First thing we went to the Wagah Border between India and Pakistan. Every day, they have a changing of the guard, and it was the strangest changing of the guard I have ever seen. The guards were all huge... over 6'6", and they had the fiercest demeanors. There was a lot of drama as they marched one by one to the gate, where they did some exercises along with the Pakistani guards, who were also HUGE. They kicked so high that one of them actually kicked off his own hat! Before and during the actual changing of the guard, people from each country were shouting sayings of "country pride" for their respective homelands. Some of the "cheerleaders" had lost their voices by the end. People took turns running down the area in the middle of the crowd, dancing, waving huge flags of their country, and singing songs. It was all very loud, and a little over the top. So fascinating. Then we went to the Sikh Golden Temple, which is the holiest place on earth for Sikhs. We watched the night ceremony, where they put the holy book of scriptures "to bed" for the night. It was crazy, thousands of people were trying to get a turn carrying the holy book, which they regard as a form of the one true God. People were getting into the "holy" water around the inner sanctum of the temple, men, women and children, though the women all bathed in the water behind big barriers. The next day, we went back, and visited the community kitchen, which has been open for more than 500 years. It looks like they are still cooking they same way! Note the enormous iron pot over the fire. They were cooking about a ton of lentils at once. They let anyone come and help, so the men took turns stirring the giant pot, and the women got to make chapati, which they later cooked on enormous gas skillets. The kitchen where they did that was so hot! And it wasn't even too hot outside yet! After that, we visited the place where that British general (Dyer) commanded troops to open fire in a public area on civilians: men, women & children. More than 1500 people were killed. Many people jumped into a huge deep well to escape the gunfire, where they died either from the jump, or from the soldiers leaning in and shooting them. The train ride was about 6 hours each way, but it was so worth it.
First thing we went to the Wagah Border between India and Pakistan. Every day, they have a changing of the guard, and it was the strangest changing of the guard I have ever seen. The guards were all huge... over 6'6", and they had the fiercest demeanors. There was a lot of drama as they marched one by one to the gate, where they did some exercises along with the Pakistani guards, who were also HUGE. They kicked so high that one of them actually kicked off his own hat! Before and during the actual changing of the guard, people from each country were shouting sayings of "country pride" for their respective homelands. Some of the "cheerleaders" had lost their voices by the end. People took turns running down the area in the middle of the crowd, dancing, waving huge flags of their country, and singing songs. It was all very loud, and a little over the top. So fascinating. Then we went to the Sikh Golden Temple, which is the holiest place on earth for Sikhs. We watched the night ceremony, where they put the holy book of scriptures "to bed" for the night. It was crazy, thousands of people were trying to get a turn carrying the holy book, which they regard as a form of the one true God. People were getting into the "holy" water around the inner sanctum of the temple, men, women and children, though the women all bathed in the water behind big barriers. The next day, we went back, and visited the community kitchen, which has been open for more than 500 years. It looks like they are still cooking they same way! Note the enormous iron pot over the fire. They were cooking about a ton of lentils at once. They let anyone come and help, so the men took turns stirring the giant pot, and the women got to make chapati, which they later cooked on enormous gas skillets. The kitchen where they did that was so hot! And it wasn't even too hot outside yet! After that, we visited the place where that British general (Dyer) commanded troops to open fire in a public area on civilians: men, women & children. More than 1500 people were killed. Many people jumped into a huge deep well to escape the gunfire, where they died either from the jump, or from the soldiers leaning in and shooting them. The train ride was about 6 hours each way, but it was so worth it.
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