After we left the Golden Temple we found a place to grab something to eat, then found a taxi that could take us to the India/Border evening ceremonies. We got thohere, to the border and strolled in to the sounds of fantastic Indian music... which by the way, I cannot stand the old stuff, but the newer stuff, more Punjabi style I do like. Punjabi style music is much more rhythmical and has some great sounds (think Bend it Like Beckham, the wedding scene at the end). So we walk in, and go through quite a few security checks, and since we are foreigners we got to go the VIP seating area! So we sit down and notice our area is predominantly white Lol. People are taking turns running down the street carrying the Indian flag, then a dance party... well a female dance party breaks out in the middle of the street... no boys were allowed, HAH! So of course I had to jump up and run down there and join in!!! duhhhh! so I join in and immediately am surrounded by young Indian girls and women teaching me the Indian dance moves. The ceremony then begins, we all sit down and it certainly is nothing I have ever seen before... first of all the Border Patrols way of marching is absolutely hysterical!!!!!!!! oh my goodness!! they just look so overly dramatic, their legs kick up to their hats and they howl, for a very long extended period of time. They then open the gates between India and Pakistan and all line up on either side and then begin to simultaneously lower the flags. I took an awesome picture of the flags being lowered which I really like
We then left and headed back towards the taxi and waited for the rest of the people who had also been in our taxi. While waiting, this guy who ran the little outdoor cafe came over and started asking me all kinds of questions, then asked if he could take a picture with me, so I agreed, but he like grabbed me really close and put his hand on my stomach, which made me extremely uncomfortable so then I was like "ok great! bye!" and quickly walked back over to where Raj was sitting, the guy followed me and then asked "is this your friend?" so I quickly replied "oh no! this is my husband!" and instantaneously the guy backed off and left me alone. GENIUS!! This then became my safety net, one of the pirks to traveling with a male is that in uncomfortable situations, they can save your butt!!
We headed back towards our hotel, got some dinner then totally crashed, it was a long day!
The Journey back to New Delhi
The next day we got the train back to New Delhi. We were totally prepared this time for a late train, overcroweded mass chaos... to our surprise, the train was there waiting when we got there. We hopped right on, everyone was calm, sitting in their seats, everything was clean... SWEET!! So we found our seats and sat down, then the train took off. There were Sikh's all over the place and they immediately started talking to us, offerring us food, etc.. The Sikh's are just such a sweet, loving and kind culture I discovered while being in Amritsar. They also are a very clean culture. In comparison with the rest of India, Amritsar had very little trash on the streets, which meant hardly any fly's!! That is one thing that is just so gross here are the massive amounts of fly's everywhere!!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to describe it, you just have to be here to really know what I am talking about. Its like you are constantly walking through a cloud of fly's, so being in Amritsar was an extremely nice break. The train ride back was soooo much better then the ride to Amristar. It was still very long, but much more calm, had nice conversations with people, they kept offerring their food to us etc...
Also, there were all kinds of entertainers on the train, including 2 little slum kids who were such clowns!! They were so adorable and totally and completely were like the kids in Slumdog Millionaire. I have to re-watch that movie now that I have seen a lot of what was depicted in the movie. At one point we both got up from sitting as our butts started going numb from the hard seats. So we were standing at the back of the train where the slum kids were hanging out. They started doing all of these flips on the train and hanging out of the car (they keep the doors open and people tend to just sit on the steps as we are flying by at like.... what feels like 200 mph!!! My god this freaked me out, I felt like such a mom wanting to pull the kids back in, but alas I knew that these kids do this kind of stuff all the time... but still, it freaked me out!! I really wanted to take a picture of these guys, but knew as soon as I'd ask, they'd probably say "10 rupees!" so I didnt. Towards the end of the train ride it was late and the kids were trying to sleep in the back, it broke my heart because they were huddled together, with their arms and hands inside their shirts trying to get warm, I didnt have any clothing to give them but I did have my soda, which I'd had maybe one sip of, so I gave that to them and Raj gave them some biscuits, they gratefully grabbed both with wide eyes and were very thankful. By the time we got off the train they were both cuddled up to each other passed out. It's just so heart breaking to see kids that young totally on their own.
We got back to Jim's house, had a snack then passed out. The trip was amazing, and so nice to see such a different culture then what I have been seeing so far. There was still tons of pollution and dirt but at least they are making an effort to put a few trash cans around the town, I hope they keep adding to that!!! It just amazes me when I have some trash and go up to someone to ask where a trash can is, that they point to the ground!! I of course shake my head and say "oh no no no no!!" and walk away and just put whatever it is I had wanted to throw away in my pocket or bag. I'd rather save it then add to the trash that is EVERYWHERE!
So that is my grand story! My pictures are up on Facebook
Namaste
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