A visit to Amritsar is always something to be looked forward to. Sure, after Covid the inclination to travel has reduced, what with the Covid appropriate behavior that is required and the fear of getting it despite being vaccinated is also a deterrent. Yet, when Ben and Aditi (Nira’s daughter and son-in-law) arrived in India for a year-long sabbatical and wanted to visit Amritsar, together with Nira, they invited us to join them and the idea was too exciting to just pass off. Amritsar is my birthplace and I have very dear memories of that city.
Our last visit to Amritsar was in 2015 with Mohit, Viveka, Shaurya and Tavish. We were aware that the city, especially the area around the Golden Temple, had been improved significantly since then. The Jalianwala Bagh had also been revamped and the new complex had been recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi. All these enormous changes which we had heard so much about, warranted a visit once again. And then of course the two major attractions – the Golden Temple and Amritsar’s Street Food – even the thought of which makes one’s mouth water.
So we boarded the early morning Shatabdi Express from New Delhi and were there by afternoon. We checked into our rooms and decided to rest for a while so we could have a long evening later. Based on our previous experience, we’ve decided to always pick a Hotel close to the Golden Temple. Even though these hotels are usually no more than 3 Stars, we have started preferring this location as it gives us the chance to move around the Darbar Sahib area and conveniently enjoy the late-night ambience of that area while indulging in the dessert delicacies like hot jalebis and gulab jamuns, which spring up only after dinner.
We paid our first visit to the Golden Temple, a short visit where we just took in its grandeur and beauty. It was really crowded, everybody seemed to have had the same idea as us. Anyway, we had not planned to stay long because we would be spending a lot more time there in the following days, so after that brief visit we quickly headed to Town to meet Krishna Aunty, (Daddy’s youngest sister, now in her 90s) and her family. There had been some recent bereavements in their family, her young son, a daughter and then a son-in-law so a condolence visit to the only surviving member from Daddy’s generation was very important. It was also the only social visit that we were going to make during our stay there. In Amritsar, when you go to anybody’s house, you are literally swamped with a feast of the choicest delicacies and it was no different here. It was supposed to be a High Tea, but by the time her sons – my cousins – came back from work, it was quite late. So the chai paani and the conversations kept going on. They wanted us to stay for dinner, but we politely declined. Once we left, our auto driver wanted to take us to what he said was an exclusive shop selling ladies’ clothes. Obviously, these guys get a cut on whatever they can get the tourists to buy, we didn’t want to deprive him of the chance, so to keep him happy (not to mention the happiness of the three ladies who were with us) we said we’ll just go and take a look.
The shop was on one of the side streets, and they really had a fine selection of ladies’ wear. No other customers except for us which means the ladies got complete and undivided attention. While chatting with the sales girls, I learnt that just a few minutes earlier, Kiara Advani, the movie star, had been shopping there and they showed us the selfies they had taken with her. Sure enough, pictures of her visit to the Golden Temple on that trip were all over Instagram as we saw later. She was probably there around the same time that we were. Anyway, what was supposed to be we’ll just take a look turned into a long shopping spree what with three super excited gorgeous ladies seeing such beautiful merchandise which they just couldn’t resist buying.
That done, it was time to figure out about dinner. The famous Makhan Fish which serves the finest fish in Amritsar was not far and we went there for dinner. Like all good Punjab eateries, Makhan too started out as a street vendor, we’ve known the place since those days. He now owns two restaurants and a bar in a building he now owns, constructed at that same location. Amritsar has been good to these food places and there are a lot of similar rags to riches stories. People like Durga’s Ice Cream, Surjeet Chicken, Gurdasram’s Jalebis, Kulwant Singh Kulchewala, Ujjagar Singh Papar Warian and a few others are legendary names in the city and have been known for generations. Whenever I visited Amritsar during my school vacations, my grandfather would take me after dinner to Durga’s for ice cream ever so often. Durga Das himself used to sit behind the counter (gaddi) and serve me with a smile, often giving me an extra portion. I still remember that. Even the humble Pan Wala who had put up a kiosk outside his shop ended up a millionaire. Fact or Fiction? Probably Fact.
We called it a day and planned to wake up as early as we could and make a proper visit to the Golden Temple around sunrise, hoping to beat the crowds. If we thought we were going to be the only ones there, well that was not going to be. But we were able to do the sights leisurely and peacefully and could pay our obeisance in relative quiet. My pictures taken in the early morning light of the golden hour are below:
We then returned to the hotel, and after a nice shower hit the road once again to go and have breakfast. We didn’t want the silly hotel breakfast, even though it was part of the package, not with so much street food staring at us from every corner. So we settled for a nice breakfast of Kulchas at Kulwant’s.
Thereafter, we headed to the rejuvenated Jalianwala Bagh which is just around the corner. It is now a modern park with manicured lawns and wooden benches, with new statues and signboards but all this modernity seemed to have drained the place of its dignity. The history of the park could be read and viewed but the sentiment was missing. It was more like a Company Bagh where people came with their friends to stroll and take selfies. I was very disappointed and didn’t even attempt to take any photographs. I already have plenty of the old Jalianwala Bagh and I will cherish them even more now.
We then walked through the Bazar which is also a part of the complex. Same old familiar shops but in a much more organized manner. Uniform signages for all shops, clean and garbage free streets, it was a big change from the hustle and bustle that existed earlier. Continuing to the end of the bazaar we came to the newly commissioned Partition Museum which houses memorabilia from the partition. Amritsar and Lahore were less than 20Kms apart and many families crossing over at the time of Independence in 1947 had to forfeit their property and many lost their loved ones. For those who survived this and for their descendants – like us – the horrors of partition are painful memories. For our children and grandchildren, they have no clue what this was all about. Quite poignant and somber, the whole place. Just below the museum is an Amritsari Street Food Restaurant so we all indulged in a post-breakfast snack, coffee and rested our tired legs while figuring out what we should do next.
Another famous eating house – Bharawan da Dhaba is just across the road from the museum and we stopped there for a typical Punjabi Lunch with Makki ki Roti and Sarson ka Saag. The place is owned by two brothers who later split and decided to go their own ways but neither was willing to give up on the goodwill attached to the brand name. Both have retained the name.
Too full to trek back to the hotel, we took an Electric Rickshaw (E-Rickshaw) who charged us a lot more than he should have, but, oh well !
We had already been to the Golden Temple for an early morning sojourn, but a really good time to visit is the late evening when the lights are all on, the weather is cool, and the langar is in full force. The langar goes on 24/7/365 but obviously, there are larger crowds close to meal times. We went around the temple at our own pace and joined the long line of people waiting to pay their respects to the Granth Sahib kept in the gold leaf-covered sanctum centre.
The queue moves pretty fast, there is a fair amount of discipline, and pushing and jostling are not tolerated, although old ladies, ladies with babies in arms, for that matter any odd person who is in a hurry and requests to go ahead is mostly allowed to do so. There are a lot of Holy Guards or Sewadars (they are like Marshals) in their distinctive blue dresses and carrying their Kirpans always within sight and call and their presence in itself ensures discipline. Some of the Sewadars are in fact young Sikhs who live in Canada, USA or Europe and are doing this as a social service during their visit to the homeland. Many of them are well educated and speak flawless English.
After the darshan, as you are on your way out, you receive the Kara Prasad which is a sweetened wheat halwa preparation, cooked in Desi Ghee (oily like anything) served in disposable dishes, or on your palm if you wish. Prasad is like blessed food and is typically a devotional food offering made to the Gods that is later shared among devotees. The Kara Prasad of the Golden Temple is famous the world over for its freshness, purity, taste and for its generous-sized helpings.
Many visitors wish to carry the Prasad back home for their family and friends. For this, there is a prasad stall where neatly packed prasad is available. Digital Transactions are preferred for payment and proper receipts are issued. All High Tech and above board.
Some pictures of the Golden Temple at night, all beautifully lit up are below
The darshan being over, we were still in no mood to go back to the hotel. We decided to visit the Langar Hall and see what was going on. Langar, as you know is a free meal served to anybody who walks in, irrespective of colour, religion or social standing. It goes on at all Gurdwaras, but Sikhs are especially well known for organizing Langars whenever and wherever circumstances warrant – like floods, war, or other calamities. That is why they always say – never will you ever find a Sikh begging in the streets. If he is hungry he will go to a Langar where he will not be judged and will be welcome.
The Darbar Sahib has one of the largest Langars in the world regularly providing 20,000 meals every day, a number which can increase significantly during festive days, and we needed to see that. Sevadars prepare and serve the food to the people, again as a social service. The only requirement for being a sevadar in the langar is you should not have had non-veg food or alcohol before entering the langar area. We were not planning on having dinner there, for one we had already had our dinner (no non veg, fortunately), and sitting on the floor and dining is not exactly something we were ready to do at that time. We took a look at the people being served, and then curiosity got the better of us and we said, hey, let’ ‘s see how they cook all this stuff. We looked around, I spotted a decent-looking guy and I approached him with our request, can we see how you prepare all this stuff? Without any hesitation, he said, sure thing I’ll take you around. It is best you see the photo gallery that follows because it will be difficult to explain otherwise. You can get a fair idea of the magnitude of operations, even the size of the cooking utensils and the people working there. Being dinner time, the vegetables and dal had already been cooked. All that was left were the chapatis which are in any case freshly prepared and served.
Chapati making starts first with kneading the flour. There’s a dough-making machine that can knead 50Kg at a time, but you will see the operator is usually sitting idle. Why? Because the flour is made only when the chapati maker yells for it so that it will be fresh. So when he calls, a new batch is promptly kneaded and sent across. Thereafter, the chapati-making process is completely automatic. The flour is first made into pedas (dough balls) which are then rolled into round chapatis. These then pass on an electric hot plate and by the time they traverse this distance, they are already cooked. The cooked chapatis are quickly sent across to another station where a squad of women put ghee on them and from there they are sent to be served. This whole assembly line prepares around 60 Chapatis every minute or around 4,000 chapatis every hour. We also saw the garlic station where women are sitting and peeling garlic, or the vegetable station where people are peeling potatoes and cutting vegetables. These tasks are all done by volunteers and the enormity of the task and the volumes they churn out are mind-boggling.
The food is served in clean utensils to people in batches, and there is a team of dishwashers who wash, clean and dry the dishes for the next use. The important thing to note is that they are not professional domestic helpers who are doing this for a wage. Rather they are ordinary people like you and me who are doing this work ‘parikrama’ as it is called i.e. as a social service.
After our long tour of the Langar and its operation, we realized that the temple closing time is near and it is also time for yet another ceremony which is a daily ritual here. It is called the Palki Sahib, and in this ritual, the Granth Sahib which during the day is kept in the Sanctum Santorum is transported with full ceremony to another building called the Akal Takht. A ‘Palki’ is a decorated palanquin into which the Granth Sahib is carefully placed by the Granthi amidst chanting of prayers. It is then escorted while surrounded by several priests and Sewadars and slowly brought along the marble passage to the Akal Takht another building in the complex, about 200 metres away. People throng the aisles along the path of the Palki to get a glimpse of the Granth Sahib and be blessed. After this ceremony, the temple will close and you are politely asked to move on. Volunteers quickly take their places to sweep the premises, dust the carpets, mop the marble floor, and again, mind you these are not professional employees but ordinary people doing parikrama to their god. Such humility and a sense of service are found only in the Sikhs.
The next day was our final day in Amritsar and we had a train to catch at about 4 pm. The ladies had decided to go shopping for clothes and also pick up some Papar, Warrian and Masalas which you will get only in Amritsar. I decided to chill in the hotel instead. We checked out later and returned home that night.
It had been a wonderful trip full of a lot of good memories.