Amritsar: As Close to Pakistan As We're Ever Going to Get

We took a train from Delhi to Amritsar, in the Punjab province to the northwest of Delhi. Compared to the bus station, this was actually very straightforward. Train number, car number, seat number, boom. The trick is to not speak to anyone.

When we arrived in Amritsar, it had been raining, and the streets were awash with the muddy waters. We decided to take the afternoon to rest, and barely ventured from our hotel room. The next morning,  we got an early start to the most famous site in Amritsar, the Golden Temple. It is a Sikh temple, built in the 1500s. 

We waited in the line to go inside, and saw priests reading from the holy book and musicians chanting. Crowds of people had come to pray, meditate, prostrate themselves, bring communion, and read scripture. The pool surrounding the temple, the Pool of Nectar, is perhaps more spiritually significant. People were immersing themselves in the sacred waters.

After lunch we wandered the streets through bazaars and shops to a restaurant called Dhaba Brothers, where we enjoyed a very good lunch. In the early afternoon, we arrived in the hotel lobby to take a car to the border closing ceremony at the Pakistan/India border. We shared the car with Claude, from France, and Rakesh, from Delhi. We had a wonderful time talking with these gentlemen on the way to Wagah, then walking through at least three passport checks and pat-downs, returning to Amritsar, then dinner together. The conversation ranged from politics to travel stories and beyond. We hope to visit Claude in France.

How to describe the ceremony? We were seated about 45 minutes before the military display, subjected to very loud dance music on the India side, and competing very loud music on the Pakistan side. India held a relay race with students carrying the Indian flag to the gates and back. Then a mosh pit dance party. On the Pakistan side, a man with one leg twirled in circles with the Pakistan flag for about 45 minutes, rarely taking breaks. I leave it to you to decide which side was having more fun.

At the start of the ceremony, one tourist bus crossed the line from India to Pakistan. Then we were underway. A company of soldiers (who Alan and I had noticed "warming up" back behind some buildings, including leg stretches and skipping...very intimidating) took turns marching with ludicrous high-steps to the gate and back, gesticulating with fists. They were mirrored by a Pakistan soldier. Before each soldier marched, there was a shouting competition for who could yell the longest (much like the announcer yelling "goal" in soccer). Then another soldier would march, etc.

There was chanting on both sides; I have no idea what was said. Lots of yelling and enthusiasm as the soldiers waved the fists and looked manly. Then the border flags were lowered simultaneously and the gates closed and everybody went home.