Trip to Amritsar and Wagah Border

Golden Temple:

We started at 5'o clock in the morning from Katra and reached Amritsar at about at 2 pm. We were divided into groups of 6 and took horse cart to reach the famous Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib). It is the holiest temple for all Sikh Religion and is one of the oldest Sikh Gurudwaras. This is open to all person regardless of their religion, colour, creed, or sex. One has to cover the head with scarves or kerchief before entering Gurudwara. This temple is surrounded by lake on three sides. One can feel freshness from the cool breeze in spite of scorching sun. We went inside Sri Darbar Sahib and then went upstairs and saw the beautiful architectural work around.

Jallianwala Bagh:

Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden in Amritsar located near Golden temple. It is the place where innocent people were killed during the year 1919. General Reginald Dyer opened fire on innocent people who had gathered for Baisakhi festival (harvest festival of Punjab). Even our blood boils when we hear about this incident. 1650 people were fired into the complex with the narrow exit (this is the only exit path) that was blocked by troops. Around 2000 people died directly hit by bullet or by jumping into the well in order to escape from the bullets.

Wagah Border:

We reached Wagah Border at about 5:30 pm. This is the border crossing on the India-Pakistan. The ceremony is a popular tourist attraction. Huge people across the country come here to witness the retreat ceremony called “lowering of flags” and the parade by Border Security Force (BSF) of India and Pakistan Rangers from Pakistan on there respective side of the border every evening. Before the retreat ceremony, entertainment programmes are performed for the public and they are enjoyable. One will forget themselves and get immersed in this. People were overwhelmed and shouting slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki jai”, VandeMataram etc. After the ceremony we came out and took some snaps with the Security person who was tall.