Punjab... Bhalle! Bhalle!!

Paneer, Lassi, Safed makkhan, Amritsari Kulcha, makki di roti, Sarson ka saag. Hmmm we had a yummy trip I should say. We ate more than what we had in the whole year. We need another year to burn the fat consumed. There was nothing available without Paneer and we couldn’t resist the Lassis and safed makkhans. Lassi was served in tumblers as big as buckets. Unlimited tea and Lemon tea at 12 in the night; it was an amazing feeling to sit in front of the campfire at 1 in the night savoring the lemon tea when the temperature was about 4-5 degrees. We went to the Golden temple at 2am - bare feet walking on chilling marbles. But the effort was worth it as we could get some very good pictures.

Those Shatabdhi experiences, train delays, metro rush all made our Punjab tour truly memorable. The euphoria at the Wagah border is mesmerizing and the history of Jalianwalah Bagh leaves you stunned. The Farm house we stayed in needs a special mention when ever I speak about the Punjab trip.

The cleanliness of the Golden temple, the down-to-earth nature of the Punjabis is something one should experience. The outrageous people on the road suddenly become embodiments of calmness once they enter the shrine.

We challenged our luck to visit Wagah border for the second time to witness the parade. We were late on the first day but we made it the next day. Call it Jubilation, Excitement, Euphoria but at the end it is Patriotism – more so when we are up against Pakistan. The whole of Pakistan could hear us shout the slogans Vandemataram, Hindustan Zindabad and Bharat maata ki Jai. While it is very difficult to get a seat on the Indian side, you could count the number of people in the Pakistan side. I felt the Pakistan military pays some people to come here and shout some slogans.

Before the second visit to the Wagah border, we had been to Harike Wetland also known as Hari-ke-Pattan. It is a place where we have an L-shaped dam built at the place where Sutlej and Beas rivers join hands. There is a diversion canal built to divert the water to our Rajasthan. We can see the difference – the Pakistani downstream side is dry and barren while water gushes on the other side to reach Rajasthan in a hurry. People there say that if we open the gates on the Pakistani side, a big chunk of Pakistan will be washed out in the floods.

Our trip also had a visit to Chandigarh, the capital of two states, Punjab and Haryana. Our stay was marred with intermittent but heavy rains. We could just get a glimpse of the first planned city in India. The roads are wide but too many traffic signals. Let’s not forget that the city was planned in the year 1950. We had a sneak look at the Rock garden. Created by Nek Chand, an artist, it’s an amazing park created with used materials. We could not cover the whole garden though; we were at the mercy of the rain god but there is always a next time.

We had two stays at Delhi this time – before and after Punjab. Delhi was our base we can say. We used the Delhi metro to the fullest but our friend’s mobile phone was stolen in the metro train. We had been to Swaminarayan temple, but found the gates closed before we could finish our photo session. Second time we had been to the Janpath market and the Lajpath Market. We also went to the Parliament House only to see the gates and the surrounding walls.
On 1st of 2011, we left Delhi from Nizamuddin.

We left the places we visited but have brought the memories along.
My wife has rightly made my son memorize the phrase: Punjaab… Bhalle Bhalle!!