Amritsari Part 3 ;)

Amritsari Khaana: When in Amritsar, you have got to have Amritsari food. I’m a vegetarian, and so while I could not taste some of the extremely popular Amritsari fish and chicken, I did manage to dig my teeth into other, more animal-friendly delicacies. 😉 Kadhai Paneer, Malaai Kofta, Daal Makhani, Laccha Parantha, and if that were not enough, the tastiest Pheerni I’ve ever had in my life.

Amritsari Guideline #3: CaUtioN::Those, on a diet, and especially those who love food, should NOT visit Amritsar. Food is so delectable, you might(for sure!!!) even end up ignoring the thousand odd calories you take in with every meal. Believe me, I could see the ghee dancing around in my plate, but paid no attention to it! 😐 😛

Another one of the specialties we found there, were the Kulchas. Kulchas are basically crispy stuffed bread pieces(paranthas) served with copious amounts of butter, ghee(home-made fat) and chole(chick-pea curry) on the side. I was done with three quarters of a kulcha(gosh! they were so heavy!!), but my sister claims, she still has the taste lingering in her mouth! 😛

So, after all that food, we were back on the road. The Jallianwala Bagh Memorial, is situated in the same complex as the Golden Temple. Amidst the jostling crowd of the surrounding market, it’s almost inconspicuous, located right at the corner of the lane.

I had actually laid the foundation of my trip to Amritsar, on my visit to the Jallianwala Bagh.

So much has been written and publicized in context of this fiercely historic garden. One can’t find too many Indians, who haven’t either heard or read about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, it’s consequential effects on Bhagat Singh, and the shooting of General Dyer, atleast not now, after the film Rang De Basanti earned such widespread accolades.

The Massacre which occured on April 13th, 1919, marked the beginning of a new era in the Indian Independence struggle, and today, the Jallianwala Bagh memorial, marks the very soil, which bore the brunt of that radical change.

There is only one narrow lane, opening into the huge garden, and that is just about it as far as connecting with the place as it must have been nearly 90 years ago is concerned.

I wouldn’t lie that the visit disappointed me. The garden is extremely well maintained, no doubt, with a memorial monument in the form of an obelisk, situated between fountains, and lights which are employed in conducting the light and sound shows. The whole ground is cemented, with benches, and rose bushes, hedges and trees have been planted across the entire compound.

Well, I entered the place, and my first reaction was, “Why, God, why?” Why does everything have to be commercialised? Don’t we have parks, amusement centers, and pubic gardens to lounge around on the grass in? I would rather visit the Rose Garden at Chandigarh if I were in the mood for a stroll amidst rose bushes! And aren’t there enough shops in the market outside, to buy chips, biscuits, soft drinks and chocolates?

I was expecting a more derelict environment.

Maybe a flat ground of soil, nothing exactly to see, except a few demolished walls, the historical well, and the air, reminding you of all those who died, just because General Dyer had the soldiers, and the ammunition to finish them off.

There are a few things which do fascinate you though. Walls which were shot at and bear the bullet marks have been retained. They speak of the hundreds of bullets that left their nozzles, unsure of their destination, but putting an end to what may have been normal lives. I collected soil from near the walls, took a piece of broken brick, and collected whatever i thought my be old, 90 years old, and not a figment of the newly established memorial park.

Then there was the well. It still makes me shudder to think of the angst that must have crossed the people’s mind that they resorted to drowning in the well, just so they wouldn’t have to inflict upon their conscience the shame of courting death at the hands of the British ranks. It’s miraculous in a way, a choice between the better of two evil, or less painful of two mortifying situations.

The well has been caved off, grilled, and only just visible as a well, probably to prevent any more patriots from giving up their lives in it…

I took soil from the adjacent Peepal tree.

A plaque on one of the walls read “The soil of this garden is saturated with the blood of the millions of the martyrs who died at the hands of the British firing.”

Despite the disappointment, it was worth the visit.

Amritsari Part 2 ;)

…Continued

Our first visit, was to the Golden Temple, but I’ll come back to that later.

Not many people know, that the Durgiana Temple in Amritsar was infact built first, much in the style of the Harmandir Sahib, and much before it. This beautiful temple, is also surrounded by water on all four sides, and we enter the main gates, having first immersed our feet in a pool of water right at the entrance. The entrance gives way to a small bridge which paves the way to the main shrine. It is a Lord Vishnu Temple, housing idols of various deities, include Shree Radha-Krishna, Lord Rama, Goddess Durga and many others. This temple has also been coated with gold, whether real or not, I wasn’t able to figure out, and it was perhaps done much after the actual construction, to give it an even keener resemblance with the Golden Temple itself.

The Harmandir Saahib Gurudwara was in many ways a dream. Not every other day do you come across a Gurudwara made of pure gold, blending the finest arts of the Mughal Period with the chastity and serenity of a new born and devoutly followed religion. It was a vision much before it actually came into full view.

I am a non practising Hindu(I think!) and I have no clue how visiting a temple is supposed to make you feel or connect with God. But only one thing came to my mind when I saw the Golden Temple, it’s beauty was breathtaking, and the atmosphere was so profound, that probably one could worship it for the sake of the staggering vision it afforded.

It happened to be Sankrant, the day we visited the temple, it marks the beginning of the rains, and is a time when newly wed brides come home to their parents. This happened to add exponentially to the already crowded aisles and meandering queues. So we stood in line for nearly an hour(not joking!).

Amritsari Guideline #2: There is never a day when you can visit the Golden Temple without the fear of being part of a huge crowd, auspicious days add to the number of pilgrims visiting by manifold, but the queues will be awfully long even on normal days.

Even the entrance gates, where the queues commence are made of pure silver and flanked by carved minarets. The dome shaped ceiling is engraved with beautifully inlaid golden carving. One is not allowed to go about anywhere in the premises of the temple(including the surroundings of the main shrine), with their head uncovered. There are also certain restrictions, on bathing in the holy waters, especially for women, and it is inadvisable to bathe fully clothed.

The karha parshad was delicious ofcourse, a sumptuous halwa, and i managed to eat to my heart’s fill even though we had started after a very heavy breakfast. 😐

When you first enter the temple you are unsure of what’s the first thing to do, whether you touch the entrance floor or you take in as much of the view of the ceilings, the grand chandeliers, the floors above, the Guru Granth Saahib kept in the center, or just the number of people having gathered to pay homage to one of the most marvellous pieces of Indian Architectural History.

It’s carved from head to toe in splendid floral designs, with the entrance floor also beautifully gilded in patterns of enchanting buds and creepers. Enthralling music sung by the Gurudwara’s classical singers, speaking of the wondrous “Saawan” and the Lord, diffuses into the air and every corner of the beautiful building exhumes a warmth and tranquility which doesn’t leave you even after you’ve left it. There are two upper floors where you reach by climbing the stairs, and all along the walls of the staircase-now fading but still much intact-murals have been painted, another masterpiece. We climbed each level and it was a whole different view from the corridors, occupied by the many tourists, looking down below into the main shrine. The uppermost level opened up into the sky, and gave a bedazzling view of the lake which surrounded the temple on all four sides. Simply amazing!

The topmost stair bore a carving, in Urdu, that somehow felt very special…

The Gurudwara is cleaned everyday, and the Paalki of the Guru Granth Saahib is taken out every morning at 3:30 AM. It is said, at this time, with the least number of people, and the calmest of atmospheres, the Golden Temple, is even more magnificent a sight to behold. Even at this hour, many devotees, from nearby villages, come on foot, every morning, without fail, to pay their respects, to one of the four-and probably the most beautiful-important Gurudwaras in our country.

to be continued…

Amritsari Part 1 ;)

For starters, Amritsar is located on the north-western border of India, in Punjab. Ataari(nearly a half an hour ride from the main city of Amritsar) shares its geographical borders with the Pakistani city of Lahore.

We visited this unique Indian city from 16th-17th July, 2008.

Amritsari Guideline # 1: Do not visit Amritsar during the months of May, June or July, it’s extremely hot, the sun tends to play a hide and seek game with the rains, and so the weather is either extremely sultry or hot enough to bake you…

Our train was nearly 3 hours late and so instead of 22:25 PM on the 15th, we started off at 01:27 AM on the 16th. This was the Jallianwala Bagh Express from Tatanagar to Amritsar.

By 1:50 AM, though unable to sleep on my top berth I had gotten used to the train shaking, and was hoping I wouldn’t fall off the berth, in a poor attempt to gather some of the light from the aisles as I tried to jot some things down in my diary…

By 2:07 AM I had discovered that I was behaving

a) like a five year old who had just spotted a cool bug in her garden.

b) a foreign tourist delightfully trying her best to witness the ‘Real India’ with absolutely all the strings attached(this because I was trying to take a photograph of some people asleep near the tracks, like that’s a new sight in India :|).

So, after that I did sleep through I guess, because I next remember waking up at 7:30 and reaching the Amritsar Railway Station at 8:00.

Amritsari Mythology: ‘Amrit’ means the Nectar of Immortality or simply put, the Holy Nectar and ‘Sar'(short for Sarovar) means Lake. So the Lake of the Holy Nectar is believed to have received its name from an instance in Hindu Mythology. After the Sagar Manthan between the Devtas(gods) and the Asurs(demons), it is believed that the former refused to share the nectar with the latter, and it was Garuda, who was called on to deliver the nectar to the Asurs in Paataal. During Garuda’s journey it is believed he took a stop at Amritsar, laid the nectar there, and hence the name “Amritsar”.

to be continued… 🙂

Jaane Tu Revisited

My post on the music of the film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na got me quite a bit of traffic…and now that has compelled me to post my views on the film itself! 😉

I think I speak for myself and many others like me when I say I absolutely loooooved the film!

It was just the right blend of teenage masti, drama, youthful vibrance, comedy, action and our very own Bollywood Tadka…

Comparisons with other such films, with the lead pair intially refusing to accept that they are in love, and then ultimately coming together in the end are inevitable, but Jaane Tu was different. More in terms of the implementation, screenplay and the superbly etched out characters. Not just Jai aka Rats(Imran Khan) or Aditi aka Meow(Genelia) but all their friends, parents, and the respective fiances .

The film also takes us 35 years back, to another romantic flick called Aa Gale Lag Ja (1973). Directed by Manmohan Desai and produced by A. Nadiadwala, the film starred Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore and Shatrughan Sinha with music by R.D Burman.

So now what does this have to do with Abbas Tyrewala’s 2008 film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na? Well, not only does this film borrow it’s title from one of Aa Gale Lag Ja’s extremely popular songs, but also has its lead actors breaking into that song quite a few times during the film itself. So for those who haven’t seen Jaane Tu yet, and even those who have, next time you find it hard trying to recollect where was it that you heard “Tera mujhse hai pehla ka naata koi, yunhin nahin dil lubhata koi..”, you’d need to think no more.