Balle Balle....Chandigarh to Amritsar

I know title doesn’t rhyme but who cares :P
After coming back from my trip to Bhubneswar (will post later), I was feeling all charged up. I wanted to visit all the places where I always wanted to go. Amritsar was one such place I never visited (You will find it odd if you know that I have stayed all my life in Punjab). Plan was finalized on Thursday's snack time in FC and we were on our way on Saturday morning. After a round of paneer paranthas and lots of toll check posts, we reached Amritsar at around noon. All of us were full of enthu and after finding our ways through narrowest lanes on earth, we reached Jallian walah bagh. Its small park where British soldiers gunned 1600 Indians for no reason at all. RDB had painted a very romantic picture of the place. After coming out of it, I must say, we were very disappointed. I think disappointment has to be blamed to over expectations. Govt. had installed quite a few monuments in there and it was pretty clean. But we rated it B-. So much so, we thought of curtailing our trip short and going back same day but then some sense prevailed and we decided to stick to our plans.
Lunch we had that day was unique. Khasta Kulchas with chhole we had were apparently "patented" by that shop and were not available anywhere else in Amritsar. Very crispy, full of butter and very delicious. yummmm....After that, we were on our way to Wagha border. En route, we saw the most majestic college I have ever seen in my life. Khalsa College. Edinburgh folks, it beats Fettes college hands down when it comes to grandeur. It was so awe inspiring that we started looking for relevant deptt where we can get admission.
Next pit stop was at Wagah. Road to border was full of trucks. We were pissed off to know tones of onion, tomato and garlic were being exported to pakis but were smiling when we were told that we get dry fruits in return. It made me remember Oye Lucky Lucky oye scene where Lucky impresses his cute little GF by telling that his dad exports peanuts and brings almond in return :)Wagah border is one of the few functional official road links between us and lost lands. It’s manned by BSF from our side and Pakistan rangers from theirs. Both sides host flag hoisting and retreat ceremonies daily. By the time we reached there, galleries were full. Men's sections resembled Bangalore's sky bridge. It can be quite annoying when you are made to smell other's sweat but it didn’t matter because the atmosphere at that place was awesome. BSF jawans, fluttering flags, patriotic songs and vociferous crowds. What more you want. Ladies were having gala time there. One, their seating area was very comfy. Two, they were allowed to go down to the road and run with national flags in hands towards border. Three and most frustrating of all, they were allowed dance on that road whereas boys didnt have space to adjust even their legs. Too much for equality of sexes. Grrrr.............. But to be honest, entire sight was so damn good that you feel over the moon even while shaking your heads. Retreat ceremony started. Our soldiers looked very smart. Their actions were crisp and officer-like but paki rangers sometimes resembled clowns. Their antiques made me remember black caps (Kiwi rugby team). Slogan mongering was going on both sides with BSF and rangers egging crowds on. We obviously out-shouted pakis. Ceremony got over at sunset. After couple of snaps with tall jawans and a cup of tea, we came back to Amritsar high on Dev D songs.
After praying at Durgiana Mandir in the evening, we went for dinner at world famous Kesar ka Dhaba. This place is way too small for its huge reputation (may be thats why its so famous). In the absence of any token system, you have to bear with so many eyes staring at your plate and waiting for it to get over. Even with all these "hindrances", their food made its statement. It was awesome. Bowl of Dal full up to brim with upper 1/4th layer being only pure ghee. Shahi paneer and laccha parntha were also dripping with ghee. But the best of the lot was Phirni. In Himesh Reshamiya's words, it was "superb, fantastic, mind blowing, history". After such sumptuous dinner, we had lovely sleep which was disturbed at 5:30 by my alarm.
And by 8:30, we were ready to go to Harmandir Sahab (whosoever says girls take more time getting ready haven’t met a friend of mine). Atmosphere in Golden temple was very pious and calm that it transcends one to different zone all together. We were in queue for almost an hour but we didn’t feel it as people were not hustling each other. After Darshan, we went to see Akal Takth, Dukh Bhanjani Beri and Jassa Singh's place. Then we went for langar. As expected, Langar was very tasty and clean. Arrangements at that place were so efficient and methodical that I think even million people can have their meals on a single day without any major hassles. One is simply amazed after looking at scale of preparations which goes behind Langar. Awesome.
After coming out, we had Jalebis and one big glass of lassi with butter and malai thrown into it. It was so filling that we had to skip our lunch. Then we visited a place called Ram Tirth which is built on place where Luv Kush once stayed/played. The place was very peaceful with 80m Hanuman ji overseeing entire area. After that we were on our way back to Chandigarh.Overall, this trip was very nice. Even though it’s the most visited city in Punjab, tourists destinations have managed to maintain their purity instead of getting drowned into waves of commercialism. In its small bye lanes, Amritsar has so many good things hidden. You have to know a local otherwise you will never find these gems. In these two days, though we thought we ate too much but we missed too many things. Glass of hot milk, Amritsari bhature, pithi puri, rabri, plain poori, Kulche.....phew
I must add that health freaks must avoid trip to Amritsar. One can not enjoy Amritsar with butter naan in one hand and calorie meter in other :)