A Golden Ending

For our last stop in India we wanted to visit Amritsar in the state of Punjab. It is a holy city for Sikhs located 28 kms from the border with Pakistan and home to the Golden Temple (like the Vatican to Catholics).

We also felt that considering how many Punjabis immigrated to Canada, this visit would give us an opportunity to further understand our fellow Canadians. Did you know that some of the largest Sikh communities outside of Punjab is Surrey B.C. and Brampton Ontario?!

Unfortunately there is no direct or easy way to get from Jaisalmer to Amritsar so we had to go through Delhi. We ended up on an 18 hour train ride that left Jaisalmer at 12:05am and arrived in Delhi at 9:20pm, and of course it was late...Nonetheless, we got comfortable in our little sleeping berth (with privacy curtains) and enjoyed the ride!

Delhi is a crazy and chaotic city! The streets are jam packed with cars, trucks, autorickshaws, bicycle rickshaws and even some with cow power!

Unfortunately we were in the city on a Monday when almost all the sites were closed so instead we wandered the streets of Old Delhi and visited the spice market.

After our one day in Delhi, we took a flight to Amritsar. When we arrived we found out that, lucky us, we are visiting on an "auspicious occasion" - the Guru Nanak's birthday! Guru Nanak is the founder of the Sikh religion and pilgrims from far and wide come to bathe in the holy waters that surround the Golden Temple and then pray at the complex. We were a bit worried about the crowds we would encounter but it turned out to be a great experience. The atmosphere, with the thousands of pilgrims, was amazing and made it so much more meaningful. There was not much signage around and because we had never been to a Sikh temple we didn't know what to do. With all the pilgrims we were able to just follow! The only two things that we knew we had to do that were different than Hindu temples was cover our heads and wash our feet before entering the complex.

And, of course, we made friends!

I really didn't know anything about Sikhism so here's a quick list of what I've learned: -Guru Nanak was a farmer who was frustrated with the caste system in India. He believed that all people were equal.
-There is only one God, unlike Hindus who apparently have 33 million gods and goddesses.
-They believe in hard work, family and serving others. At all Gudwaras (temples) they give free meals and there are no entrance fees.
-Sikhs are not allowed to cut their hair. They believe that God created us with hair that grows long and it should be respected.
-The wearing of a turban for men was made mandatory by the tenth Guru to manage the long hair, to promote equality and preserve the Sikh identity.
-Sikhs carry the qualities of a saint soldier. They must have the courage to defend the rights of all those who are wrongfully oppressed.
-Sikhs carry a Kirpan, which is a ceremonial sword, at all times. It is a representation of their saint soldier qualities.

For our last night in India we went out for a show at the Wagah border crossing. We jumped in a shared taxi for the one hour drive to the border to Pakistan! There were thousands of Indians and Pakistanis sitting in official stadium style seating on their respective sides of the borders and right along the highway.

Everyone was cheering for their countries. We were ushered into the foreigner section on the India side (I don't think they had any foreigners on the Pakistan side). The show started with some flag waving and some dancing with VERY loud music (should have brought ear plugs...).

Then these bad ass looking guys showed up.

Then these bad ass ladies marched down the street towards the gate.

Then these guys really showed off their marching and high kicking.

On the other side of the border, they were doing the same thing. It was really all about who can outdo the other. Who can march the best, who can kick the highest and which side had the loudest supporters. In turn, everyone marched down to the gate, met a counterpart on the Pakistani side, had a march or kick off, shook hands then walked back. The entire ceremony was about an hour. It was really funny and definitely a unique experience!

The food across India is so diverse and there is so much more than the butter chicken, naan, rice and palak paneer that we see so much at home. What we know as Indian food is actually North Indian since the majority of Indo-Canadians are from here.

Every bite is like an assault on your taste buds! There is just so much spice in their cooking: cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, chili peppers, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and the list goes on and on...The absolute best way to taste a bit of everything is to get thalis. Thalis are like a little personal buffet: you get one large platter with a bunch of little bowls with different regional items, a little rice, a papad and chapati or naan.

Punjab Thali

Gujurat Thali

Rajasthan Thali

There are so many dishes that we tried that it's hard to keep track of! Everything just tasted so good.

Breakfast: Aloo (potato) parantha with curd and pickled vegetables.

Kachori: stuffed pastry with potato, lentils and spices.

Laal Maans (left) is stewed mutton in a spicy tomato curry and Tandoori chicken (right)

And with every meal, we had a sweet lassi which is a drink made of yoghurt, water and spices, usually cardamom.

The locals all stop for chai regularly throughout the day. There are chai wallas everywhere! The chais are always so spicy and everyone seems to have their own version. My favourite ones include cardamom and fresh mashed ginger that gives it that spicy taste.

And then there are the sweets. There are so many different varieties but what you can be sure of is that the main ingredient will be sugar, and lots of it.

Jalebi: Deep fried wheat flour and soaked in syrup. 

Kulfi: Ice cream with pistachios, cardamom and other spices.

Gulab Jamun stuffed with nuts and spices.

Until next time India!

The Land of the Kings

I've always imagined India to be this dusty, chaotic city sprinkled with slightly worn but grand looking ancient cities and temples; just like in the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". So after visiting Bangalore, Ladak and Kashmir I was starting to wonder if this image I had was just some Hollywood stereotype, until we arrived in Rajasthan. Rajasthan, which means "Land of the Kings" in Hindi, is said to have more history packed into the state than the rest of India combined. We went to Jaipur, Jodphur and Jaisalmer where we visited ancient cities, forts and palaces where different Maharajas (King) ruled for centuries. The kingdoms all ended when the state of Rajasthan was created during the Dominion of India in 1949.

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and is known as the "pink city". In the late 19th century, the Maharaja had the city painted pink, the colour of hospitality, in honour of Prince Edward VII and Queen Victoria's visit.

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds, was built by one of the Maharajas for the ladies of the royal household so they could live in purdah, which is the religious and social practice of female seclusion. Women (apparently only those of upper class) were not allowed to be seen in public so they would travel by covered palaquin and would live behind these honeycombed windows that allowed them to see out into the city but people on the street could not see in. The Hawa Mahal was a beautifully carved pink sandstone building where every window was covered with this honeycomb stonework.

Next door is an observatory, Jantar Mantar, built in 1728. The site looked like a collection of oddly shaped sculptures but each one had some purpose of measuring a celestial object in the sky!

The Amber fort was our last stop here. It was a 20 minute autoricksaw ride out of the old city where the royal capital was before Jaipur. The fort sat on top of a hill with a great vantage point to see approaching enemies!

It also had a beautifully carved and bejouled palace inside.

Jodpur, on the other hand, is known as the "blue city".  The Brahmins, the highest and priestly cast, always painted their houses blue and at some point, more recently, others in Jodphur started to paint their houses blue (some have told us to compete with Jaipur's reputation).

The fort and palace here were our favourites! The carved stone walls are beautiful and so detailed.

There were several rooms that were restored and decorated so you can get a good sense of what it was like back then.

Jodphur was my favourite city. The streets were twisty, winding and, at times, so narrow that an autoricksaw barely fit. Not to mention that I found it the most picturesque.

Jaisalmer; the final frontier! This is the end of the train line in Rajasthan and lies on the edge of the Thar desert. Here the fort is still filled with inhabitants running hotels, restaurants, and shops. It was nice to wander around but it felt a bit like walking through Disney Land; filled with tourists and gifts shops with the same useless stuff I don't ever want or need. The palace was also much smaller than the others we visited and heard that it wasn't really worth the 500rupees/person ($10CAN).

We came here to see the desert. Originally we wanted to go on a camel safari but then read reviews and decided it really wasn't for us (not to mention, it's apparently very uncomfortable and they don't use stirrups). So instead we hired the driver from our hotel to visit a few sites and the Sam dunes.

We had imagined that the Thar desert would be barren, rolling sand dunes as far as the eye can see but it's actually scrub land filled with shrubbery!

After visiting these three cities we were definitely fort-ed and palace-ed out! I'm so glad we came here because this truly was the India I have always pictured.

We also had another wonderful cultural experience - we ended up at a wedding! We were walking down the main road in the old city of Jodphur when we saw a parade of people surrounding a decorated man on a horse. We realized that this was a groom and it was the wedding procession. As we stood to the side to watch, some in the party waved at us and ran over to take photos, next thing you know we're being dragged along with them! The little girls held my hands and wouldn't let go. So we decided to walk through the streets with them figuring we'd be let go in a few minutes - nope, the father of the bride invited us to have lunch and they would not accept 'no'.

Turns out this was the last day of the three day celebration and there were two marriages going on (the brides were sisters). The men and women ate separately, the grooms sat separately from their brides (entirely different floors actually) and the tradition is that the men's faces are covered with flowers so you can't see them at all and the women's faces are covered with their veils. They will then remove these during the official ceremony that would take place that night, when they would see each other for the first time! Arranged marriages here are the norm and traditionally the bride and groom don't meet. It sounds like the more modern people now have chaperoned meetings and both have the option of accepting or refusing the proposal from their families. Also with Internet and cell phones, there are many unchaperoned conversations that go on :) The wedding was definitely an experience and the food was amazing: curried chicken, chapati and sweets.

Now back on the train for an 18hr ride to Delhi...