05/07/2019 - 10/07/2019
Time to say goodbye to another place on my North India bike trip itinerary moving from cold hilly areas of Dalhousie to the plains and hot weather of Amritsar. Initially while packing my bags back in Dalhousie I was thinking of extending my stay there by a day but than there was this thought coming to my time n time again that if I would extend my stay here than my stays ahead would be affected as a ripple effect so with a heavy heart I somehow said goodbye to some new friends I made at the Hostel and the hostel staff as well. So finally left Dalhousie finally at 2pm after having a nice chat session with a rider buddy whom I met at the hostel for an hours time. Amritsar is located 200kms away from Dalhousie which is approximately a five hour journey by bike. Reached Amritsar by 7:30pm. First two days simply passed like laying idle in the house. Third day was kinda outside day for me went to Bhagwan Valmiki Teerth Sthal which is a ancient hindu place of worship with my uncle. The main temple is almost like the Golden Temple at Amritsar just without the Gold finishing and it is connected by two bridges in the middle of man made lake unlike only one at Golden Temple. Spent quality one hour at the temple seeing various life stages of Saint Valmiki as this is said to be the same place where Sita was given shelter post Lord Ram's victory on Lanka over Ravan and also the birth place of Luv and Kush son's of Lord Ram and Sita also where Luv and kush fought with Lord Ram's army post the visit to the temple came back home by evening than went to have Dinner at Makhan with family that Included my uncle, me, my cousin n his wife. Makhan a must go place when in Amritsar apart from Bira biryani and kulchaland. Fourth day at Amritsar was most eventful as got up early in the morning to go and visit the famous Golden Temple the most holy place for Sikhs ( one very important instructions for boys n girls don't go wearing shorts or skirts there otherwise you won't be able to enter the main temple which is located in the middle of the pond. At the temple took some pictures, circled the whole temple and after gaining blessings of the guru my next stop was at the Gurudwara lunger which serves food to more than 10k people on any given day irrespective to whichever religion, caste or creed a person belongs to. So before going for the lunger ( eat session) I went on to do some seva ( manual labour help to serve the Almighty at gurudwara lunger which can be in the form of washing utensils, chopping of vegetables or making of food) I opted for washing utensils. Did seva for good two hours post which went out to have much deserved lunger at the gurudwaaras large dining room. The best thing you would see at gurudwara is you won't see anyone complaining about anything everyone at peace throughout their time whether they are eating or helping in the kitchen chores. Post my visit at the Golden temple went to infamous Jallianwala Bagh. It is infamous for the martyrdom of 1000's of innocent Indians who on 13thApril 1919 on the orders of General Dyer of British army who ordered his men to move inside the garden from its only narrow alleys which kinda made it impossible for people to move out of the gaye as that was the only way in and out of the garden. There is an eternal flame inside the park, a central memorial and two safe guarded walls with bullet holes mark from That uneventful day. Somehow got over by 1pm from these two visits went, went back home rested back home and left for Wagah border retreat ceremony in the evening at 4:30pm. The atmosphere at the border was both energetic and ecstatic where crowds from both the sides where were chanting to the Lord. Finally came back home after witnessing the ceremony and later in the city went to A1 KINDLY
FAAQ b
