Amritsar
is roughly 240 Kms from Mohali. I and my colleague decided to visit the Golden Temple
and Wagah Border(Attari border gate) on a two wheeler. Planning took one full
week with numerous readings of wikipedia and yahoo maps. After consulting
numerous online details including the ones in mouthshut.com, we decided on a
two day, one night trip. We decided on a 5 hour journey after consulting the
yahoo maps and planning routes to by pass cities. We started at 5.30 in the
morning. Wearing thermals, a sweater, and a jerking, the January cold was
biting hard into our open hands was numbing. We covered lot of distance due to
lesser traffic on road. With a little more than expected stops to bring back
the senses into the thumbs. We had decided to switch places every 50 Km. My
colleague took the first hundred Km himself as he was more acclimatized to this
weather than me(I am from Bangalore
and relocated just a month back here). The grand trunk road was in excellent
condition upto Amritsar
with lush greenfields on either side of the road. The color of the sky during
sunrise is a scene straight out of a picture postcard. The road is easy on
riders with ample signboards in English.
The only problem was SUVs trying to bully two wheelers
off to the side. Truckers were well behaved. The roads near the outskirts of Amritsar were in the
process of double-laning and had to take lot of detours everytime one lane was
closed. Breakfast was on the outskirts of Ludhiana
in a roadside dhaba.
The stay was arranged in room very near to the temple
which was arranged by a common friend. At 50 Rs per day, it was really worth
it. Two Double bed cots were provided with blankets provided to fight the
biting cold.
We had planned to visit the Golden temple during sunrise
to see it full glory in the light of the rising Sun.
We had our lunch in Amritsar
and then visited the Jallianwala Bagh which is in walkable distance from the Golden Temple.
The area is converted to a park. The feeling inside is more like a picnic park
rather than of a silent area dedicated to thousands of innocent people were
massacred by the heartless Gen Reginald Dyer.
We planned to visit the Wagah border on the same day. We
then enquired around and found that the ceremony begins around 5.45. We shopped
around and then started to Wagah border at around 4:00 PM. we reached the
border at 5:00. By then the ceremony had already concluded!. It looks like in
winter, the ceremony is held at 4:45 to 5:00 PM. It was disappointing to miss
the ceremony. We decided to come here some other time. We then bought a CD containing
the videos of the ceremony for 20 Rs.(an idea borrowed from an article here in
mouthshut.com) and left for Amritsar.
The evening was spent in shopping and eating local delicacies like Amritsari
kulcha and Golguppe. One can buy the ceremonial Kirpan(dagger) here, but do
not forget to take a receipt as an inspection will warrant an explanation from
non-sikh people carrying them. Look around numerous shops, decide on the design
and then buy it. The market is crowded though. Keep a watchout for Chinese
markings on the Kirpan!. Some amount of bargaining is allowed though the
final price was almost the same in all the shops. The dinner was at "Guru
ka Langar". The community kitchen is free for all people and the food is
good with ample quantities.
We got up early morning before sunrise and got ready. We
then visited the Temple.
We need to deposit our shoes outside the temple for free. The temple is full of
marble flooring which tends to be very cold to barefoot. The temple authorities
have thoughtfully laid carpet as walkways and hence the walk was bearable.
The glory of the gold covered temple during sunrise is to
be witnessed rather than explained.
We took the prasad available at 10 Rs each and then went
inside the main complex. The carvings on the outer pheriperi are exquisite. The
atmosphere inside is serene.
We also visited the small museum within the temple
complex which has numerous paintings from the pages of Sikh history.
We started back at 11:00 AM and reached Mohali by 6:00
PM. Overall an excellent journey on bike that too in January!.