Amritsar: City with a Golden Soul

One of my friends has gone for an adventure trip to a place called Mukteshwar and I had no clue about where it was located. It is at that very moment, that my eyes went to a book lying on the centre table of my living room which said “India-Tourists & Travel Guide”. Instinctively, I picked up the book and started flipping the pages to find about Mukteshwar. Just as I turned the first few pages of the book, I suddenly stopped at the page on Amritsar. I had just returned from a 3-day trip to Amritsar and the page brought back the entire trip in front of my eyes.
We hired a Tavera for the trip and we left the capital at 5.30 in the morning. We were 8 people in all including our driver, Happy Singh. The days of November are mildly cold and it was dark when we left. As we were passing the familiar roads of Delhi, the image of the Golden Temple kept floating in front of my eyes. But only then, I heard somebody in the backseat saying, “Amritsar is very congested and dirty”. The castle of my dreams came down crashing. After that, I resolved to not think about Amritsar any more and catch on some sleep.
Our first stop on the journey was at a dhaba(rustic form of restaurant) called Zhilmil. One cannot resist the stuffed paranthas (Indian bread) while in a dhaba. So we ordered a variety of stuffed paranthas with the accompaniments of desi ghee (clarified butter), yoghurt, pickle and tea. The sun shone brightly and I took my tea and adjusted my chair to sit in the sun and soak in the warmth. After this lavish breakfast, we headed for our journey ahead. It was because of the beauty nap, that I could not observe the path carefully. As we started with the next part of our journey, I realized that the roads were extremely well-kept and scenic. Stretches of green accompanied us from the very beginnings of our journey.
I was constantly watching the kilometers on the milestones to keep a track of how much we had reached. Our car was on one of the main highways that went to Amritsar and it is then that Happy Singh informed us that we had a flat tyre. But this could not dampen our spirits because I was all ready with my camera to have a round of photographs clicked. The environs suggested that we were very close to our destination. Sikhs with turbans could be seen all around, stretches of farms planted with mustard, sugarcane, etc, were visible as far as eyes could reach and Gurudwaras could be seen at regular intervals. We had entered Punjab. Just when we were admiring our surroundings, Happy informed us that the tyre was corrected and that we could continue with our journey.
One of my acquaintances who had already been to Amritsar, suggested a visit to a monument on the way, in a town called Nakodar.
This was a huge fortress with high walls on all four sides and to my surprise was absolutely spick and span. The gardeners meticulously performed their chores and it seemed as if everyone was carrying a rota with them. The expanse of green within the premises, the budding flowers and the vastness of the monument stood in melancholic anonymity; silently demanding attention. Parallel to the boundary wall of the fort ran farms growing rice which seemed to have befriended the lonely fort. The locals told us that this fort served as a jail during the time of Jehangir, one of the mughal emperors. After visiting it, as we went on, there was a strong whiff of something very sweet and before we could realize what it was, we saw fresh jaggery boiling. The journey until now was already so enriching that I was now all geared up to take on Amritsar.
In the evening we entered Amritsar and what I heard was absolutely correct. The place is very congested and chaotic. There is absolute anarchy when it comes to traffic. After a lot of enquiry, we reached our guest house. Going by the conventions, I had assumed our accommodation to be some hotel but to my surprise, this was an old haveli (palace with a courtyard) which once served as a gateway to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s summer palace. This has now been converted into a guest house in the wake of growing modernism. The haveli still hasn’t lost its royal charm. The haveli is decorated on the top with cupolas and light filters in through the jharokhas built on the two sides. As one opens the gate, the palace traditionally known as Deorhi (entrance gateway) Rambagh welcomes visitors with its majestic cusped entry point. The haveli is flanked on both sides by green gardens which grow some of the very beautiful fern plants. After admiring our accommodation and scrutinizing our rooms, we set off for the next most awaited destination- The Golden Temple. The temple is at a minutes’ distance from the parking lot. From this distance one can hear the Gurubani (scared verses from the holy book, Guru Granth Sahib). This sets the tone for what to expect ahead.
There is a huge marble gate which is the doorstep to the temple. In the compound just outside the temple, there are counters where one has to keep shoes and opposite the shoe-counters are the many souvenir shops. As one reaches the main entrance, there is a watercourse where one has to wash their feet before entering the holy temple. Just as I put my feet in that water, I could feel the discharge of mysticism within me. There is a feeling of awe which the atmosphere generates immediately as one steps inside the premises. As I was coming down the stairs, I held my breath for the sight that awaited me and when I looked at the temple for the first time, I wished inside that this moment shall never pass. The Golden temple in the moonlit night was standing like a timeless jewel which decorates our incredible India. The temple is surrounded on three sides by pond of water called the Amrit Sarovar or the pool of nectar. The reflection from the water further beautifies the temple, with a sparkle. We then stood in a queue which took us inside the temple which was the abode to the Guru Granth Sahib. This sight was as breathtaking as the previous one, if not less. I could feel God all around us, blessing every one of us. The interior of the temple was highly charged with a peculiar form of holiness. It was as if God himself was orchestrating the scene.
The Guru Granth Sahib was wrapped in a pink brocade cloth and commanded immense respect. After offering prayers in the temple, we were led to a hall within which the temple was located. As I was observing my surroundings, I was dumbstruck to see the carvings on the walls and the ceilings. What made the carvings unique was not only the minute and excellent architectural work but the bright and vibrant colours that were used such as red, golden and blue. The temple, now, conveyed to me, an altogether new meaning. It appeared like a holy palace where one could come to attain peace and be with the king (in this sense, God) and converse with him in their own ways. I reached the terrace and I could see the small gold cupolas decorating the divine palace. Having now visited the temple, we all headed for the langar (food offered to people in the Grudwara). This is the place of crucial importance. While I was having my langar, I could see many men and women serving people, after finishing the meal when I went outside to deposit the plate, I could see hundreds of people including men, women and children washing the used plates; people were serving tea to those who just had their meals; also people were cutting vegetables for the preparations next day. From this one could easily conclude that the main tenet of this religion is to serve the humanity, which was visible all around me. They believed that serving people was the best way to reach God. Also, not only do they themselves serve people but also encourage others to do the same and tread the path of humanity. So, inspired by the people working around me, I planned to lend my hand too. I first washed the used utensils following which I glossed the chapathis (thin circular bread made out of wheat) with clarified butter. It was only when I had done all this, that I could feel the goodness of the act. I could see my work actually reaching out to people. This was the most fulfilling experience one can ever have. Often we donate in good causes and can’t see it getting realized. In this place, one gets instant gratification for their acts.
The visit to the Golden Temple had been very enriching and I was now looking forward to my next stop at the Jallianwala Bagh, in the morning, the next day. This place, as well known, has a historical importance. Since my childhood when I first read about this place, I had this image about Jallianwala Bagh and I now got the opportunity to match it with the real one. It’s situated ten steps ahead of the Golden Temple, on the main road. The board over the gate said “The Jallianwala Bagh” and we entered a small gate. As I was walking through the passage, a stone on the wall said “this is the passage through which General Dyer conducted the soldiers to fire at innocent people”; the very writing gave me goose pimples. The narrow passage gave way to a big garden like area, and just next to me was a mini pyramid which said, “The crowd was fired at, from here”. I stood there and imagined how the scene would have been in 1919, when the gruesome incident actually happened but I would not pretend to know how it would have felt for the people who were victims to this homicide. There is a tall red-stone memorial built in the memory of the martyrs and also there are bullet marks which tell their story.
I could see the contrasting emotions arousing within me; on one side was this holy and sacred place which forbids you from doing anything against the humanity and on the other side is this site of the most gruesome and sad event in the history of our freedom struggle. To make sense of this confusion and heaviness became an onerous task, so the best way of distraction was food. Amritsar fascinates its tourists not only by its important destinations and locales but also by its food. So we went to a joint and ordered assorted parathas with yoghurt, the traditional combination.
After this wholesome brunch, we headed for the next most important stop, Wagah border. The border area is located in a small village named Attari. This is among some of the very popular tourist sites at Amritsar. It is not only the fact that one can see the line which commemorates the partition of India into India and Pakistan and which also eventuated into the largest human exodus in the history of mankind; it also has been made popular recently by the retreating ceremony that is held every evening. This ceremony is held on both sides of the line to get their national flags to be kept indoors after sunset. The actions are identical on both the sides and happen simultaneously. This ceremony is also accompanied by the slogans of Hindustan Zindabad and Vande Mataram on our side of the line. One actually comes to realize the feeling of belongingness to the country which otherwise has become very latent lately. This area also is flanked by a stretch of barbed wires with electricity flowing through them and anyone seen roaming around or crossing these, is to be shot at, immediately and this needs no permission. All this was always limited to the television screen of my living room, but to witness everything in person was unique. Sitting at this place as a spectator, observing people around, propels one to be contributory to our motherland.
Although not modern and urban, conventionally and literally, Amritsar is far more developed and ahead of us in the cities. Decisive is not always the manifest but also sometimes the latent, and Amritsar exemplifies this, the best.
Amritsar leaves one with a kaleidoscope of emotions, all equally ensnaring.

The Plight Of the T.V.

Recently, as I was surfing the channels of the idiot box, I was proven that the only thing that keeps it going are the TRP’s. TRP or the Television Rating Points, in a more layman way, is the report card for these channels and shows the degree of their viewer ship. It also decides who the topper is and which one, a loser.

Let me tell you the story in a reverse order and hence let’s go back in time. In those antique days the only two channels were DD1 & DD2. Let me also remind you of the programs that are popular even today, Humlog-it was a weekly soap of this lower middle class family and the narration was done by the old Ashok Kumar; Buniyaad-this also was a weekly soap; Tamas- starring Om Puri and Deepa Sahi was a story based on the backdrop of partition; news, English followed by the Hindi news. News was followed by Krishi Darshan- based on gardening ,farmers, plants, etc. I can very well recall the Sunday mornings when everyone would leave their daily chores to watch B.R.Chopra’s epic serial Mahabharata starting with the line, “Mai Samay Hoon” which is remembered by people even today. The movies were shown in bioscope i.e. first half on Saturday night and the rest of it on Sunday night, Superhit Muqabla, a countdown show of the latest movie songs. So these two channels manned the whole world of television and the content was holistic with everyone having at least one show to their interest. Gripping real stories, latest bollywood gossip, news, it satisfied all needs.

But today television means those daily soaps not one but hundreds in number, wherein the hero and the heroine sleep with full on make-up as though they have to be at some Halloween party late at night, innumerable news channels that show the breakup of Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor to be their breaking news, these news channels air the repeat telecasts of the various episodes of Laughter Challenge, also they feel it is their responsibility to tell the viewers what happened in those daily soaps in case you missed them, the Saifreena tiff could easily bag the news of the day whereas oil prices, the Gurjar protests, Nepal becoming a democracy can just about get a small space in this world of the so-called NEWS. The serials show all the scandals possible on earth, the craziest of mysteries and the scariest of make-ups, to earn good TRP’s, the never ending award functions where people are awarded for their exceptional work in making the ugly, beautiful; in showing how it is not at all a problem to marry as many number of times as you change your clothes; how killing is a routine and that anybody and everybody can get away with it.

But the world of entertainment will rack in viewers only when it shows what people want to see. As they say, “thought of the times is reflected in its culture”, so do we need to believe that we actually want to see all that is shown these days? Well, the answer is yes.
Everyday when we flip through the pages of our dailies there are various kinds of surveys that reveal the truth. The latest survey showed that the Arushi murder case was followed more closely by everyone than the rising inflation levels which could lead to cutting off of their cable connections. The more spicy the news, the more viewers it has.

To be more optimistic, I would also say that every element has its own pros and cons. While on one hand we have these soaps with actors putting on a mask of make-up before they come on-screen and those spiced up news channels, there are also channels like Discovery Travel and living, DD-Bharati, History channel and programs like Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai which has gained huge audience. Thanks to the makers of Office-Office, Ek Packet Umeed and the likes of such kind which still keeps the ray of hope alight, that there is still some scope of betterment.

But once again, can the ratio of 4 sensible channels to 100 trashy channels act as our consolation?? But as they say, “man is the most adaptable creature, God has ever made”, so therefore we have learnt to live with it.

So thereafter, mankind lives happily ever after and when on a fine sunny day, one gets up to read the newspaper, which was the only lifeline, there awaits us a surprise or should I say a shock. The news paper looks like an encyclopedia, excited, as we proceed to approach it what we see are the various supplements- Soap Opera(with the daily soap gossip), Sansani(with news spiced up as never before so that when you read it, it feels as if one is reading a cheap detective novel), Bolly-Biz(with bollywood gossip) and not to forget the 5-page main paper which seems to be a formality.
Oh! Somebody knocked on the door, guess it’s the newspaper guy.

The Belief

The theory of relativity applies among the other important things to the belief or disbelief in GOD.God can be the idol that we worship everyday in our houses and temples,for some the word can have many other definitions, for still others there is nothing called God that exists and that the whole world is besieged by the laws of science. Thus this clichéd notion of the God doesn't culminate in the two classes of the believers and the skeptics but has a plethora of ideas behind it. For those who are devout believers of the God i.e. Vishnu,Shiva,Jesus,Allah,Guru Nanak,etc, they have blind faith in their God and it is a felony if one doesn't believe in God.The chanting of mantras,poojas ,fasts,etc,become the various to come closer to God. This belief infuses in them the support system which acts as a cushion to any shocks that they might face; He becomes the confidant for making all of their confessions. This belief also bring with it its carrot and stick policy of doing good and getting rewarded and punishments for bad deeds. This happens to be for the larger good which makes this world a better place to live. This divine power becomes their guiding light which follows them all throughout their lives. This belief is a constant fuel of hope for life, which keeps people going even in times of despair.
Also there are those for whom God has no image,no name but it is an essence which is with them. God for them may just exist in the light or the rain or their work. They also have their own unique ways of worship whether it is a total dedication to their work or just being a good person.
Some also take the middle-path of convenience of changing parties according to the changing circumstances. They are blind believers in some cases and non-believers in others. They use the belief as their defense and support mechanisms and on the other hand the rituals and duties that come along with it are considered ills of orthodox thinking.
Last but not the least are those who don’t believe in the existence of God and state that the world is run by the laws of science. Their mechanism in times of despair is time. Time is the greatest healer and that is what they would rely on to face the tough side to life, they scientifically gauge the right and wrong and accordingly.
It is not about who takes which path but about where they reach treading that path. Whatever path one chooses to walk on, whatever one chooses to believe, it should take them to humanity, harmony and truth.

The Mystique Shower

It is that day of the week again,the day to sit in oblivion,a day to let go of one's self.A rainy day,a day that brings forth many certain and uncertain thoughts to mind.A day when you want to laze around on your linen,lying on your stomach,hands on cheeks and smiling at the birds pecking on the pools of water,longing to get wet in the rain and jumping on those pools.
The day when many couples would walk by the sea hand in hands and singing old bollywood songs.The day when you want to make a nice tea and sit with yourself.The day when one would want to start scribbling their diaries to control the upsurge of feelings.This day makes the concrete jungle seem as beautiful as the hills.
When the serene surroundings beckon us to let our emotions go haywire,this day makes every girl appear as a belle.A day when you want to keep listening to that one melody again and again.
It is that day of the week again when footballers would play with such enthusiasm as though in the world cup in muddy grounds and soiling their clothes and dancing that peculiar way on a goal.
It is a day when children would make boats out of stale newspapers and set them asail onthe streams of water running down the colony streets and they running with them.
It is that day of the week again.......................... which arouses endless feelings.

GRANDMOTHER

The rituals performed,the ceremonies completed,
we bid adieu to the person dear to us in heart and feelings;

Now as i sit alone inthe house she left,
for some of my deeds i curse myself;

A small word of love,a short span of time
a spoonful of care, a faceful of smile,
such small things she wished for
and its these small things i didn't care for;

Alone in the afternoons as i eat my lunch,
I am reminded of the countless bites she fed me
before having her own lunch;

Eat its lunch time,eat its lunch time
is waht i keep hearing,
as i eat my lunch beyond what is called lunch time;

Longing for a chat she used to sit quietly in her room,
but never did i have the time to even peep into her room;

As i watch television there is no one to accompany me,
no one who askes questions about characters of serials
''Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' or ''Baa Bahoo aur Baby''

In my prayers now is word of sorry,
for all the things i did wrongly and for all the things she asked me to do,
which i left undone;

My grandmother,my mamma,
now when shes not there a part of my world
with her,has also come to an end.

My heart it says a thousand words,
some which bring a glowing smile and
some which hurt;

The journey which the heart travelled,
is like a roller-coaster ride,
with ups and downs and moments one of a kind;

Time,the great philosopher teaches us the art of living,
and it gifts us with oxygen of memories which helps in survivng;

Now as i start the new phase of my life,
i look back in time and feel blessed to see my friends standing besides.

CHILDHOOD

The days of childhood one would never want to loose,
to be the best time of life, childhood is the choice everyone
would definitely choose;

Full of pranks,full of laughter,
full of games,full of fun,
childhood was the phase
which comprised all the tension free days;

Its these days of life that form my fond memories,
and its these days that are the seeds which
grow into our life trees;

The old pictures,the old albums,
all bring back the nostalgic moments,
childhood,i hope was a bit longer,so that i could
relive those lovely moments.