Having transited through Delhi in the small hours, our first proper contact with India came via an exploration of Amritsar. And immediately, we get the full-on India experience: the busy streets, chaotic driving, colours and sounds that are often described as an assault on the senses.
The big tourist attraction here is the Golden Temple, and with good reason. It’s one of the holiest sites in Sikhism with tens of thousands of Sikhs making pilgrimage to the shrine every day. The temple is covered in hundreds of kilos of gold leaf, an incredible sight made even more spectacular by night-time illumination.
Next morning we returned for a trip around the kitchens. It may sound mundane, but if you get the chance to visit then do it. It’s cooking on an unprecedented scale, with an average of 100,000 free meals served every day!
The meals are prepared, cooked, served and cleaned up after by volunteers, who very much see this as part of their pilgrimage to the site, and there is an industrious but happy and convivial atmosphere. We chatted to a number of the volunteers and helped out with chopping vegetables and rolling chapatis.
Later, we walked around the Amrit Sarovar, the sacred pool believed to have healing and purifying properties, watching pilgrims bathing in the cleansing waters and exchanging pleasantries while the temple itself was being treated to a bit of TLC and given a good clean and polish.
In the afternoon, we went to see the Attari-Wagah Border Ceremony, a daily spectacle whereby the armed forces of India and Pakistan perform an elaborate “beating the retreat” ceremony to a crowd of thousands. It’s an odd sight and somewhat incomprehensible, with elaborate headgear, silly walks, strange posturing and revving up of the crowd as the two sides strut in front of one another before the border closes for the night.
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