Day 2: Delhi - Amritsar

We barely had a couple of hours' sleep before we were awake again to head off to the railway station.

The New Delhi railway station.

Freshening up for the day ahead.

Piles of linen from a recently arrived sleeper.

After an invigorating cup of chai from a chai-wallah at the platform, we boarded our New Delhi-Amritsar express train and it left on the dot at 720am for the 6 hour journey to Amritsar.

I'll have to say I was very impressed by the Indian Railways. Trains were nearly always punctual in both departure and arrival, the refreshments served onboard were excellent and stations were well maintained with easy accessiblity to information and facilities. The Railways Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav is mainly credited for the transformation of what was previously an accident-prone and inefficient government-run body, and this too without anyone losing their jobs - no easy feat considering Indian Railways directly employs 1.6 million people who are supposed to organize a transport system consisting of over 63,000 kilomettres of tracks. The irony is that Laloo Prasad was also previously notorious for being the totally corrupt Chief Minister of Bihar who, when forced to resign over corruption charges, managed to get his illiterate wife to take over the Chief Ministership. And now due to his success at Indian Railways he gets invited for talks in Ivy League colleges. Shows that even the most corrupt politicans can get their act together and do something beneficial for the country - are you watching this, UMNO, MIC?

Upon arrival in Amritsar we headed to our hotel via the pickup that Dave had arranged with the hotel previously. Dave had arranged beforehand for us to stay at CJ International, which was also where I stayed the last time I was at Amritsar. Rooms were pretty good considering the rates of 1550Rp per night for a triple. The location was excellent as well, close enough to the Golden Temple to hear the kirtan.

The Golden Temple as seen from the top of the hotel.

The entrance to the Golden Temple Complex.

The Amritsar skyline.

The first order of business was to get some chow, and for me to get a towel, since our hotel curiously didn't provide any. After which we headed back to get a little bit more shut-eye. A couple of hours later, reasonably refreshed, we headed out towards the Golden Temple, but first Govin wanted to look for a shop famous for selling quality traditional musical instruments like the dhol and tabla at cheap prices. His source told him that the shop was easy to find, having a Golden Temple view across the road from the shop. We spent one hour circling the exterior of the Golden Temple complex looking for this shop - and believe me the external perimeter of the complex is huge - but to no avail. Finally we gave up, and I suggested we try this instrument shop I spotted a little further up close to where we had our lunch. We walked over there, and sure enough that was the shop we were looking for. No, it did not have a Golden Temple view across the road. It did face a signboard for 'Golden Temple View Hotel' across the road though. Being late in the day, it was already closed, so we ahd to check it out the following day instead. And so we headed into the Golden Temple complex.

If you'll pardon me the mixed up analogy, Amritsar is the Sikhs' Jerusalem while the Golden Temple is our Mecca. It's the landmark that will first come to mind when our religion is mentioned, and it's no surprise. It is a sight to behold.

But the complex is more than visual grandeur for the Sikhs. Almost every building surrounding the Temple has some spiritual history to it, and the Golden Temple itself houses some of the oldest copies of our holy book and our Guru, the Guru Granth Sahib. Facing the Golden Temple is the Akal Takht, the throne of spiritual authority and where decisions on religious matters are made for the Sikh diaspora to abide by.

However it's hard to find the right time or space to savour the spirituality of the place. The complex in general, and the Golden Temple specifically, is always bustling with devotees and sight-seers (all gurdwaras are open to everyone regardless of caste or creed) and every year the crowd gets bigger. One barely has time to pay obesiance at the Darbar Sahib (Prayer Hall) before one has to get out of the way of the throngs behind you making their way through. Which is why I prefer to visit around 2am, when the crowd is at its thinnest, but even then it's not totally gone.

Besides the Golden Temple, the Akal Takht facing it, and the various small darbar sahibs surrounding the pond, the complex also consists of dormitories for pilgrims and a large langgar hall, or community kitchen. The three of us headed there for food after going to the Golden Temple. After food, we spontaneously decided to do some sewa (community service) at the dishwashing section. I was very impressed by the whole system - it consists of a series of troughs in parallel, each row being a stage in the washing process. There was no one managing the system overall, and people kept coming and going to do sewa, but somehow everything kept moving like clockwork, people taking initiative to fill up gaps in the link when things seem to be slowing down there. I would say it was one of the most fulfilling and inspiring sewa experiences I've had. We helped out for about an hour before heading back to the hotel and catching up on lost sleep.