It's strange (always the case) how it seems ages waiting for a trip to start and how quickly the days pass once the journey starts. We are back from yet another trip. This time, a journey to North - Amritsar, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, McLeodganj and Rishikesh.
The Cast: Manish, Roopali, Gayatri, Faheem, Gaury, Nanu, Pedro and Me.
Let's Go! (7th Feb, 2010)
Nanu and I were desperately trying to cut the time till the train's scheduled departure (2230 hrs). We went to the hilltop near National Park and had a couple of cigarettes. We checked the time. It was 1800 hrs. Damn! We needed something more than cigarettes. Something that would last long, really long. And Ting Tong! Our brains lit up. BEERS! I called up Pedro and Amit to inform them about the plan: Beers at my place until we leave for North. The next three hours were spent with beers and chakhna, listening to music and watching Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi! (Fun movie, Don't miss).
Sachin and Rasika brought their car to drop us at the Borivali station. We met the rest of the gang at the Station and boarded the Golden Temple Express to begin our 30-hour journey to Amritsar. It was going to be exhausting, but we didn't let the moods swell by playing a lot of games like Antakshari, Dumb Charades, Uno, Mendi Coat and Black Queen. Pedro and Faheem discovered a chemistry building up between them during the game of Charades. They both have the same style of enacting movie names that only they both understand. We also played a memory game with country names where our very own Subodh, a.k.a. Nanu, emerged as the winner by remembering names of 27 countries in a specific order.
We also had unwanted visitors, like a Papaji and a woman with a kid, with whom we shared our seats for a while. They used the Express trains to commute to nearby places (a couple of stations away), since there are no local trains available. Papaji also helped us with a couple of songs during Antakshari.
Note: There are just three trains plying from Mumbai to Amritsar and all take more than 30 hours to reach Amritsar. Alternatively, you can catch an Express to Delhi (minimum 12-13 hours) and then catch a train from Delhi to Amritsar (minimum 7 hours).
After two long nights the train finally reached Amritsar in the morning of 9th Feb, 2010 at 0800 hrs.
Amritsar welcomes with Frauds
This is not our first experience with the North and we know that Delhi, Delhi NCR and Punjab are stuffed with muggers, robbers and frauds. So we were prepared to some extent, but we still fell short. We got accommodation at a Hotel named P.S. Nancy, just a 10-minute walk from the end of the station that is close to Gulbagh. The rooms were spacious, with a good view from the balcony and cheap. The Manager of the Hotel said that they served non-vegetarian food also, but later the same night turned away saying they didn't have chicken in stock. We had planned two places per day for our 2-day stay there. But the rental car dealer said that Amritsar is so small, you can cover all the points in one day. We went to Durgiana Temple and some other temples first. Only the girls were interested in checking out those temple, so the guys chilled out back in the car.
Then next was Jallianwala Bagh. We felt the depression as soon as we entered the Garden. As you walk around in the Jallianwala Bagh, you find boards that describe what happened at that spot.The bullet holes in the wall, the Martyr's well, the shattered windows, everything hit us so hard we did not even think of posing for a picture. These are some moments one would wish to erase from the history.
Just a few meters away from Jallianwala Bagh is the Harmandir Sahib, commonly known as the Golden Temple of Amritsar. It's a Sikh shrine that is surrounded by an man-made pond, whose water is believed to have healing powers. I have never seen such a clean premises at a religious place (esp. the Hindu temples, where you always find flower petals, milk, water, chunks of prasad scattered and smashed on the floor. The staff of the temple also seemed very helpful. The one thing I liked was that there was no frisking. We could carry cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices into the temple. Though there are areas where photography is prohibited, they allow you to carry the cameras trusting you that you would not do any illicit activities. The only thing they keep in custody are your footwear. After a long time I have seen a religious place that stands to it's motive and does not incline towards business.
From here we headed towards one of the two main attractions of the trip. The Wagah Border! It was more fun and adveture than we expected it to be. The Wagah border directly opens into the city of Lahore, Pakistan, and we were just ten steps away from Pakistan. Never felt such a blood rush without doing anything. The two countries had opened the gates at this border to increase trade and transport and to improve relations between the two arch rivals. Every day the border witnesses a retreat ceremony (or the flag lowering ceremony), which is a compiled march by the army on both sides, who display an acme of aggression and passion towards their respective nations.
The ceremony begins with kids and girls (I don't know why not guys!) running with the tricolor till the gate and coming back. Roopali, Gayatri and Gaury too got a chance to run with the flag. I am sure it must have been an electrifying experience, which only they can describe. Then starts the music. And boy! They play the most pinching, brain racking songs like 'Suno Gaur Se Duniyawalon ... Sabse aage honge Hindustaani', 'Chak De India', etc. Right there! On more than a lakh watts speakers! At 10-feet distance from Pakistan! It's like 'In your face!'. And to this music our Indian girls and kids dance like crazy.
Finally the retreat ceremony starts. There is a flag of India in the Pakistan side of the border and a flag of Pakistan in the India side of the border. Both the flags need to be lowered at the time of sunset (between 1800hrs to 1830hrs). So the well-dressed army men (as tall as lamp posts) walk to towards the gate and perform a series of marching sequences. They then throw the ropes of the Flags at each other so that Indian soldier holds the rope to the flag of India and the same at Pakistan side. Then slowly the flags are lowered. The men walk back towards their respective countries while the gates close behind them. The crowd starts yelling, screaming and cheering their countries with the same spirit as of the army men. The day ends with with people going as close to the Indo-Pak gates and clicking pictures.
The Golden temple looks astonishing in the night and early morning, when the golden temple sparkles in the flood lights. So we woke up early next morning and paid a visit to the temple at 0430 hrs. The temple was peaceful and the only thing we could hear were the religious chantings. It seemed like a divine experience. We also witnessed the moving of the Guru (in a Paalkhi) from Akal Takhat Sahib to Harmandir Sahib, which happens every morning. People threw flowers at the Paalkhi, which were immediately removed from the floor by the temple staff so that they don't come under feet. I really liked the cleanliness there.
Note: Be extra cautious while hiring a car.
At night we all sat in front of the TV, when we got the bad news. Manali was facing a snow storm and around 20 people were killed. The roads to Manali were blocked for the next few days. Now what? We had Manali on our itinerary and were now thinking of options. The snowfall at Dalhousie had stopped and the roads would be open by the time we reached there the next day. So we switched to Dalhousie.
Note: Every night our routine activity was to pen down all the expenses made in the day. I have created a spreadsheet for this that helped us very much to divide the expenses and estimate the contributions to the last penny. You can use the same for your trips by downloading it from here.
The next morning we hired a car from an agent, but we forgot to mention we needed a car with carrier. So we had to look for another car to hire. We somehow managed to find another dealer and got a tourist vehicle from him. The driver's name was Bant Singh (a.k.a Santji), an old guy with a calm head. He did not argue on anything we said and stopped anywhere we wanted.
The drive to Dalhousie that was supposed to begin at 1000 hrs in the morning finally started at 1430 hrs. ... continued in Part 2.
The Cast: Manish, Roopali, Gayatri, Faheem, Gaury, Nanu, Pedro and Me.
Let's Go! (7th Feb, 2010)
Nanu and I were desperately trying to cut the time till the train's scheduled departure (2230 hrs). We went to the hilltop near National Park and had a couple of cigarettes. We checked the time. It was 1800 hrs. Damn! We needed something more than cigarettes. Something that would last long, really long. And Ting Tong! Our brains lit up. BEERS! I called up Pedro and Amit to inform them about the plan: Beers at my place until we leave for North. The next three hours were spent with beers and chakhna, listening to music and watching Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi! (Fun movie, Don't miss).
Sachin and Rasika brought their car to drop us at the Borivali station. We met the rest of the gang at the Station and boarded the Golden Temple Express to begin our 30-hour journey to Amritsar. It was going to be exhausting, but we didn't let the moods swell by playing a lot of games like Antakshari, Dumb Charades, Uno, Mendi Coat and Black Queen. Pedro and Faheem discovered a chemistry building up between them during the game of Charades. They both have the same style of enacting movie names that only they both understand. We also played a memory game with country names where our very own Subodh, a.k.a. Nanu, emerged as the winner by remembering names of 27 countries in a specific order.
We also had unwanted visitors, like a Papaji and a woman with a kid, with whom we shared our seats for a while. They used the Express trains to commute to nearby places (a couple of stations away), since there are no local trains available. Papaji also helped us with a couple of songs during Antakshari.
Note: There are just three trains plying from Mumbai to Amritsar and all take more than 30 hours to reach Amritsar. Alternatively, you can catch an Express to Delhi (minimum 12-13 hours) and then catch a train from Delhi to Amritsar (minimum 7 hours).
After two long nights the train finally reached Amritsar in the morning of 9th Feb, 2010 at 0800 hrs.
Amritsar welcomes with Frauds
This is not our first experience with the North and we know that Delhi, Delhi NCR and Punjab are stuffed with muggers, robbers and frauds. So we were prepared to some extent, but we still fell short. We got accommodation at a Hotel named P.S. Nancy, just a 10-minute walk from the end of the station that is close to Gulbagh. The rooms were spacious, with a good view from the balcony and cheap. The Manager of the Hotel said that they served non-vegetarian food also, but later the same night turned away saying they didn't have chicken in stock. We had planned two places per day for our 2-day stay there. But the rental car dealer said that Amritsar is so small, you can cover all the points in one day. We went to Durgiana Temple and some other temples first. Only the girls were interested in checking out those temple, so the guys chilled out back in the car.
Then next was Jallianwala Bagh. We felt the depression as soon as we entered the Garden. As you walk around in the Jallianwala Bagh, you find boards that describe what happened at that spot.The bullet holes in the wall, the Martyr's well, the shattered windows, everything hit us so hard we did not even think of posing for a picture. These are some moments one would wish to erase from the history.
Just a few meters away from Jallianwala Bagh is the Harmandir Sahib, commonly known as the Golden Temple of Amritsar. It's a Sikh shrine that is surrounded by an man-made pond, whose water is believed to have healing powers. I have never seen such a clean premises at a religious place (esp. the Hindu temples, where you always find flower petals, milk, water, chunks of prasad scattered and smashed on the floor. The staff of the temple also seemed very helpful. The one thing I liked was that there was no frisking. We could carry cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices into the temple. Though there are areas where photography is prohibited, they allow you to carry the cameras trusting you that you would not do any illicit activities. The only thing they keep in custody are your footwear. After a long time I have seen a religious place that stands to it's motive and does not incline towards business.
From here we headed towards one of the two main attractions of the trip. The Wagah Border! It was more fun and adveture than we expected it to be. The Wagah border directly opens into the city of Lahore, Pakistan, and we were just ten steps away from Pakistan. Never felt such a blood rush without doing anything. The two countries had opened the gates at this border to increase trade and transport and to improve relations between the two arch rivals. Every day the border witnesses a retreat ceremony (or the flag lowering ceremony), which is a compiled march by the army on both sides, who display an acme of aggression and passion towards their respective nations.
The ceremony begins with kids and girls (I don't know why not guys!) running with the tricolor till the gate and coming back. Roopali, Gayatri and Gaury too got a chance to run with the flag. I am sure it must have been an electrifying experience, which only they can describe. Then starts the music. And boy! They play the most pinching, brain racking songs like 'Suno Gaur Se Duniyawalon ... Sabse aage honge Hindustaani', 'Chak De India', etc. Right there! On more than a lakh watts speakers! At 10-feet distance from Pakistan! It's like 'In your face!'. And to this music our Indian girls and kids dance like crazy.
Finally the retreat ceremony starts. There is a flag of India in the Pakistan side of the border and a flag of Pakistan in the India side of the border. Both the flags need to be lowered at the time of sunset (between 1800hrs to 1830hrs). So the well-dressed army men (as tall as lamp posts) walk to towards the gate and perform a series of marching sequences. They then throw the ropes of the Flags at each other so that Indian soldier holds the rope to the flag of India and the same at Pakistan side. Then slowly the flags are lowered. The men walk back towards their respective countries while the gates close behind them. The crowd starts yelling, screaming and cheering their countries with the same spirit as of the army men. The day ends with with people going as close to the Indo-Pak gates and clicking pictures.
The Golden temple looks astonishing in the night and early morning, when the golden temple sparkles in the flood lights. So we woke up early next morning and paid a visit to the temple at 0430 hrs. The temple was peaceful and the only thing we could hear were the religious chantings. It seemed like a divine experience. We also witnessed the moving of the Guru (in a Paalkhi) from Akal Takhat Sahib to Harmandir Sahib, which happens every morning. People threw flowers at the Paalkhi, which were immediately removed from the floor by the temple staff so that they don't come under feet. I really liked the cleanliness there.
Note: Be extra cautious while hiring a car.
- Check if it's a tourist vehicle. Some road taxes are waived off for tourist vehicles, since they are already paid at the time of issuing permit.
- Don't go for young drivers. Old drivers are more experience and know all the tight corners. Plus they serve as a good guide. Young drivers are hot-headed and there are bright chances of getting into a quarrel as we did.
- Discuss the route in complete detail. They tell you one thing and do something else.
- Do not forget to mention whether you need a car with or without a carrier on top.
At night we all sat in front of the TV, when we got the bad news. Manali was facing a snow storm and around 20 people were killed. The roads to Manali were blocked for the next few days. Now what? We had Manali on our itinerary and were now thinking of options. The snowfall at Dalhousie had stopped and the roads would be open by the time we reached there the next day. So we switched to Dalhousie.
Note: Every night our routine activity was to pen down all the expenses made in the day. I have created a spreadsheet for this that helped us very much to divide the expenses and estimate the contributions to the last penny. You can use the same for your trips by downloading it from here.
The next morning we hired a car from an agent, but we forgot to mention we needed a car with carrier. So we had to look for another car to hire. We somehow managed to find another dealer and got a tourist vehicle from him. The driver's name was Bant Singh (a.k.a Santji), an old guy with a calm head. He did not argue on anything we said and stopped anywhere we wanted.
The drive to Dalhousie that was supposed to begin at 1000 hrs in the morning finally started at 1430 hrs. ... continued in Part 2.
4:59 PM |
Category:
adventure,
Amritsar,
friends,
Games,
Golden Temple,
Harmandir Sahib,
Jallianwala Bagh,
journey,
Trip,
Wagah
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