A day in Ambarsar
Re-living Amritsar, 4th Jan 2020
I and my friend decided to visit the holy land of Sikhs on the first weekend of 2020 and what a blissful weekend it turned out to be. Have you ever had vegetarian food that makes you feel high? Have you had a chance to enjoy the authentic Amritsari Lassi from those tall brass tumblers? Or did you witness the sunset at Wagah with the smell of patriotism in the air? If not, visit Amritsar!
We started late at night around 11 from ISBT Kashmere Gate and reached early in the morning around 7 a.m. The sun was right on the horizon, glistening with a tangerine glow and trying to add some warmth to the otherwise cold winter morning. With no hotels booked to our names and no Ubers to ferry us around the city, we started to walk towards the Golden Temple.
Although this was my first visit, my friend had been here quite a number of times and had good know-how of the city. The day started with freshening up at one of the community service locations, out of many spread near the golden temple. To my surprise, the toilets were really clean, well-maintained with a regular supply of hot water. Next, it was time to take a look at the early morning view(8 a.m.) of Harmanidr Sahib. As the morning was chilly, the crowd was fairly sparse and we were almost at the gates of the shrine in merely 20 mins after dropping our bags and shoes at the visitor’s center.
The hymns of Gurunanak Sahab filled the air with an aura of faith, divinity and made the atmosphere religiously beautiful and soothing. As I completed the first of the many visits for the day at Mandir, I was engulfed in the serenity of this place. My friend Sudipto puts it in this way: “भाई गोल्डन टेम्पल में ा के जो शान्ति मिलता है, आजतक तक किसी और मंदिर में जाके नहीं मिला” (translation: The peace which I get by visiting the golden temple is something which I have never felt in any other temple in my life), and I couldn’t agree more with him. The selfless attitude & humbleness of the sewakaars(workers) here makes you wonder if you have been living a too self-centered life.
After enjoying the delicious halwa which is served as prasad at the temple, we were headed to one of the most famous restaurants of the location: Bharawan Da Dhaba. Here I enjoyed the Aloo Kulcha(stuffed Tandoori Chapati) with Chole and Dahi, which was undoubtedly the best I have ever had in my life.
The day passed on, and we had plans to explore the market area nearby as we slowly moved towards the temple to reach in time for the delicious langar. The arcade near mandir has a wide variety of items to explore from. Starting from mouth-watering kulfis to local namkeens(snacks), from handmade shawls to special Punjabi style Jutti(shoes) and obviously the hundreds of small shops selling Lassi all over the street. While returning to the temple, we also booked our rides for the Wagah Border(Indo-Pak border at Amritsar) which was scheduled for 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Keeping the time in check, we reached the temple by 12 noon. We washed our hands and feet and headed for the langar straight.
Next, we were headed for the Giani’s Lassi. As soon as we came out of the temple premises we hopped on a man-pulled rickshaw to reach the nearby dairy heaven of Mr. Gian Chand Lassi Wale. After having a tumbler full of butter topped lassi, we proceeded to catch our bus for Wagah border.
It was around 4 p.m. by the time we reached there, and after getting clicked off like the 100th time in the day(:P), we decided to take a seat at the auditorium where the flag-lowering ceremony happens on daily basis. At an event that almost goes on for 2 hours, the soldiers of both countries show their valor, courage, and patriotism in the form of a well-coordinated March Past. The crowd also gets a chance to be part of the celebration through multiple small dances during the event. With people chanting ‘Bharat Mata Jai’ and the army men marching to the tune of the band, it becomes quite a spectacle to remember for a life time.
We reached back in the city around 7 p.m., raced to mandir for the final darshan, and collect prasad for our friends and family back home. Our bus was scheduled for 9:30 p.m., and we decided to have dinner at the busiest Dhaba in the town: Kesar Da Dhaba. With limited minutes on our hands, we started walking towards the place, and luckily it was not very busy as it was still early hours for dinner. We enjoyed the famous Makke ki roti and Sarso saag, which gave me a totally different kind of high in life!
After having dinner and enjoying the dainty gulab jamuns, we marched for our bus. We were so tired from the day that we didn’t even realize how the ride was and it felt like we were back at Kashmere Gate in a moment.
I think visiting the Golden Temple was a very good call which I enjoyed thoroughly and would recommend everyone to visit this place at least once in their lifetime.
Ik onkar, satnam, karta purakh, nirbhau,
Nir vair, aakaal murat, ajooni se bhang,
Gur parsaad. Jap.
