Amritsar, Punjab – Golden Temple

I’m way behind on posts so the next few posts are going to be about my travels from the last 2-3 weeks.

First off, two weekends ago, my roommate and I went to Punjab. We had an early flight on the Saturday morning and woke up way too late. If that wasn’t bad enough, as we approached the airport, we were told that auto rickshaws aren’t allowed all the way to the terminal. Some dude wanted us to pay Rs. 500 for a 2 minute taxi ride but we weren’t having any of it! So we jumped on a packed public bus instead. We had to run to the check-in desk and arrived just 40 minutes before departure and a full 20 minutes after check-in had closed. After some expert negotiation, we were allowed in. Whew!

Upon landing in Amritsar, we took a cab to the Golden Temple. We decided to seek out a tourist guide to tell us about the temple before we actually went in. The guide first took us to Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a massacre conducted by the ruling British in 1919. We were able to see the bullet holes back from when the massacre took place. It was quite a moving experience.

Next, we went back to the Golden Temple and the guide explained the significance of the temple. It was awesomely beautiful. We soaked in the environment and walked around the surrounding pool. It is believed the pool of water can heal skin diseases such as leprosy and therefore, many pilgrims bathe in the water. We decided to stay well away from the water!

Finally, we enjoyed lunch at the largest free kitchen in the world. It is estimated that 80,000 people dine at the Golden Temple’s free kitchen on a daily basis. The cycle time for a single meal is a mere 20 minutes – that includes entering the hall, serving the food, eating lunch, exiting and clean-up. The entire kitchen is run by volunteers and there is even a queue in order to volunteer at the kitchen! And if that wasn’t enough, the meal itself was amazing too.