Gurgaon-Jalandhar-Amritsar trip - a Train Journey

Gurgaon-Jalandhar-Amritsar    - A Train Journey

3^rd April 2013, we went from Gurgaon by cab to New Delhi station (fare Rs660 including Rs35 booking charge – I never heard about this earlier and the Toll Tax). The Shan-e Punjab train was not on the track and arrived soon after. We had to carry our luggage over the bridge from platform 15 to platform 14. Two small bags did not warrant an official coolie, so became one temporarily. We boarded the AC Chair car and looked for our designated seats (a window and one next to it), seat nos 26(WS) and 27. We were amazed (it was printed on my ticket as a window seat) to see that 26 is a middle seat and 27 is an aisle seat. How can such a reputed system of Indian railways make a blunder like this! Anyway I was unlucky not to get the two seat side instead of the three seat side. (it was a 2X3 coach). The seats were good and comfortable, so no complaints. In fact they are better than the seats in airplanes.

The train ‘chugged’ off at exactly 06:40am. On 2^nd  April I enquired from IRCTC and Railways if they will serve any food on this train, they said there is a pantry car and will provide food on demand. It is not part of the ticket. In the train we found out that there is no pantry car and that there will be no service from Railways. Fortunately we carried some sandwiches and a bottle of water. Later after Panipat , may be in Ambala we had some uniformed guys selling Bread- omelette and Bread-Cutlet with Tea or Coffee. It was just so-so. The train seemed to run very slow but it kept the timing perfectly and finally arrived at Jalandhar at exactly 12:57pm, the scheduled arrival time. I had earlier called (from Phagwara Jn, about half an hour from Jalandhar) a cab service to send a cab to station. The cab indeed was there, waiting for us. It took us to The Residency hotel next to Bus stand. It was quite decent but not good enough service.

We quickly freshened up and went to Yellow Chilli restaurant  of Sanjeev Kapoors chain. The food was quite good and got a 15% discount.  We seem to be the only customers on a Wednesday afternoon.

In the evening we went in search of dresses of Phulkari type and landed up in ‘Rainek’ bazaar. We spent a few hours of shopping, spending time and money, and tried to locate a nice restaurant but failed, so returned to the Yellow Chilli.

Next day that is 4^th April we left for station to get to Amritsar the city of Golden Temple. The train was Amritsar Shatabdi. We got the front seat with no one else in the 3^rd seat. We were served Tea and Coffee with biscuits. Felt that Shatabdi is obviously better, wrong assumption!. The train was about 40mts late, we were getting late for lunch too. The train reached at about 14:10hrs instead of 13:25. That was Shatabdi.

We were received by two Sardarji’s, one a driver and one a security personnel. There was an Innova vehicle which was very comfortable. Reached the M K hotel, a very decent hotel, much better than the Residency at Jalandhar.  The room was big, nice, and comfortable. We were to leave by 15:00 hrs to Attari Border so quickly made a sandwich of Aloo Bhujia and Cheese bread, made coffee with inhouse amenities. We were down at the lobby in a jiffy. We were very excited about visiting Wagah border. The drive in Innova was very nice on this 4 lane Highway to Wagah Border. We first went to the departure/arrival lounge at the border, were taken around the place like VIP’s (who said we weren’t).

I got excited when I saw a sign board saying 24 kms to Lahore! In Pakistan. This was the closest I had ever been to our neighboring country. We drove another kilometer to arrive at the Retreat area. We were taken to the VIP seating area, closest to the ceremony.  There were patriotic songs being played on loud speakers on both sides (of course we could hear Indian one much louder), people shouting Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram etc. Very patriotic and when you see people taking the Indian flag in their hand running the length of the ceremony area, you get goose pimples! I wish I had taken the video camera. It is worth watching  the action happening before the ceremony.

The Retreat was well rehearsed activity, both sides were well prepared. The Indian side was jam-packed but on the Pakistan side it was not even half full. The ceremony lasted about 45mts, each showing their might both in their facial expression as well as action. The BSF soldiers could raise their foot above their heads while marching , it was a spectacular scene. At the end of ceremony, we (only the VIP’s) were guided to visit the Zero point, one side of the pillar was India and the other side was Pakistan. We did a fast retreat from this area and went back to the city.

On the way to the Golden Temple we went to see Khalsa College, I wondered why any one would like to see a college. Only after reaching the place did I realize why, the building was built some time in 1890s, a huge red colored brick structure spread over about 390 acres of land. It almost looked like a palace! We drove around the campus. It was wonderful.

There was another important place we had to visit called the Jallianwala Bagh, where unarmed Indians were massacred by the British in an enclosed space. It was as brutal as it can be, shooting down everyone in the open area, some fleeing and some who jumped into a well too died.  There were those bullet marks which killed many people, which can be seen till today. The sight is something you will never forget, those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Aren’t we the lucky ones to be born in independent India.  

Then we drove down to the landmark of Amritsar, The Golden temple. Left our shoes in the vehicle and so surprised to see that the road on which we were walking bare foot was soft like velvet (it was a tar road). What they did to the road I wouldn’t know but was soft and didn’t have a problem walking bare foot. There was a place on the way to the temple, where water was flowing and you are supposed to clean your feet and walk on. It was already dark as we covered quite a few land marks. The temple was glowing with the lights reflecting on the clean gold covering. We spent about half an hour in the queue to reach the inner sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The people behaved fairly well while waiting. The temple was surrounded by water on all sides except for the passage to the temple. There were huge LED displays showing the meaning of the hymns of the Holy Granth Sahib being chanted. We bought some packed ‘Prasad’ to bring home.

We heard a lot about Amritsar’s gastronomic popularity so decided on having dinner at a dhabha. The local ‘guides’ took us to Bharawan dhabha. Only today I came to know that Amritsari Nan means a stuffed Kulcha!! Which didn’t appeal much to me. I ordered a simple Thali which had Dal Makhani, Paneer dish, raitha, salad and two Latch Paranthas. The paranthas were too good but relly heavy on the stomach and light on the purse. The Thali costs about Rs110/-  Sobha ordered the same but with Tandoor Roti’s (3 per plate). The roti’s were so big that Sobha could eat just one. They too were really good. We had Phirni as a desert to top it off which had a lot of cream or so it tasted. Now what else to try? Keep it for the next day.

5^th April, was spent visiting a few temples, had a light lunch. I was looking forward to eating some chicken dish, our guides were (could be vegetarians) unable to locate one for the lunch time. They said mostly people eat chicken at night. I let it go. After a few hours of rest the guides took us to a small restaurant called Bijwasi Chat, we ordered a few dishes and then proceeded to a dhabha serving non-vegetarian dishes and Amritsari Chicken Tikka with roti. All the others were vegetarians so had to eat it all by myself, it was spicy. Then we went to Novelty sweets shop had Jilebi’s. I kept myself away as I wanted to drink the famous ‘dudh wala’ ka milk. The milk was kept boiling for about 5 hours and more and gives a big steel glass of milk topped with ‘malai’. Was it heavy, YES very very heavy. It costed Rs30 per glass. Food seems to be cheap at Amritsar. Returned and had tough time sleeping with my stomach so full. Had the alarm set to 03:30am as we had to catch a train at 5am.

The train Amritsar Shatabdi was on track even at 4:40am and we settled down. This time we had the window seat and the next one. A bottle of water was supplied to each passenger. Later we were served breakfast of bread and omelet with coffee. The food was horrible. As the train moved on there was an announcement stating that the trip to Delhi will take 5hrs 40mts which means we should be arriving at 10;40am and not 11:15 as printed on ticket. The train did good speed and kept time mostly and suddenly slowed down and even kept waiting for a long time just to reach Delhi at 11:15am. Why then they said it will take 5hrs 40mts? Is being done intentionally? Like to airlines do it all the time.

We hired a cab at Paharganj side of Station, costed Rs800.

It was a wonderful journey, down the memory lane (of what we read and not experienced but lived the part due to the serious significance the place holds in the hearts of every Indian )

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