This is the 2nd day that I am on my own. I had a nice American breakfast consisting of fried eggs, toast, juice and marala chai...delicious....I love Indian food but curries and veggies for breakfast don't fulfill my taste-buds. I spent about 2 hours at the railway station attempting to confirm my sleeper reservation for Sunday night...I'm still wait-listed so I am unsure of my sleeper reservation status.
I hired a tuk-tuk for 3 hours to take me to some of the other Amritsar sites recommended by Lonely Planet. Pictures of the streets of Amritsar:
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Street-Life
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| Watch Where You Walk!! |
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| Grand Hotel from Bridge |
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| Colorful Truck |
First, I visited the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama.......Maharaja Singh lived in the the 18th century and was considered one of the "Lions of Punjab". Quite interesting history on the struggles against northern invaders referred to in Indian history as the "arian invaders". The panorama had a diorama exhibit of numerous battles.
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| Exhibit Entrance |
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| Maharaja on Horseback |
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| Single-Handily Charging the Enemy |
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| Capturing the Fort |
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My 2nd stop was the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial. On April 19th, 1919, British soldiers, under the leadership of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, slaughtered over 500 unarmed Indians of all genders and ages who were demonstrating against oppressive British laws...crawling in the street, public whippings and other demeaning laws. The memorial is a silent reminder of what happened. In the museum portion, there is displayed a document authored by Sir Winston Churchill condemning Dyer's actions and leadership.
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| Memorial Entrance |
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| "X"Marks the Spot |
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| Bullet Marks in Wall |
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| Where Victims Attempted to Hide |
My 3rd stop was at the Sri Durgiana Temple. This 16th century Hindu Temple, surrounded by a water complex, is the Hindus answer to the Sikh's Golden Temple....there is no comparison, although the Hindu Temple is quite nice. There are fewer adornments and the size is significantly smaller. The ornaments are in silver; not gold.
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| Temple Entrance |
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| Water-Walkway to Temple |
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| Storing Gold Leaf |
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| Goddess |
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Finally, I conclude my sightseeing by having my tuk-tuk driver drop me at the Golden Temple. Sikhism is a mix of Hindu and Islam ---- the religion rejects the Hindu caste system and Islam's strict doctrinal laws. The Sikh religion is one of peace and inclusiveness. I spent about 10 minutes in the Temple information center talking to a Sikh while having a cup of chai....aaaaahhhh. Isn't the Temple a thing of beauty?
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| People Lined-Up to Visit |
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| Entrance - I Entered the Temple |
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| Bracketed by Minarets |
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| As Sun is Setting |
The Temple complex supports a public kitchen that serves between 80,000 - 1000,000 meals a day, free of charge to anyone that comes to visit. All work, cooking, distributing plates/utensils, serving and clean-up, is done by volunteers.
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| Handing Out Plates, Cups, Utensils |
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| People Waiting to Be Served |
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| Washing Plates |
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| Cleaning Scraps from Plates |
Other buildings in Golden Temple Complex:
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| Where Sikh's Holy Book Is Kept from 2200 -0400 |
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| Sikh Administrative Building |
People that were visiting the Temple Complex and a family that I talked with.
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| Guard |
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| Colorful Characters |
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| Groups Talking |
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| Praying |
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| Two Smiling GrandPas |
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| What a Grin |
Time to head back to the hotel from my Internet Cafe. Tomorrow is Sunday...I must square away my train reservations. India plays Pakistan in cricket tomorrow so I might visit a "sports bar".
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