An emotional day in Amritsar

Recently I spent a day in Amritsar with two of my best friends, and it turned out to be one of the most emotional ones I have had in a long time. I never thought I could go through such a range of emotions in the span of one day, and I left the city with mixed feelings: joy, sorrow, peace, patriotism, faith and wonder.

We started the day by going to Jallianwala Baug. It was a short drive from our hotel, and we didn't know much about it except what we recalled vaguely from school textbooks. It was fairly crowded, and looked more like a public park than anything else. But as we walked around, a sense of soberness enveloped us. We read about the various people involved with the massacre: their stories, their actions and the consequences of their actions. We peered down the well where several women jumped to their death. We gazed at the hundreds of bullet holes in the walls. A feeling of disgust came over us, at how any human could inflict such pain on another. We were all quiet by the time we left the place, saddened by the first-hand account of what had happened there on Baisakhi Day, 1919.

At sundown, we went to Wagah to witness the daily lowering of the flags at the India-Pakistan border. The sheer realization that we were sitting only metres away from this country that you had been told was the enemy since you were born was overwhelming. It didn't look any different from India, except that the men and women were sitting separately. The five thousand-odd people screaming patriotic slogans got us charged up, and the raw aggression of the jawans got us charged up some more. We left feeling pumped up with adrenalin, our chests swelling with national pride.

As darkness descended, we arrived at the Golden Temple. Very few times in my life have I been to such a pure, serene and holy place. We were enveloped by a sense of calm as we sat by the water, unable to take our eyes off the majestic Temple in the moonlight. The soft prayers that were being sung inside the temple echoed throughout the complex, making us feel at peace at our very core. We took a walk around the complex, and then after praying inside the Temple, sat back down by the water. None of us wanted to leave. The simple beauty in submitting oneself to a higher being, enjoying His presence, feeling Him wean our troubles away, had become evident to us.

It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.