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Wednesday, January 1st – Amritsar
Frank and I walk to the Golden Temple as soon as we have had breakfast at a local café near our hotel. It is a mild, sunny morning with only a slight breeze, the type of day that naturally creates a good mood. The hustle and bustle of the busy market streets dissolves into the serenity around the temple and the lake. It is as though there is a magical spell over this area, like Rivendell in Lord of the Rings.
The temple, with its gold leaf covering on its upper floors, is glistening on its island in the lake. The morning air has a smoky blue haze in it, making its colour soft and muted. The clean, white buildings, walkways and pavilions around the lake are its decorative backdrop. There is gentle activity everywhere, people walking
along the water's edge, on the causeways to the temple or gathered in small groups. White birds swim in the water and fly over the lake. The same meditative music that we heard last night greets us again and sets a spiritual tone. 
The Golden Temple is the holiest shrine of the Sikh religion. It houses the original Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. A priest sits on the east side and reads continuously from the text, like a soft chant that echoes reassuringly from a loudspeaker. The Baba Atal Tower stands on the sound side in a small park. The excavated lake is named Amritsar, like the city that has grown around it. The name means 'pool of the nectar of immortality'.
The true name of the temple is Harmandir Sahib, which means 'abode of God'. You can feel Her here when you cross the causeway to reach its doors. There are four causeways leading to the temple, one for each direction, to indicate acceptance and openness to everyone. We cause from eastern causeways, remove our shoes and cover our heads with our kafias out of respect as we inch our way through the temple. Inside the walls are marble, inset with rubies and some have beautiful frescoes. There are several shrines to past Sikh gurus, saints and heroes.
In 1984, Sikh extremists seized the temple. Indira Gandhi sent in the Indian army and they took the temple by force. Over 500 soldiers and civilians died in the fighting. I see a couple bullet holes from the battle in the outer walls. The desecration of the holy shrine resulted in Indira's assassination three months later by a Sikh extremist.
Some restoration work has been completed since then. The government expropriated land around the temple three years ago and began clearing a wide swath of land, creating more open area and public park space. The guide says small rooms around the lake and those in the basement of the temple have been sealed. The redesign has met some resistance and the head contractor was assassinated last year so the work has stopped for now. You would never know there was hatred or anger around here though. It feels like the holiest place I have ever been. All I sense is a graceful peace, as though I am being cradled by a greater, loving force.
After resting for a while on the promenade around the lake following our tour, we walk over two blocks to Jallianwala Bagh, the site of the 1919 massacre. There was a lot of unrest in India following the end of World War I, some of it acerbated by Mahatma Gandhi's 'satyagraha' campaign (peaceful truth-force campaign) against the iron handed rule of Punjab's English Governor Michael O'Dwyer. Peaceful rallies were set up between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs to protest the oppressive penalties. On April 13, 1919, such a protest was taking place when the British troops opened fire without warning on the unarmed crowd.
The park is a walled garden only accessed by a single narrow passageway. The troops blocked the exits and started firing indiscriminately for several minutes into the crowd of over 2,000, killing several hundreds. Many hundred others were trampled to death in the panic. Those who tried to scale the walls to escape were shot down and dozens of others jumped into a deep, wide well and were drowned by others jumping on top of them. The officer in charge testified later that he regretted that the passageway was too narrow to bring in a vehicle with a machine gun mounted on it, which prevented him from killing more protesters. Over 1500 people died in the massacre.
There in a scene in the middle of the movie "Gandhi" where he visits the park right after the massacre. To be here in person is overwhelming. I feel quite choked. There is beautiful spiritual music playing and flowers blooming everywhere. I can see bullet holes still in the walls and in the opening of the well, and I feel hugely sad. It is strange that in such an ancient country and a city that has been around for centuries that the most significant and violent historical massacres have both occurred in this century.
The visit to the two sites has had a similar impact on Frank, who is a caring person. We are both rather quiet when we leave and tired from the emotional experience of the day. I am glad Frank was with me today. If I was alone I might feel depressed.
On our way back, we pass through the market area and buy food at a kiosk for dinner and eat it there. Afterwards, we detour to the Golden Temple to gaze at the lake a while longer before returning to our hotel. When we get back to our room, we look over our maps to decide on tomorrow's route, our first step on our journey to New Delhi. We want to avoid the heavier traffic in the centre of the valley where the industrial cities of Jalandhar and Ludhiana are located. We choose a quieter route that heads due south towards the town of Moga.
PHOTO 1: the Golden Temple and Baba Atal Tower, Amritsar
PHOTO 2: prayers by the north entrance way
PHOTO 3: from the walkway around the pond
PHOTO 4: the queue on the causeway to enter
PHOTO 5: at the entrance
PHOTO 6: women on Golden Pond
PHOTO 7: the entrance walkway, too narrow for machine gun truck
PHOTO 8: dedication sign, Jallianwala Bagh
PHOTO 9: bullet holes in Jallianwala can still be seen
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