Finally,
the taxi we had booked to go to Amritsar had arrived. So our group
was ready for the next destination. We ate "thepla"
(gujarati food which was still with us) with taxi driver at a halt.
After washing our hands, we closed the tap, but the shopkeeper told
us to keep it open to save the pipeline from freezing at such a low
temperature. After a very long drive, we finally reached Amritsar at
night. We then went to our Rs.1/- booked hotel room (Hotel Grace) and
the first thing we did was to have a perfect bath after long long
time.
We then went to Suvarna mandir (Golden temple) to have a
perfect night view of the temple. After clicking photos of each other
and having some amrit from the sarovar, we went inside the Gurudwara
where the last prayers of the day was going on. It was just magical
to experience it. The management done by sevaks was just perfect and
speechless to express. Inside the temple, I observed that tinest
things like switches, switch-boards, fan, handle of the waving fan
and almost entire small to large things were made up of Gold. After
experiencing the chantings and classical music for a long time, we
finally went for the dinner of a famous Punjabi food restaurant to
experience real Punjabi taste.
Later,
we went to the hotel after buying whiskey, bear, wine and bitings to
celebrate our first perfect trek of life. We don't remember when we
slept while talking and watching TV (after a long time) and were up
directly in the morning. 5 of us (KD, Kumar, Vibhas, Abbas and DJ)
had pre-decided to go for a movie "Dhoom 3". But me and my
friend decided to visit the temple and Jallianwala bagh and also had
book a taxi for visiting Wagha border along with local tour. We first
went to have the morning view of the temple, watched various gold
fishes in the sarovar and then went in the "Langar" to have
prasad as our lunch. Then, while walking towards Jallianwala bagh, we
enjoyed a full glass of hot milk which is specialty of Amritsar.
We
viewed the gunshots at Jallianwala bagh, the Martyr's well and also the documentary
movie shown there at different intervals.
Outside
the bagh, there were too many taxi drivers approaching us and we
selected the cheapest of them after bargaining. We had to pickup the
other 5 from the multiplex, so directly went with the taxi driver
towards his so called Mahindra caaaaar (u can call it a modified
diesel rickshaw).
After visiting Durgiana temple, he took us to Wagha
border slowly but not steadily. We reached Wagha border early, but
people had reached earlier than us to occupy good seats. After
security check, people were finally free to run at highest speed
towards the border to occupy front seats. The atmosphere at the
ceremony made all of us hyper active and everyone were shouting like
anything with the chants of "Hindustan zindabad".
The
atmosphere cannot be explained in words. It is mandatory to visit at
least once here in lifetime to have this experience. After the
ceremony, some of us got the chance to have a photo with soldiers and
finally we returned to hotel for packing our luggage to catch the
night train towards Delhi. It was raining a lot in the night, but the
hotel manager served us well by calling 2 rickshaw drivers at a good
cost to drop us at railway station.
Finally,
we reached old Delhi in the morning, ate "parathas" of the
famous "Paratha gali (street)" in Comesome restaurant
outside the station and picked our seats on the arrival of Ala-Hazrat
express at 11:45 am.
After
reaching Ahmedabad and meeting with my suggester friend Rex, he
informed me that he experienced snowfall and had walked from
Dalhousie to Banikhet in snow as transportation was not possible in
the route. When I heard that and saw their videos, I was totally
disappointed because we were early by just 24 hrs in such a long
planned journey. But it was great to see their videos and here their
experience.
This
was the complete experience of our perfectly organized journey. Many
of the memories are not written in this blog so save this long long
blog from turning into a book. :)
Hope
you enjoyed the blog !!! Thanks God for giving me chance to
experience the nature created by him and thanks all of you for
reading it. I will continue always...
Very well written Blog. I am planning to go for a trek too
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