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Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India.
We traveled hundreds of kilometers, went on six safaris in three different national parks around India, rerouted our travel journey and burnt fairly big holes in our pockets but managed to see a wild tiger on our last day in India. It was worth every moment and every paise spent to get there.
You need to see a tiger in the wild once in your life to understand why it needs to be saved.
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India-Pakistan Border, Attari, Punjab, India.
Always read fine print.
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Wagah Border, Attari, Punjab, India.
One of the must-do things when in Amritsar is to attend the horrifying celebration of the Indian army where thousands of Indians wave flags, scream Jai Hind every few seconds, and applaud every time a soldier does a theatrical high kick.
Across the border, our Pakistani friends do the same, albeit in lesser numbers. Chak De and other such nationalistic Bollywood songs overplay the Pakistani side of this affair. The gates open for a few minutes, as flags are hoisted, flashes go off and the citizens of the two countries try to get a glimpse of the aliens sitting on the other side of the fence. A few friendly citizens smile coyly and wave vigorously, though suspiciously at their neighbors.
In the run up to this jingoistic ceremony, the thousands of Indians gathered for the ceremony had to be tamed with sticks by soldiers on horses because of their perpetual inability to stand in queue and cause disastrous stampedes.
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Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
For those who are not aware, the Langar or the Free Kitchen at the Golden Temple provides free meals for 50-80,000 people every day of the year, all day and all night. Meals include rotis, dal, vegetables and a dessert and the cooking and cleaning is carried out by hundreds of volunteers who offer their services to the temple. Anyone and everyone is welcome to eat at the temple and help in the cooking and cleaning process after. Watching and hearing an army of people segregating thousands of plates, bowls and spoons all day is a sight not to be missed.
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Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
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Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
The temple has a hundred simple rooms and dorms for tourists inside the premises where we lived for a few days. Once the dorms and rooms are full, people sleep out under the stars in the courtyard of the living quarters at the temple. People from any religion and class are welcome to stay at the temple as long as they like without any payment.
Needless to say, there are very few homeless people sleeping on the streets of Amritsar.
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Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Covered in over a hundred kilograms of gold, the Golden Temple is one of the most magnificent structures in India. Besides being one of the quietest and most peaceful pilgrimage sites in India, it is also one of the cleanest parts of the country.
The temple grounds are constantly swept and washed by hundreds of volunteers and the bathrooms were some of the cleanest I’ve come across so far. Water runs through a small pool at the entrance where you wash your feet before entering premises and shoes are not allowed anywhere inside the temple area. The temple is so clean, it hardly seems like India.
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Bhagsu Waterfall, Himachal Pradesh, India.
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McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Few things can be as striking as waking up to this view every morning……
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Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
My entomophobia reached new terrifying heights at the Karni Mata Temple in Bikaner. The temple is home and involuntary funeral ground to thousands of rats that are considered holy and most are more privileged than most Indians, considering that they are cooked for, fed, worshipped and taken care of.
We were told that if a rat scurries over your foot, it is considered auspicious. To me, it just seemed like an invitation for disease and panic attacks.
Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.-Richard Dawkins
