18.10.2022
Day 19
We spent our second day in Amritsar visiting the Partition museum (which was closed yesterday) and flag lowering ceremony at Attari - Wagah border. We also tasted many of the local cuisines, in spite of our growing midriff!
Partition museum was not in our original plan, but few friends had suggested we find time to visit this unique place. The well maintained museum is located in the town hall of Amritsar, has repository of stories, materials, and documents related to the post-partition riots. The magnitude of the tragedies of the partition, left us teary eyed. This is a must visit place in Amritsar. Photography is not permitted in the museum. A photo of the magnificent corridor leading to the museum is posted below.
Attari-Wagah border flag lowering ceremony was in our “must do” list when we started from Kochi. This is a daily ceremony which begins at 5.00 pm and has been going on since 195
We reached well ahead of time and was escorted as VIP guests from the first check point to our front row seats. The stadium mood was electric, with groups of school children, women singing and dancing to the tune of patriotic songs. The hype reaches a crescendo before the real ceremony begins.
The ceremony is managed by BSF on our side and Rangers on Pakistan side. The whole ceremony lasts about 45 minutes, and it is beautifully choreographed. Maybe some movements are exaggerated but for the uninitiated civilians it certainly evokes patriotism. The capacity of the stadium on our side is about 20000 and on Pakistan side about 5000. We are told the stadium is full during weekends and festivals, but today it was filled to about 80% of its capacity.
One interesting point - Google map shows Pakistan time (GMT+ 5.00) instead of India time well inside the India border. We were confused when reading the map while cruising to the border in our car.
We enjoyed local cuisine at various places - particularly at Crystal. However the much acclaimed Yellow Chilly failed to impress.
At end of day nineteen - 6390 kms on our tracker.
#fulltankers
Good travalogue . Nice reading experience as though i myself did the trip . Well captured pics .
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Our Motherland's history, civilisation, culture, wildlife, geography, ..... All facets of India are being covered in this wonderful travelogue. Loving every word and every photo. Best wishes.
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