There was light at the end of tunnel. It's name was Amritsar! Our luck started to change on the train towards there. Even though we had paid a lot for the train tickets, in the end, it was 1st class which meant it came with perks: free food and drink! We got served 4 meals, endless water, tea and fruit juice. The train itself was just as good as any British train, with big comfy chairs and clean toilets with toilet paper! (A miracle)!
"I like traveling on trains in India" said a happy Lauren.
"Don't get use to it Lauren. It's not always like this believe me."
At the station I haggled for a auto rickshaw, in which two guys got in the front.
"No! Only one man in the rickshaw with us, thank you" I shouted. So the driver had to boot out his mate, which the rest of the rickshaw drivers found very funny, as they were all laughing. It soon became apparent why they were laughing as our driver spoke no English and didn't have a clue where our guess house was. That's probably why he wanted to bring his mate a long.
"Sorry Madam, no English. Punjabi?"
What the hell!
"No Punjabi" I said, thinking that one wasn't in my GCSE's!
After many stops to ask people where are guesthouse was, and the driver turning out to be the mad max of the auto rickshaw world with his death defying driving, we made it to our guest house. It was clean, sort of warm, had cable TV and most importantly of all, had hot water!! Be it out of the taps, so you had to jug and bucket wash, but hot water all the same. For the first time in over 3 days (I know dirty minger) I had a wash. Heaven!
OK, so I've always wanted to go to Amritsar. It's not a place everyone ventures to, as most people don't tend to go much further north than Rajasthan, but this time I was determined. Lauren was just as infused as I as she says that Sikhism is actually the coolest religion on earth, and Amritsar is the Sikhs holiest place.
So I'm go to give you a little bit of a lesson now on the caste system and Sikhism so you can understand a little about India, Amritsar and the way things work. Yes! And there you were thinking that this blog was just about stupidity; silliness and sarcasm (Well it is most of the time), but every now and again I do like to try and inform and educate the reader.
So India works on a thing called the caste system, which is interwoven with the Hindu faith. Each member of the Hindu community belongs to one of more than 2000 castes or subcastes. The caste system puts people into groups and different social status. The people belonging to the highest caste are know as the Brahmins, followed by the Kshatriyas (farmers), then the Vaishyas (Merchants and traders). The lowest are the Shudras (servants and labourers).
The social position of each individual is fixed not by personal qualifications, material acquisitions or friendships. Consequently the caste system divides people into groups, and each caste considers themselves a separate community. They can only eat, drink, socialise and marry within there own caste. It is virtually impossible for some one who is born poor to improve there social standing or even there life as Hindus believe in living a righteous life and fulfilling your moral duty raises your chances of being born into a higher caste and thus better circumstances. The caste was abolished some time ago but it still is instated and shows little signs of changing. I personally think its horrible. It's a system that keeps the elite in power and keeps the poor in their place and I believe it has helped India's ever growing poverty and elitism.
OK, Sikhism. About 2% of Indias population are Sikhs. Sikhs have a unique appearance. Traditionally the men do not cut their hair or shave their beard or moustache. They gather their hair in unique styled turban. Sikhism is a comparatively new religion in India as it was founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. Like Hindus and Buddhists, Sikhs believe in karma and rebirth, but this is what I really like about Sikhism: A belief in equality of all beings lies at the heart of Sikhism. It does not matter what caste, creed, colour, race, sex or religion you are they will treat you the same. It all sounds to good to be true, I thought. This is why I wanted to go to Amritsar. As we say in England, "I wanted to see if it did what is says on the tin!"
Me and Lauren were eager to get to the temple the next morning, but on the way we stopped to buy a pashmina for Lauren as we needed to cover our heads in the temple. We were served by an elderly Sikh gentleman called Mr Singh ( they are all called Singh which must get very confusing)! We asked about the temple and whether it was welcoming for foreigners.
"Why of course. Our home is your home. Sikhs are happy for anyone to come and see our religion" replied Mr Singh. So off we went. It's hard not to find the temple, it's at the epicentre of everything in Amritsar. You see the crowds flocking there, drawn by the beautiful melodies that you can hear coming from inside the temple, but first we had to do the procedures. First you hand in your shoes: didn't have to pay. Then you cover your head. If you don't have a covering they give you a free scarf. This is followed by washing your feet in water: didn't have to pay! And finally you enter the temple and guess what? You don't have to pay, but I would have paid to see this, because once we walked through those arches, we were presented with one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen in India. The temple and its surroundings were beautiful, but there was something else. Now I wouldn't say I'm a spiritual person, in fact I'm a bit of a sceptic of that hippy, soul searching, I've come to find myself stuff, but there was something so calming and magical about that place, I could of stayed for ever. This is, I thought, the reason why I come to India and why I love India. Even better, we seemed to be the only westerns out of the hundreds of faces I could see milling around the temple. This should of been quite intimidating but instead we felt quite privileged and everyone was so welcoming and friendly. So much so we went back that evening and this time we went in to the temple itself. As we queue for the entrance we noticed everyone was praying or kissing the step at the entrance.
"What should we do? " Lauren turns to me.
"What do you mean what should we do?" I reply
"Do we do something at the step,like everyone else?"
"No! It's not our religion. We don't have to do anything."
"But Carly maybe we should, out of respect."
"Like what?"
"I'm going to touch the step" says Lauren.
"We'll I'm not."
"I'm am."
We are moving closer the entrance.
"I'm touching the step."
"I'm not its stupid Lauren."
"I am."
"I'm not."
I get to the entrance. I touch the bloody step!
Inside was unexpected. It was these 3 guys singing away whilst banging on the drums, (It was their music, that you could hear all around the temple) and then all these people sat there swaying along and chilling. This is another reason why I love Sikhs, not only do they treat everyone nice, but they have the best sound system and do the best chill out sessions. It was like a chill out bar in Ibiza only done Indian, religious style, with people not wasted and wearing a lot more clothes. If church was like this. I would definitely go.
The Indians and the Pakistanis hate each other. It's a bit like the English and the French; and the English and the Germans; well actually it's a bit like the English and most of Europe. Anyway Amritsar is right next to the Pakistan border and I'd heard about the border closing ceremony that goes on there, and what an event it was. We decided we had to see it. We procured a taxi, that was cheap because the driver already had a lot of people in his van. This turned out to be a quite well rounded Indian family: Dad, Mum, Grannie, 3 daughters and the prized son. The patriarchal father saw us and announced to the rest of the family:
"Look we are going with the foreigners! We are very lucky." Which me and Lauren found highly amusing.
We looked at the small white van.
"We are never going to fit us all in there!" Said Lauren
"Lauren this is India, they can make anything fit if they have to."
And fit we do. We are crammed in the back with the women. Kids sat on laps. Me and Lauren spend the journey squashed again the window, while I have some fat kid who I think is slightly cross eyed stare at me most of the way. We get there and we can hear from the cheers the ceremony has started. We were following the Indian family like one big happy unit, as dad likes to be the ringleader, but they are so bloody slow, we think sod this and me and Lauren run. We are ushered through by soldiers straight to the front of the crowds and what crowds they are. It's like a football match. The atmosphere is electric. The soldiers dressed in there finest uniform march along with such bravado and pomp it's like theatre. The crowds cheer with national pride. I look the other way. There is Pakistan. I'm just metres away from the border. I can see the Pakistan crowds cheering also, but they can't compete with the might of the Indians. Both sides start taking down the flags and then the soldiers start doing karate kid style high kicks in front of each other! It's a bit like kids showing off in front of one another and saying
"Look I'm so much better than you!"
I've never seen anything like it.
The ceremony finishes and the gates shut and the crowds rush forward and chant at each other through the iron fence. Everyone wants to take their pictures or shake hands with the soldiers. They are like super stars, of course me and Lauren do as well. It's over. If it was a football match India won by thrashing Pakistan. I'm just within inches of the border. I can almost touch Pakistan. I wonder if this is the closest I will get to this country, in my life. A fascinating country I'm sure, but a troubled one all the same.
Before we can drive back, we have to wait forever for the Indian family. They slowly shuffle a long. Dad decides then that the whole family should take chai (tea) before we depart. The next thing we know we our shoved a steaming cup of chai. Me and Lauren look at it. The father has decided to buy us some. This happens a lot in India, its a proud thing to do, even slightly showing off thing, to show that be can buy the foreigners a drink. I hate, tea especially chai, but I drink it all the same. Lauren is just looking at hers.
"What is it? I don't want it!" She says.
The whole family are looking on expectantly.
"Just drink it Lauren. Just bloody drink it."
She does reluctantly. After we finish we hold our plastic cups in our hands. The fat daughter who rules the roost even over her father (I feel sorry for the husband she gets in an arranged marriage: it's going to be one long marriage), shoves Lauren and indicates for her to throw it out the window. Lauren looks unsure. Bare in mind there is rubbish all around as far as the eye can see I say,
"Do it! It's India" and we do. Fat daughter looks satisfied. We are crushed again on the journey back but enjoy every minute. The family are highly amusing even though I can't understand a word they say. We say good bye to our Indian family and the next day good bye to Amritsar, a place I loved and a place where things had been good, but things were going to take a turn for the worse. The bad luck was going to return with a real vengeance. We just didn't know it yet. Next stop Jaipur.
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