Jallianwala bagh

My time in Amritsar has been short but I can see why its a 'must see' for India the aficionados.  The Golden Temple is, like the Taj, an image of magic and mystery. There is a gentleness in the air for all the usual city chaos:  the Sikhs who dominate this state of Punjab are non drinkers, non smokers and, on the whole vegetarian with high hygiene and cleanliness habits, a welcome relief.

Sikh elder reading the Holy book

The Golden Temple

The lifestyle is primitive to my western eyes, the horse and cart is the main transport here still, the old city delapitated with past architectural glories just visible under run down ramshackle slums, the poverty and destitution obvious. But the people are lovely, kind, helpful, genuinely friendly.

Devotional chanting

Selfi at the Temple

The British have left their mark here too. At Jallianwala Bagh, near the temple, stands the site of the notorious 1919 massacre when British General fired on unarmed demonstraors, an event significant in India's road to independence. The bullet marks still show in the walls of this tiny alley, the well many drowned in trying to escape is a site of remembrance near to a simple memorial.

The Jallianwala Bagh memorial

Topiary at the memorial

Yet last night the final notes of the border ceremony, after all the carnivalesque routine, was the poignant notes of the trumpet sounding the last post to a respectful silence from the maddening crowds. Such a complex relationship between India and Britain, grievances and glories interconnect past and present.

Here in a state divided from neighbouring Pakistan purely by  politics, I have found the capital city seemingly at peace with itself.  Echoes of devotional chanting rise above the mundane, the golden rays of sunlight reflecting from the orbs of the temple spread outwards through the town. The image of the shimmering golden shrine will stay with me, lifting my spirit with its beauty and my soul with its message of unity and equality.

Amritsar's famous breads...from shacks so certainly authentic