Elsien's Traveblogue

Amritsar is not typically Indian. It's the centre of the Sikh religion - the (in)famous Golden Temple is here, the scene of the massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters in 1919 that started Gandhi's campaign of civil disobedience. We saw the place, which is now a memorial garden, very moving. The Golden Temple itself is a marvel. It's truly golden, in the middle of a square artificial lake and surrounded by imposing, Mughal-style, symmetrical white buildings, the gurdwaras, where pilgrims can stay. You can walk around the lake and temple, barefoot of course, on the cold marble, and see and hear the 24-hour chanting of the Holy Book inside the Golden Temple. It's very musical, although decidedly un-western. You can also eat for free and stay in the gurdwara for a donation, which I wanted to do, but my travel companion (who really is a bit of a wimp!) was not keen, so we compromised and stayed in a really nice place instead, overlooking the temple complex, within earshot of the singing.The Golden Temple is amazing in the changing light, so we looked again at it at dusk, when the pink light played on the gold of the temple and the white of the gurdwaras and the marble floor (lyrical, eh?) and again at night, when it was illuminated. In between we walked around the Old City, enjoying the fact that there were colourful women everywhere: the difference with Pakistan is marked. Until you have experienced a world where women are kept out of the public eye and behind veils, you cannot imagine what a diffrence it makes when we are allowed equal(ish) footing again. We'd already seen it at the border. There is only 1 landcrossing between India and Pakistan at the moment and when the border is closed each day, there is a closing cremony where both sides seem to perform the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch, to the delight of the massive audiences on both sides. On the Indian side girls were dancing in sarees, shalwar kameez (but no head scarf) or jeans, whereas on the Pakistani side the women were sedately huddled together, separated from the menfolk, most heavily veiled. It is really lovely to be out of this male-dominated society, interesting as Pakistan was. Islam really seems to put a heavy and unplasant stamp on that society. The men seem to have it all, but they don't know what they are missing by keeping their women in purdah. I've not seen any women in black now for days, what a relief.We've also had some delicious food, lots of vegetables (Sikhs are vegetarians), which is nice after the heavily meat-based cuisine of Pakistan: mutton, chicken, mutton, chicken, mutton, chicken ...