In the winters of 2010, I got a chance to revisit a beautiful city popularly known as the "Golden City" not only for the great structure of "Golden Temple" in heart of the city but the prosperity of its residents in all the way.
Yes, This is Amritsar, the Golden City (most Punjabi call it 'Ambarsar'...no idea why they call it so..).
The meaning of Amritsar is "The Pool Of Immortality" which refers to a sacred pond in the vicinity of an ancient temple "Gurudwara Harmandir Sahib". This place is immensely popular among the Sikh devotees from all over the world.
The journey to this beautiful place started from the capital of India, New Delhi.
I was accompanied by my dear friend Unmesh and we boarded the famous Golden Temple Mail (its famous not because we boarded it but it is the oldest running train route in India previously known as Frontier Mail).
Although the weather was cold but the warmth of curiosity to see a new place kept those wintry waves away from us.
We were carrying our luck as usual and train was absolutely dry and full of boring people so we thought to conserve our energies for the next day which may bring some charm in our one day sojourn at Amritsar.
On the next day, Golden Temple Mail touched the platform of Amritsar in early morning.
Amritsar railway station is an example of typical old indian railway station having the pre-independence style architecture.
It was bitter cold as we stepped out of the bogie.
Soon we got a stall and had a cup of tea. Its true that real taste of tea comes in the shivering cold.
Outside the station, we met one Sardar ji Mr. Monu who owned an auto-rickshaw and assured us for a smooth day out at Amritsar.
Although Mr. Monu ji told us the option of having closed taxi but auto-rickshaw has its own charm while moving in a new city. It provides a wider look of your surrounding while moving through the streets.
Deal Finalized !! and we were in the open auto-rickshaw and very soon, that charm faded away by cold waves of Punjab.
He helped us to find a good lodging and explained us the travel plan for the day.
We started our day with a small visit to Mata Lal Devi Mandir which was built after holy efforts from Mata Lal Devi, a spectacled 20th century female saint.
This temple is situated at Rani ka Bagh area of Amritsar and is developed along the lines of the famous Vaishno Devi temple of Jammu. This temple has a series of vivid shrines and grottoes.
We liked the beautiful interior of the temple which was based on colorful glasses It was absolutely amazing and almost all colors were used in decorating the temple walls.
All the idols were decorated with beautiful golden ornaments and fresh flowers. The best part of the temple was that it was maintained very nicely and the floor was covered with mats so that the visitors can save their feet from extremely cold tiles;
After spending sometime in this beautiful temple, we were ready to take off for our next destination; and it was the Durgiana Temple also known as Laxmi Narayan Temple.
This temple's name was derived from the Hindu Goddess Mata Durga. The temple is surrounded by a beautiful artificial lake giving it a resemblance of the Golden temple.
Inside the temple, there were intricately carved paintings of goddess Durga in her various incarnations.
There were two old more old temples in the Durgiana temple complex; Mata Sita temple & Hanumanji temple.
There was a very big metal bell inside the temple having a radius of approximately 1 meter. It was producing a heavy sound which was echoing back from the old temple walls.
The temple complex has a big commercial sub-area and most of the area is occupied by restaurants; remaining shops sell goddess idols and other religious stuff.
After seeing the preparation of mouth-watering Chhole-Kulche in the durgiana temple complex, we felt a strong urge to eat some nice food. As Amritsar is the heart of Punjab and Punjab is known for its food, we wanted to taste the real punjabi cuisines.
Mr. Monu helped us in this and suggested a very nice place "Bhai Kulwant singh Kulche Wala" which was in vicinity of the Jalianwala bagh, our next destination.
Soon our Auto-rick landed in the Hot Area of Amritsar and we reached in front of the "Bhai Kulwant Singh....."
The shop appeared very old and small and having antique furniture. There were only 4 tables in the shop and it had open furnace which was getting used to prepare the hot and fresh Kulchas.
There were lots of varieties of Kulchas at very nominal prices. We ordered for Aloo and Gobi Kulchas..
Wowww !! It was a mouth-watering dish.
It was such a soft and delicious Kulchaa served with typical tomato-dhaniya chatni; I never had such a nice punjabi kulchas.
After we had a nice breakfast, we stepped into the land of Martyrs. Yes, I am talking about the historical garden "Jalianwala Bagh".
Jalianwala Bagh is a garden where British Indian Army soldiers opened up fire upon an unarmed gathering on the occasion of Baisakhi festival (April 13, 1919). The helpless mob tried to save themselves either by climbing up the surrounding walls or jumping into the nearby well. All efforts went into vain and more than 300 innocent civilians lost their lives.
This incident has triggered a new breath into the Indian independence movement. A lot of youngsters came up to protest against the cruel and dehumanized English government.
We entered the compound through a very small passage(This is the only entry or exit point for the garden which was captured by English soldiers on the day of Jalianwala Massacre and hence people couldn't escape out).
There we saw the historic Martyr's well, the Jalianwala Bagh Memorial and lots of bullet marks on the surrounding walls.
The bullet marks are still preserved by metallic fencing and can be identified very easily. The Authority managed to develop one museum which contains pre-independence newspaper cuttings and pictures showing important documents and torture style of english soldiers. A lot can be said about this place but I will say only two words "Inquilab Zindabad"
Jalianwala Bagh, Golden Temple, Wagah Border.........
......Lots more coming up....
Yes, This is Amritsar, the Golden City (most Punjabi call it 'Ambarsar'...no idea why they call it so..).
The meaning of Amritsar is "The Pool Of Immortality" which refers to a sacred pond in the vicinity of an ancient temple "Gurudwara Harmandir Sahib". This place is immensely popular among the Sikh devotees from all over the world.
 | ||||||
| A Magnificent View of Gurudwara Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar |
The journey to this beautiful place started from the capital of India, New Delhi.
I was accompanied by my dear friend Unmesh and we boarded the famous Golden Temple Mail (its famous not because we boarded it but it is the oldest running train route in India previously known as Frontier Mail).
Although the weather was cold but the warmth of curiosity to see a new place kept those wintry waves away from us.
We were carrying our luck as usual and train was absolutely dry and full of boring people so we thought to conserve our energies for the next day which may bring some charm in our one day sojourn at Amritsar.
 |
| Amritsar Railway Station |
Amritsar railway station is an example of typical old indian railway station having the pre-independence style architecture.
It was bitter cold as we stepped out of the bogie.
Soon we got a stall and had a cup of tea. Its true that real taste of tea comes in the shivering cold.
Outside the station, we met one Sardar ji Mr. Monu who owned an auto-rickshaw and assured us for a smooth day out at Amritsar.
Although Mr. Monu ji told us the option of having closed taxi but auto-rickshaw has its own charm while moving in a new city. It provides a wider look of your surrounding while moving through the streets.
Deal Finalized !! and we were in the open auto-rickshaw and very soon, that charm faded away by cold waves of Punjab.
He helped us to find a good lodging and explained us the travel plan for the day.
 |
| Golden Statue of Mata Lal Devi at Rani ka Bagh |
We started our day with a small visit to Mata Lal Devi Mandir which was built after holy efforts from Mata Lal Devi, a spectacled 20th century female saint.
This temple is situated at Rani ka Bagh area of Amritsar and is developed along the lines of the famous Vaishno Devi temple of Jammu. This temple has a series of vivid shrines and grottoes.
We liked the beautiful interior of the temple which was based on colorful glasses It was absolutely amazing and almost all colors were used in decorating the temple walls.
All the idols were decorated with beautiful golden ornaments and fresh flowers. The best part of the temple was that it was maintained very nicely and the floor was covered with mats so that the visitors can save their feet from extremely cold tiles;
After spending sometime in this beautiful temple, we were ready to take off for our next destination; and it was the Durgiana Temple also known as Laxmi Narayan Temple.
 |
| A Scenic View of Durgiana Temple |
Inside the temple, there were intricately carved paintings of goddess Durga in her various incarnations.
There were two old more old temples in the Durgiana temple complex; Mata Sita temple & Hanumanji temple.
There was a very big metal bell inside the temple having a radius of approximately 1 meter. It was producing a heavy sound which was echoing back from the old temple walls.
The temple complex has a big commercial sub-area and most of the area is occupied by restaurants; remaining shops sell goddess idols and other religious stuff.
After seeing the preparation of mouth-watering Chhole-Kulche in the durgiana temple complex, we felt a strong urge to eat some nice food. As Amritsar is the heart of Punjab and Punjab is known for its food, we wanted to taste the real punjabi cuisines.
Mr. Monu helped us in this and suggested a very nice place "Bhai Kulwant singh Kulche Wala" which was in vicinity of the Jalianwala bagh, our next destination.
 |
| The famous Bhai Kulwant Singh Kulchian wala Dhaba |
The shop appeared very old and small and having antique furniture. There were only 4 tables in the shop and it had open furnace which was getting used to prepare the hot and fresh Kulchas.
There were lots of varieties of Kulchas at very nominal prices. We ordered for Aloo and Gobi Kulchas..
Wowww !! It was a mouth-watering dish.
It was such a soft and delicious Kulchaa served with typical tomato-dhaniya chatni; I never had such a nice punjabi kulchas.
After we had a nice breakfast, we stepped into the land of Martyrs. Yes, I am talking about the historical garden "Jalianwala Bagh".
This incident has triggered a new breath into the Indian independence movement. A lot of youngsters came up to protest against the cruel and dehumanized English government.
There we saw the historic Martyr's well, the Jalianwala Bagh Memorial and lots of bullet marks on the surrounding walls.
The bullet marks are still preserved by metallic fencing and can be identified very easily. The Authority managed to develop one museum which contains pre-independence newspaper cuttings and pictures showing important documents and torture style of english soldiers. A lot can be said about this place but I will say only two words "Inquilab Zindabad"
Jalianwala Bagh, Golden Temple, Wagah Border.........
......Lots more coming up....
