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TAKING AN INDIAN TRAIN
Today I caught the train! I've always wanted to do that in India! The Indian railway system must be one of the world's largest and if colonialism was of any use to this country their railways would perhaps be why. I got an executive class seat from New Delhi terminal, a relatively comfortable experience which reminded me of catching the V Line to country Victoria - a regular seat there mind you! We were served breakfast which I've included a picture of. It compared favourably to the meal on the Air Koryo flight to North Korea earlier this year (still haven't figured out exactly what it was they served us). I didn't do much else except snooze and read (Samurai William).
Other people in the carriage were quiet, there were no kids. There didn't seem to just be businessmen, there were a number of women in typical colourful Indian clothing. As the premium rail travel option it certainly didn't cut the mustard compared to a standard seat on something like the TGV in France or the fast train I took from Beijing to Tianjin but I still was surprised it went as fast as it did and we arrived unscathed so no complaints.
We arrived in Amritsar to the north after about 5 hours of max 110km/h speeds. It was just as hot as Delhi and we went straight to the Ramada Hotel, quite a colonial looking establishment. There were 2 activities that evening, watching the "Beating a Retreat" ceremony on the border with Pakistan and visiting the Golden Temple.
BEATING A RETREAT
This ceremony took place at what's called the Asian equivalent of the Berlin Wall. It was an amazing, deafening uproar of an experience! On the border there are 2 gates. Leading up to both from each country's side are amphitheatre style seats, enough for about 4000 on the Indian side. There is a 100m stretch of concrete road going down the centre of the seating area up to the gate, it's the same format for the Pakistanis. The place was packed with not too fanatical, thankfully, flag waving patriotically chanting Indians. There were fewer Pakistanis on their side but between breaks in the deafening music we sometimes heard them shouting too, for example the call to prayer I'm used to hearing in Kuwait welled up at one point.
One of the most spectacular parts was the Border Security Force (BSF) guards. They were so tall, averaging 6.5' I'd say, and had a couple of things to enhance their imposingness. The first was a red, rooster style comb standing about a foot out of their Sikh turbans. The second was their pants only came down to about a foot above the ground. From their shoes up to the end of the trouser legs were white covers for their boots. Having pants too short like this seemed to add to the impression of height.
Then there was their marching! Along the aforementioned concrete stretch proceedings got underway with a number of pairs of young girls from the crowd running along it holding Indian flags. They seemed to be very excited about it. Later on along the same section pairs of guards would do a very quick, flamboyant march, stopping just at the gate where we could see their Pakistani counterparts had just done the same thing. This was the slightly heartwarming thing about the whole event - it was choreographed by both sides! They'd actually met to plan this whole spectacle, and it happens once a day for about an hour leading up to the lowering of the flag at sunset.
At the end of the march they would raise their leg so their foot touched their head! It was amazing how flexible they were, although it was pretty much just a high kick so they didn't have to maintain it more than half a second. The ceremony had a MC on the Indian side dressed in a white jump suit who basically just whooped up the crowd, there was also a guy with a Western drum kit who played during the songs and chants, it was anplified. Right when I was beginning to think this type of an event was a bad idea for just stirring up passions, they opened the gates and a guard from each side shook hands! This changed the whole scene for me, especially seeing the Pakistani chap doing it with a smile. It seemed to indicate that the past half hour of patriotic songs and mayhem were all just for fun. That both sides could trust each other. That this, and perhaps even the military activity along the border, was for show, nothing else. Perhaps both sides have finally beat a retreat and these daily doses of sportingness will heal wounds.
THE GOLDEN TEMPLE
This is a 400 odd year old Sikh temple, the most holy building of this religion. It is beautiful to see at night, sprinkled with lights which shimmer on the large pond surrounding a promontory or spit on which the temple sits. We arrived just as fireworks were going off, not something I'm used to at places of worship. As is standard, though,for many Asian temples, it's gold plated. Apparently it's not as rich as the temple of another religion nearby (wasn't told which), however, where followers donate their hair!!!
That was it for the day, I tried to catch up on some sleep but had a headache and blocked nose so didn't get anywhere on that front.
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