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by George J Thaliath
A sudden squall lashed the city when we reached New Delhi
railway station at 7 pm on 12th October 2002. A powerful dust storm came
ahead of rains. Branches of several trees were torn off by gusty winds. In
East Delhi, where we reside, hailstones also had accompanied the rain.
Hailstones were not common in New Delhi. One of our neighbors who
collected a bucketful of ice pieces told us later that it was her first
experience in last seventeen years. We have missed that rare opportunity.
But, we were going to fulfill a dream that cherished ever since we landed
in New Delhi seventeen months ago. We were going to explore Amritsar City
in the state of Punjab. As we boarded the Golden Temple Mail the rain
restarted. We were a group of eleven comprising families of mine and two
of my colleagues in Bank.
When we woke up next morning the
train was going through the wheat fields like a snake crawling on a beige
carpet. Punjab is a predominantly agricultural state, supplying a large
proportion of India's rice and wheat requirements. Home of the fiercely
proud and independent Sikhs, the state of Punjab is steeped in history and
culture. Many of the readers of Monday Mail abroad used to ask me who a
Sardarji is. A Sardarji is none other than a sikh man. I do not know how
these jokes came to exist, since all Sardarji jokes draw the picture of a
fool, innocent and illiterate person. But in fact, for centuries, the Sikh
warriors have provided the fighting force for armies of the great kings of
India, British Raj and now the people of India. Through sheer hard work,
the men and women of Punjab have turned this into one the greenest states
in India.
Prior to Partition, the Punjab extended across both
sides of what is now the India-Pakistan border, and what was its capital
then, Lahore, is now the capital of the Pakistani State of Punjab. Punjab
is a land hallowed by saints and scarred by battles, an ancient land
yielding archaeological treasures, a land of palaces and museums. Punjab
was probably the part of India that suffered the most destruction and
damage at the time of Partition in 1947, yet today it is far away the most
affluent state in India. Since this state borders Pakistan, there are two
main posts from which you can peep into the land that was once an integral
part of Punjab and experience the feelings of the people separated by a
line.
We alighted at Amritsar by 7 am. The ancient city was
just awakening from the comfortable sleep thanks to the unexpected rain.
Ram Das, the 4th Sikh Guru, founded this holy city of the Sikhs in 1577.
It is both the centre of the Sikh religion and the major city of the
State. It has grown from a sacred village pond into a spiritual temporal
centre of Sikh culture. The city gets its name from the sacred pool Amrit
(nectar) Sar (pool) in which the Golden temple was raised. The present
city dates back to the 15th century but its association with the epic
Ramayana, shows that its sacred heritage must be measured, not in
centuries but millenniums. It is here that Sage Valmiki wrote the epic,
Ramayana. Lord Rama and Sita are believed to have spent their fourteen
year exile in Amritsar. It is the most important seat of Sikh history and
culture, trade and also, the gateway for travelers coming to India, on the
overland route through Pakistan.
We started our
visit with Durgiana Temple- also called the Lakshmi Narayan Temple,
located outside the Lohagarh gate of the old city. Those were the days of
Ramlila and Durga Pooja. So there was heavy rush in the temple. We saw a
number of children wearing ancient warriors' uniform carrying cardboard
swords, bow and arrow etc. At the gate a man disguised as Hanuman, the
monkey lord in Ramayana, stopped us. He blessed each one of us and asked
for dakshina (alms).
This temple dedicated to Goddess Durga, dates
back to the 16th century and is a centre of pilgrimage for devout Hindus.
In its present form the temple echoes of not the traditional Hindu temple
architecture, but that of the Golden Temple. It rises in a similar manner
from the midst of a tank and has canopies and a central dome. Its
foundation stone was laid by one of the greatest reformers and political
leaders of resurgent India, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya. It is a well-known
repository of Hindu scriptures too.
The world renowned Golden
Temple which enshrines the Granth Sahib (the holy Book of the Sikhs) was
our next stop. The shining Golden doom was visible from a long distance.
The Golden Temple was founded by Guru Ram Das in 1579 with a part of the
land granted by Emperor Akbar. The foundation stone was laid by a Muslim
Sufi Saint, Mian Mir and the construction was completed in 1601. The
architecture of the temple is a blend of Hindu and Muslim styles. The Holy
Scripture of the Sikhs, the Granth Sahib, is installed in the inner
sanctum of the temple. The scripture is unique as it contains the divine
message as received by saints, bhagats (devotees) and pirs of all the
faiths of India. The temple was destroyed in 1761 by the Muslim invader
Ahmad Shah Durani and was rebuilt in 1802 by the Sikh ruler, Maharaja
Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) in marble and gold. Its dome took 400kg of gold
leaf to be covered. Ever since, it has been known as the Golden Temple.
The Sikhs usually refer to it as the Hari Mandir (the temple of God) or
Darbar Sahib (the Court of the Lord).
Before entering the
temple we ensured to have our head covered and feet bear. That was
compulsory within the temple complex. And tobacco, smoking and spitting
will not be forgiven even out side the complex. At the entry there was a
shallow stream to wash our feet also. You will never see such a clean and
neat place and feel very comfortable bear foot. The floors that are of
white marble and granite, cleaned carefully every hour. Volunteers
continuously clean the square shaped holy tank also. A lot of Sikhs were
taking holy bath there which was also home for a number of large fishes.
Many guards in saffron gown with real spears can be seen at every nook and
corner directing visitors, reminding to keep our head covered
etc.
A long bridge led us to the Golden Temple which is situated at the
middle of the square Nectar Tank. Like in the story of Mida's touch the
Gold was everywhere. My younger son asked me, "Appa, was the Golden Temple
carved out of a big cube of Gold?" It looked very much like that too. The
doom, pillars and upper side of the walls of the temple were fully covered
with gold leaves weighing hundreds of kilos. We went upstairs and saw the
roofs having many mugal style murals painted with gold and natural
colours. A live concert of Punjabi devotional songs was going on close to
where the holy book was kept.
The temple complex has a
number of shrines of historical importance, notably the Akal Takhat
(throne of the Timeless God). It is here that the Shiromani Gurudwara
Parbandhak Committee or the Sikh Parliament traditionally meets. Baba Atal
Tower, located in the southeast of the enclosure is a 9-storey tower (30m
high) built in 1784. The rugged old Jubi Tree in the northwest corner of
the compound is believed to possess special powers. It was planted 450
years ago, by the Golden Temple's first high priest, Baba
Buddhaya.
We visited a museum nearby. It had a large
collection of paintings depicting history of Sikhism and hardships faced
by earlier sikhs. I carefully read every narration to see whether there
was any mention about the Blue Star Operation of 1984. I could not find
any. May be no one wanted to remember it. It was the time when Punjab was
gripped by terror. The Pakistan-backed terrorist movement demanding
liberation of Punjab (Khalistan) had acquired monstrous proportions. Not a
day went by without massacres of Hindus, Sikhs, migrant workers and those
who opposed the terrorists' diktats. From Golden Temple, the most sacred
symbol of Sikhism and seat of its religious power, hit lists were drawn up
and death squads were dispatched under the guidance of the malevolent
figure Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The militants converted the holy Golden
Temple into an armed fortress. The chanting of the gurbani was drowned by
the staccato bursts of gunfire. Prominent Sikh figures were assassinated
in the Golden Temple when they went to pray there.
Pushed to
the wall, the Indian Government under then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira
Gandhi, gave the signal for may be the most complex and largest
anti-terrorist action in India called Blue Star Operation. Fierce battle
was fought on the night of June 5 to the forenoon of June 6 of 1984. Tanks
were tasked to bring down a heavy volume of machine gun fire on the Akal
Takht, which was almost destroyed. Darshani Deorhi and Toshakhana also
suffered heavy damage. Mrs. Gandhi had to pay a big price for her stern
action against terrorism. On 31st October 1984 she was assassinated by her
own bodyguards. The two assassins Biyanth Sigh and Satwant Sigh were Sikhs
and the most trusted personal guards of her. It was known later that the
Blue Star Operation had turned their mind and they took oath for this
inhuman job and attended regular prayers for the success of this
mission.
The assassination of Mrs.
Gandhi was followed a riot, which spread like wild fire through out the
country and also abroad killing several innocent Sikhs. Last year a
Sardarji came to our bank for closing his savings account, which was
inoperative for a long time. While checking his opening form I saw his
photograph as a man with clean-shaven face and short hair. Sikh men do not
shave face or cut hair. There are five essential 'K's every Sardarji
suppose to have; they are Kesh, Kanga, Kacha, Kripan and Khada (meaning-
hair, comb, under garment, knife and bangle) I looked at him doubtfully as
he was having all these at that time. As if read my mind, he spoke to me
in a soft voice, "1984 riot sir". His face had turned red as he might have
recollected the hardships faced by him during those days. It was clear
that he had changed his look to save his life. I did not ask him anything
more.
Later, the issues were compromised between Mrs. Gandhi's son
and successive Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and Akali leader Sant
Harchand Singh Longowal on 24th July, 1985. Ironically, Mr. Gandhi also
became victim of terrorism 6 years later. It was Srilanka based LTTE who
masterminded to blow him up using a human bomb.
From the Museum we
reached Guru-ka-Langar or the communal canteen, which was towards the
eastern entrance of the temple complex. It provides free food to all
visitors, regardless of colour, creed, caste or gender. Hundreds of people
were served simultaneously in two floors. We also had the tasty food from
there. The common menu was Wheat Roti, Dal Makhan and Kheer. The cleanness
of the place was noticeable. A lot of people were engaged in cleaning
plates and glasses, serving etc. and everything was going on like a
factory work line. I came to understand that people working there are not
permanent workers but the pilgrims themselves as
volunteers.
The sky was cloudy all the day. It was favourable for walking barefoot on
marble around the temple complex. But, the poor light would upset any
photographer. Fortunately, just before our leaving the sun came out of the
thick clouds and the Golden Temple was just glowing in the sunshine. We
took a few nice photos. It was drizzling when we left the temple
complex.
Just adjacent to the Golden Temple was the Jallianwala
Bagh. It was a memento of the India's Freedom Struggle, and at this site
that hundreds of people were shot down by British General Dyer. This
brutal massacre of over 2000 innocent unarmed people, on April 13, 1919
highlights the atrocities performed by the British on Indians. This
appalling massacre had created a watershed in the history of freedom
struggle in India when even peaceful leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, instead
of asking for dominion status within the British Empire had begun to
agitate for complete freedom for India from the British rule. Queen
Elizabeth and her husband visited this place and placed a wreath on 14th
Oct. 1997.
 There was
only a narrow entrance to that ground and high walls and buildings blocked
the four sides. That was the reason why General Dyer chose that place for
the massacre. We entered the ground through the same narrow lane through
which he led the armed troops 83 years ago. The bullet-scarred walls of
the well-kept garden enclosed a memorial with an eternal flame, dedicated
to the martyrs. We could view a well from where about 200 bodies were
found after the attack.
It was 4 pm when we started our 28 km
journey to Wagha Border. On our way we could see the deployment of armed
forces on both sides. The presence of Military with heavy tanks, anti
aircraft guns, radars etc. gave a feeling that we were moving through a
war front. In fact it was the longest ever 'warless' deployment of armed
forces which started just after the attack on Indian parliament on 13th
December 2001. Over 5 lakh troops were deployed along the 198 km stretch
of the International Border. Just two days after our visit, Indian
government decided to pull back troops from combat positions along the
border. On a significant response, Pakistan also decided to withdraw the
equal deployment of troops on the Pakistani side. There were Newspaper
reports that this was done to facilitate the smooth meeting of SAARC
(South Asian Summit) scheduled for next month in Pakistan.
At Wagha Border, we were stopped about 100 meters away from the
border. While walking to the border we could see the long electrified
fencing. The entire area was under the control of Border Security Force
(BSF). We were directed to a big gallery. We could see a similar gallery
at the Pakistan side also. It was just like any Indo-Pak cricket match.
Both galleries were over flown with thousands of people. People were
waving national flags and shouting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" while patriotic
Hindi songs were flowing from giant speakers. An equal programme was going
on other side also except that instead of patriotic songs, Holy Koran was
read.
The pageant of the beating of the retreat and the
change of guard started at 6 pm. It was an interesting experience when
Indian and Pakistan border troops put up a coordinated and spectacular
display, comparing favourably with London's changing of the Guard. It
ended with the de-hoisting of both national flags with all the respect in
tune with blowing of many bugles. The whole function appeared to be
very peaceful and cordial. But, there were instances of tension also.
Recently a shuffle broke out between BSF personnel and Pakistan Rangers
during the routine retreat ceremony, leading to chaos among people who had
gathered from both sides of the border to witness the event. The trouble
started at the fag end of retreat ceremony. A BSF paratrooper and a
Pakistani Ranger took out their service weapons and brandished them at
each other. The senior officers from both sides rushed to the scene
immediately and ordered the scuffling jawans to withdraw.
After
returning to Amritsar, we decided not to have our dinner from the hotel
where we stayed. Any trip to Punjab would not be completed unless we have
the original Punjabi food. We went to a Punjabi Dabba a few meters away.
They arranged chairs and table on the roadside for us. Normally people sit
in large wooden cots with or without bed in a Dabba. We had tandoori roti
with mutter paneer and mint leaf paste. It was a delicious meal with the
original Punjabi flavour. When we reached Railway Station at 9pm the same
Golden Temple Mail was awaiting to take us back to the busy, mechanical
and monotonous life in New Delhi.
Photo Collection including Blue Star
operation
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