjoyed the morning newspaper. The outside view was magnificent, the train whiz passed through various fields, rivers and bridges. The sun was shining brightly, though the weather was hot outside, but it was comfortable within the train compartment due the effect of air conditioning. Time passed quickly and it was 9.00 a.m. in the morning when the breakfast was served on board. We took our time to devour our breakfast, which consisted of bread, butter and boiled eggs. Thereafter we dozed off for nearly one hour. We were served some juices and snacks at 11.00 a.m. We kept on enjoying our train journey.

It was ten past twelve when our train touched the platform of Amritsar city. We alighted from the train along with our limited luggage. A car was waiting out side, which took us to the already reserved hotel. We reached at a hotel after half an hour, not before criss crossing narrow roads of the old city of Amritsar. Cars, scooters, buses and cycle-Rickshaws were plying on the roads in tandem. The roads were very crowded and noisy. On reaching at the hotel, we unpacked our luggage and refreshed ourselves. By now, we were feeling hungry. We ordered meal in our room. As soon as it was delivered, we started gulping it down our throat. Having finished our lunch, we came down from the Hotel.

Our hotel was situated right in front of the famous Golden Temple and from the balcony of our hotel room; we could see the entrance of the Golden Temple. We noticed that there were lots of activities going on. We found many visitors, including some newly wedded couples and pilgrims, were rushing towards the Golden temple. The sea of people was endless. We inquired from a local shopkeeper about the best time to visit the temple. He told us that late night would be a better option, by that time fewer devotees would be there. We were told that the temple would close at 11.30 p.m. We decided to postpone our visit to the temple till late night. Meanwhile, we decided to utilize our time and thought that we should visit the Indo-Pakistan border at a place called 'Waga', which was just a one hour drive from the city.

We hired a car and proceed to 'Waga' border. The car soon crossed the city and started running on a high way to the border. There were vast fields on our way. I may add here that in the evening a Flag exchange and Flag lowering ceremony takes place at the border between the Indian Security Force and the Pakistan Security Forces, which are also called 'Pakistan Rangers'. We reached after one hour at the place border. People were flocking in hordes to the venue of the ceremony. The place where the ceremony takes place is like an open stadium on both the sides, Indian side and on the Pakistani side. We took our seats at a convenient place in the open but impressive stadium. Patriotic songs were going on at the venue, making the entire atmosphere charged and electrifying. There was a huge iron gate dividing the road borders of two neighboring countries. The Indian Forces were in Khaki uniform, while the Pakistani Rangers could be seen in their traditional green attire wearing long shirts and loose trousers. Both the troops started marching from their respective places towards huge the Iron Gate. There they met and exchanged greetings, when the iron gate was opened. The respective flags of the two countries were lowered and layered neatly. Forces at the both ends exchanged some greetings and the ceremony came to an end in the charged and exciting atmosphere. It was a great experience to visit the border of our own and a neighboring country. People soon started dispersing. We came back to our car and proceeded back to the Amritsar city.

We returned to the city and had our dinner and then proceeded to visit the Golden Temple. It was round about 11.00 p.m. at night, but the devotees were not less in numbers. There seemed unending queue to have a glimpse of the sanctum Santorum. It was a huge complex of white and gold and the main building where the sanctum sanctorum is situated, is called 'Shri Harmander Sahib', which means the abode of God. We religiously joined the queue. It was moving slowly and this was making us impatient. Our turn came after half an hour. We could pay our obeisance to Guru Granth Sahib (Guru Granth Sahib is the holy book of Sikhs and is given the highest regards). The atmosphere was completely devotional, as highly devotional songs were being rendered. We touched and kissed the every marble wall of 'Shri Harmander Sahib' and sought God's blessings. We came out of the main complex and proceeded to take 'Prasad'. We came out of the Golden Temple, feeling much relieved and relaxed, though we were dead tired. Visiting the 'Waga border' and the Golden Temple was a unique experience for us, which we cannot forget forever.