Friday, July 24, 2015

Golden Temple & Wagah Border, Amritsar, India

Visiting Amritsar & famed Golden Temple has been on my wish list for a real long time. There were 2 missed opportunities in past which made me wonder whether it was in my destiny to visit the place !! Guess; I got third time lucky & finally in February 2015; visited Amritsar & Golden Temple.

Visiting the temple was a great feeling. One gets overwhelmed by the feeling of peace and tranquility. Despite the large number of devotees; the noise is very minimal . The entire complex is very clean and well managed. Also a must visit is the langar at the temple; which feeds thousands of devouts daily without any discrimination of caste & creed. 

 Another added attraction was famous Wagah Border - the border crossing between India & Pakistan. There is a daily ceremony  in which Border Security Force & Pakistan Rangers have a Beating Retreat march with crowds cheering on both the side. 
If  you are in Amritsar & haven't tried out various famous eating joints ; your trip has been wasted.  Right from the famous Golden Temple langar to famous "dhabas" - some more than century old; the city has various eating options for veg & non veg  and definitely for sweet lovers !


The famous Golden Temple glistening in the morning sun

Nihang - Sikh warrior 

Akal Thakt

People queuing up to enter the holy place

Golden fishes in the holy sarovar [pond]

Minarets built as watchtowers to prevent Mughal attacks 

Harmandir Sahib in its fully glory during night

Akal Takht at night 

Outside the temple at night

Outside the temple at night
Tempted to visit Lahore :) !! 

BSF jawans at the border

The famous Indo Pak border crossing. Indian side is on the foreground with Pakistani side in the background

Indian audience eagerly awaiting for the ceremony to start

BSF jawans practising for the flag lowering ceremony