My three days in Amritsar are over. The stay in the pilgrim's lodge next to the Golden Temple was another unforgettable experience. The Langar, the huge and free dining hall was the absolute highlight for me. The incredible organization of every little detail makes the word chaos in the normal Indian "organized chaos" obsolete - this was pure organization. On the second day I was able to volunteer in the dining hall for three hours. My job was to make sure that people coming from dinner, left their spoons to the two bowls next to me. There were so many people going by, that even the four of us doing this simple task couldn't stop a few spoons from getting through to the station where bowls and plates were handed in. It was a job that in all its simplicity was extremely rewarding. Never in my life have I received so many smiles in such a short time.
I learned to respect the Sikh tremendously during the past three days. The helpfulness and friendliness towards strangers and non-believers is something I haven't felt with other religions so far.
Last night after dinner, I finally went inside the temple. The long waiting time had kept me away so far. This time the line was shorter and I only needed about 25 minutes to get inside. Taking pictures was unfortunately not allowed, but I can tell you that the name Golden Temple is justified also when looking from the inside. Also the marble carvings that are filled with semi-precious stones (similar to Taj Mahal), were impressive to look at.
Probably the biggest reason I enjoyed Amritsar as much as I did, was the good company I had. Thanks guys, first of all for telling me about the pilgrim's lodge and of course for the good times! This once again proves that traveling alone doesn't mean being alone. I'm positive it's easier to meet new people when you're traveling alone in comparison to traveling with someone.
Yesterday we left the temple area in the afternoon to go to the Pakistani border. Not to cross it, don't worry, but to see the daily ceremony of closing the border for the night. And what a surreal spectacle it was! Soldiers on both sides of the border did the same strange routines and funny walks and even a few handshakes over the border were given. If you are familiar with the Monty Python sketch "Ministry of Silly Walks", you have an idea how it looked like.
The weirdest thing for me was not the ceremony itself, but the hundreds of Indian spectators cheering and waving Indian flags during the ceremony. On the other side of the border, a clearly smaller crowd of Pakistanis was doing the same, but with their own flag of course. The strong nationalism exceeded my limits of healthy patriotism and bothered me a little. But the mere fact that two countries that still are enemies show this kind of cooperation and silliness, worked as a compensation.
This morning I traveled four hours in the "human Tetris" -compartment of the train from Amritsar to Chandigarh. Now I'm resting before taking off to the city. For the first night I'm staying outside the train station, but I will keep my eyes open later in the city for possible places to stay. I'm also searching for a possibility to upload some more pictures from Amritsar and from the border, so in a few hours there should be new stuff to see here.
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