The night of adjusting in a single berth with Saurabh had taken its toll. Woken by a horrible body ache, we were greeted by the amazingly beautiful landscapes of Punjab. At about 7 O'clock, our train rolled in the Amritsar station. Instantly surrounded by Punjabi charisma and Maa di-Bhen di we set out to find ourselves the room in Railway waiting room. This was the whole new concept introduced by Sumedh while planning. According to him, we could easily get accommodations in Railway waiting rooms in respective railway stations which will allow us to save good amount of cash. Unfortunate for us, most of the people knew about this service and thus, "saare rooms full hain jiiii!"
Outside the station, we engaged a cycle ricksha walla who promised to take us to a hotel. He made a complete mama of us by taking us to a hotel that was 2 minutes away. After a little bargaining, we settled in an AC room for some 1000 bucks for the night. After getting fresh we decided the days plan, and took a rick for Golden Temple. I was salivating throughout the journey, because Parathe! The road was full of Paratha stalls on both sides and the wafting smell of melting makkhan was driving me crazy. We finally settle for a breakfast near the temple. The Parathas, or as Punju's call it Praathaa, were simple, rustic and yet heavenly. The chhole served with it were amazing. Believe me, the thick gravy chhole served in parties are a sham. These chhole were more of a clear soup of chickpeas. One swig straight from the Katori and fluids were flowing freely from my facial orifices. First time in my life, my stomach was full in 20 minutes flat. I secretly vowed to visit later and eat every kind of Paratha the dingy place had to offer.
Next we stepped into the Golden Temple. I didn't think the actual temple would be that small. Could be because we always see the real close up of the temple at the center and not the whole complex. The atmosphere was serene except for some hot-spots where all the devotees were busy in ceremonies. we wandered through the complex, clicked picks, read information written on the boards, you know, touristy stuff. We didn't go inside the actual temple, as we had chosen a day of some special ceremony and there was a lot of crowd. next we moved to the museum of history of the Sikh community in the complex. It was filled with detailed accounts of life and times of all the Sikh gurus (spiritual leaders), weapons used by them, painting detailing the tortures inflicted upon the Sikhs by Mughal emperors etc. The history has been recorded in great detail. It was sad tough I couldn't find any mentions of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj which for some reason I expected to find. Anyway.
God this story is getting long...
Outside the station, we engaged a cycle ricksha walla who promised to take us to a hotel. He made a complete mama of us by taking us to a hotel that was 2 minutes away. After a little bargaining, we settled in an AC room for some 1000 bucks for the night. After getting fresh we decided the days plan, and took a rick for Golden Temple. I was salivating throughout the journey, because Parathe! The road was full of Paratha stalls on both sides and the wafting smell of melting makkhan was driving me crazy. We finally settle for a breakfast near the temple. The Parathas, or as Punju's call it Praathaa, were simple, rustic and yet heavenly. The chhole served with it were amazing. Believe me, the thick gravy chhole served in parties are a sham. These chhole were more of a clear soup of chickpeas. One swig straight from the Katori and fluids were flowing freely from my facial orifices. First time in my life, my stomach was full in 20 minutes flat. I secretly vowed to visit later and eat every kind of Paratha the dingy place had to offer.
Next we stepped into the Golden Temple. I didn't think the actual temple would be that small. Could be because we always see the real close up of the temple at the center and not the whole complex. The atmosphere was serene except for some hot-spots where all the devotees were busy in ceremonies. we wandered through the complex, clicked picks, read information written on the boards, you know, touristy stuff. We didn't go inside the actual temple, as we had chosen a day of some special ceremony and there was a lot of crowd. next we moved to the museum of history of the Sikh community in the complex. It was filled with detailed accounts of life and times of all the Sikh gurus (spiritual leaders), weapons used by them, painting detailing the tortures inflicted upon the Sikhs by Mughal emperors etc. The history has been recorded in great detail. It was sad tough I couldn't find any mentions of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj which for some reason I expected to find. Anyway.
God this story is getting long...
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