After our flight from Delhi to Amritsar was canceled abruptly by Air India, resulting in us walking over two miles (no kidding, Jeet tracked it), we Ubered to a Hyatt in Delhi and Ree hastily arranged for a private luxury bus for our weary group the next morning via our amazing travel agent (more on him in a separate post).
The next morning we set out on a nearly nine-hour drive through Haryana, stopping for an authentic Punjabi lunch at Mannat, a chain of authentic modern dhaba style restaurants in Punjab and Haryana. After which we all dozed off in the car due to the heavy carb consumption.
At Ambala, we had to detour through fields, farms and villages because a strike had shut down a portion of the highway. But that in itself was an unexpected and pleasant experience, because it let the kids get see firsthand what villages and rural areas really look like.
We arrived in Amritsar after a brief stop for chai in a different haveli style area.
After a solid night’s sleep, we were off to visit the golden temple on Gurpurab, one of the holiest days of the year. No surprise that the gurudwara was extra crowded, but despite that, the calm and peace that pervaded everyone was palpable. Additionally, we got a thorough tour of the temple and even had an opportunity to do seva (service) in the kitchen, which serves over 100,000 hot meals daily to visitors. I’d imagine that number was much higher on the day we were there.
A short walk from the temple, we visited the Partition Museum, which was an altogether sobering experience. Learning about the political machinations that displaced millions after India’s independence, reading firsthand accounts of the grueling journeys from Pakistan to India, families torn apart and how the spirit of those displaced resulted in pioneers and new lifestyles hit close to home.
We then drove to Wagah Border, where there is a daily ceremony of lowering of flags and a “show-down” between Indian and Pakistani soldiers. Definitely more theatrical than anything else, but very entertaining.
We ended the night with shopping for Punjabi suits and kurta pajamas. For. Two. Hours.
All in all, we packed in a LOT in a day, though if I had to do it over, I’d say we could easily have spent a couple of more days in Amritsar taking our time to explore this amazing and history-laden city.
We’re now hanging out at Delhi Airport (we can tell you where every restaurant, every coffee shop and every restroom is located since we’ve been here four times now in the last week or so), waiting for our flight to Goa for some beach time.