Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xSR5XSqjXeujd6Sf7
Calling this Indian Punjab since I do really want to make it over to Lahore (in Pakistan) eventually, which is in Pakistani Punjab. Went for a few days with my mom to Amritsar, and this honestly was a nice pleasant surprise of a trip. The food was out of this world, and I think runs neck and neck with Delhi for my favorite food of the trip so far. A friend from the wedding I went to outside of Mumbai recommended this hole in the wall place called Kesar Da Dhaba which was outstanding – I found out after the fact that Anthony Bourdain went there! They have a wiki, so it’s pretty legit. Another good lunch spot we went to, that my mom’s friend recommended, was this place called Brothers Dhaba. Amritsar is also probably the best smelling place I have ever visited…the streets had a strong smell of ghee (purified butter that is used to cook sweets + regular food), and this just hit you hard as you walked around the narrow alleyways of the old walled city. India is the best place in the world for sweets in my opinion, and Amritsar is probably the best place in India that I’ve had sweets in. The milk sweets in particular stood out. In general, the old walled city of Amritsar was very much like a far less intense Chandni Chowk, with the same narrow alleyways, bustling crowds and vehicles, and aroma of delicious street food everywhere.
This trip also helped further highlight India’s crazy diversity to me. It’s not as different from the rest of India as Ladakh was, but it’s up there with Tamil Nadu in terms of having a very unique culture. This is obviously largely due to the predominant religion here being Sikhism. The Golden Temple in Amritsar was an incredibly unique place. It’s the first holy Sikh site I’ve visited, and it definitely reminded me a bit of a mosque (carpets, intricate floral patterns on marble inside which was very reminiscent of Mughal architecture, loudspeakers blaring the prayers in the temple complex), but still had its’ own twist to it. And the gold plating in a weird way reminded me of the gold plated pagodas of SE Asia. And while we’re on reminders, the pure white marble finish of the temple complex, the architectural style that is Mughal influenced but distinctly unique, and the clean and serene water tank that was contained within all served to remind me distinctly of Udaipur. The Golden Temple definitely looked cooler at night, as it was well lit up and the golden exterior of the main temple complex really shone through.
Interestingly enough, the area immediately surrounding the Golden Temple reminded me of Europe (particularly Munich), with the spotless, wide, walking only lanes filled with modern shops that were in repurposed, historic buildings. Another place Amritsar reminded me of was Jaipur, since both cities had these pink historic buildings that maintained their exteriors while having the ground floor interiors redesigned to be random street stalls.
One highlight of this trip was the Partition Museum. For some background, when India got its’ independence and was split into India and Pakistan (with East Pakistan splitting Bangladesh ~15 years later), the largest concentrated migration in human history happened, and this was also by far the bloodiest, as Muslims migrated into Pakistan and Hindus into India. This was actually not covered at all in our high school history classes but I did know a decent amount just from reading up on my own, but it was still a very sobering and illuminating experience.
Likewise, one lowlight was the Gobindgarh Fort. This was a lot like the historic fort areas of Europe, like the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg. A well maintained historic fort that has basically become Disney-fied, with “cultural” shows being put on and attractions of that ilk. For me, target audience makes all the difference in the world…a lot of these cultural shows that tourist attractions put on (this, floating village attractions in Myanmar, traditional dance shows in SE Asia, Masai village visits in Kenya, Colonial Williamsburg) are targeted towards outsiders, so for me they give off the feeling of a human zoo. For me, experiencing authentic culture means going to something where the targeted audience are locals (like an Indian wedding), where there is no expectation to play up to tropes of “tradition” in order to please a foreigner and meet their expectations. On the bright side, at least the Gobindgarh Fort did not feel exploitative to the locals.
And finally, can’t mention a trip to Amritsar without bringing up the border ceremony. I actually first learned about this ceremony from what might be my favorite Always Sunny episode, CharDee MacDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1zG-h2wI0o). It’s basically this giant ego-boosting exercise in jingoism where they lower the Indian and Pakistani flags at the border (~1 hour drive from Amritsar). Literally like 10k spectators were on the Indian side of the border (they had built out an amphitheater for the crowds), with a few thousand more on the Pakistani side. The soldiers then began doing these ridiculous Prussian Goosestep marches that are straight out of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks sketch. All while the crowd went wild…nationalism really is such a terrible thing, though I suppose humans will always find a reason to hate and kill each other, and nationalism is just one of the biggest excuses to do so. People suck. Anyways, both sides of the border were chanting their own patriotic chants while these soldiers did their thing. It was honestly like a circus. Can’t say I disliked it, and it’s definitely a unique experience. Probably the most interesting thing that happened here was actually a bunch of people from the Indian side literally crossing the border with luggage and having their passports checked by both sets of soliders prior to the ceremony. I didn’t realize that the Wargah border gate was a legit emigration/immigration point for both countries, so this was amusing to see.
My next (and last!…for now) trip within India is a ~10 day East India trip. Going to Odisha with my mom (Bhubaneswar, Konark Sun Temple, Puri), before then going on to Calcutta and Darjeeling on my own. My mom them flies out back home, and them I am (for some strange reason) flying out all the way to the South of France to meet up with my parents and sister for a week, before flying back to Bali to dive with my college friends Arjun and Nick.