While I am sure there are remnants of these in the Punjabi culture as well I got introduced to a different side of Punjab... the spiritual and emotional one....we covered Wagah Border, Jallianwala Bagh and Golden Temple at Amritsar.....
Wagah Border was crowded... one would expect to see very little activity in an Indo-Pak border but there were millions of shop keepers, flag sellers, policy, trucks, tourists... all jostling to get to a glimpse of the Pak border and in the case of shopkeepers to sell memorabalia....we walked through the cordon of security...it was a long walk.. interrupted by policemen on horses.... who checked everyone... and then a walk to the actual "venue" .... the border that i.... the place was packed.... As I was India I was made to stand with the crowd... my friends who were foreigners were made to sit in a separate enclosure... for fear that they would be lynched perhaps.... as soon as we entered I could hear bollywood music playing.... and that was enough for the crowd to go crazy... ladies flowed onto the road and started dancing... to be only encouraged by the border security force... and when the actual ceremony began everybody starting screaming "Vande Mataram"... and I could see and sense a swelling of national pride... I joined in too!!!! and there started the attempt to drown out all noise from the Pakistani side.... we screamed, clapped, stomped, shouted, sang... all in an effort to drown out the Pakistani side... and we succeeded.... after all they had only about 4 visitors and we had 400 visitors.... so do the math people.... at the end of it the ceremony was extremely respectful when the flags lowered ..... although I just could not understand the rationale for so many of our soliders to keep marching up and down and stomp their feet on the ground... and they did it so many times.... I felt bad for the ground since they were not gently at all....
Next stop was the Jallianwala Bagh the next day... it was not in my itinerary but I requested to see it .... and it was easily the most touching part of our trip... the site where General Dwyer stood and ordered his men to kill unarmed people is marked prominently.... and there are some walls which still have bullet marks and the Government has indicated it in a square white box...... I strolled around... knowing the weight of history that this place carries..... I tried to come to terms with this part of my history... this place that turned the freedom struggle on its head in India.... i read testimonies of people who were there that day... and as much as I could hold back I did.... but my foreign friends actually cried.....we walked past another wall.... and a mother was explaining to her 5 year old son about what happened in the place and the reason for the bullet marks.... her son turned innocently and asked "where is the person who killed all of these people?".... he is dead, replied the mother..... somehow telling the son, dont worry, nobody will harm us now....
We finally went to the most enduring picture of Amritsar.... the Golden Temple... built with 10 quintals of gold it was again a seat of tremendous political and religious upheavals... as soon as I entered the place I wanted to know which structure had been destroyed in Optn Blue Star... my guide pointed it out to me... but in a hushed tone told "we dont talk about it".... i got my cue.... we walked around the marble courtyard... checked out the volunteer kitchens where oridinary people make food for even more ordinary people.... I witnessed jalebi making session... and then was told by an elder punjabi person (whom people called pappi) to eat the Jalebi... I protested saying I was on a diet... and he told me in a very grandfatherly way to shut up and eat.... for some strange reason I completely felt at home.... I was not offended... I liked him taking liberty with me....made me feel like I belonged.... even if this place was miles away from my own home....
Amritsar didnt disappoint me.... I think I was disappointed only because I had not come to this place for so long in my life....
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