Visited in May 2013
Traveling is always refreshing for me, even if it’s on weekend after working for whole week. So here i am sharing my short trip to the wonderful city of Amritsar.
We (group of friends) started from Delhi, Kashmiri Gate Bus Terminal at 9:30 pm and reached Amritsar in the morning at around 6 am. Though it was an hectic journey but the excitement of exploring the place was so strong that let us keep going. We searched for a hotel and finalized one near bus stand as Golden Temple is around 2 km from bus stand. After a smooth check-in, we got ready, did breakfast and proceeded to visit this famous ancient temple, Golden Temple. Since it was a Sunday and place had many devotees hence we got darshan after 1 hour being in the queue (at around 12 noon).
Temple is in the middle surrounded by holy water. The place looks serene and beautiful. This is the place where we could imagine for once why our nation was nicknamed as “Sone ki Chidiya” (Golden Bird).
Before proceeding towards our next site we had a glass of lassi. If I put my then emotion into famous lines “Punjab aaye aur lassi bhi nahi pi to kya khaak punjab aaye”. Punjab is famous for many things and lassi is one of them. So without any second thought we ordered and had lassi.
The next site on our list was Jaliawalan Bagh, which is very close to the temple just walking distance (around 450 meters). The place has a narrow entry and once we reached the site we could see bullet mark on walls.
The well where people jumped to avoid bullets have been covered now and given the name of “Shahidi Kuan (Martyrs Well)”.
Place also have a flame and memorial in the memory of Martyrs.
We experienced this ancient site and imagined how dreadful the incident was. The contribution of our martyrs towards independence is priceless, its beyond words.
Our next destination was Wagah Border which is 32km from our present location (Jalliawalan Bagh). We boarded a tempo on shared basis for reaching Wagah Border.
Till the time we reached border, we were hungry as it was almost evening. So we had lunch and went to border (tip: reach early and take your seat for ceremony as many people visit this place and it’s difficult to get seats later).
The lowering of the flag ceremony was grand and patriotic, felt proud to be a part of it.
After the ceremony we had some time before our late night train, so we decided to visit Shri Durgiana Temple, an ancient temple which has somewhat similar architect as that of Golden Temple but small in size.
As the name says temple is dedicated to Goddess Durga.
With the beautiful memories of this holy city we boarded the train from Amritsar Railway Station and reached Delhi in the morning.
How to reach:
By Air: Amritsar airport is well connected to other cities in India and also to a number of international cities.
By Rail: Amritsar Railway Station is well connected to almost all major cities in India
By Road: Bus services connect Amritsar with cities like Delhi, Dehradun, Shimla, Jammu and other towns in North India