Ups and downs in Amritsar

Next stop was Amritsar to see the Golden Temple and the site of the famous massacre. The Golden Temple was okay I guess. I was a bit over temples by now even though this one is one of the more spectacular. More interesting was the Sikh museum attached which really enhanced my understanding of Sikh history and some elements of its culture. I've always found Sikhs to be friendly, helpful and quite well educated (and well dressed). I can't see anything in their religion that encourages these values more than other religions (though I don't claim to have looked that deeply into Sikhism) so I put it down to a cultural factor. Whatever it is, I have quite a positive feeling towards Sikhs.

The park where the Amritsar Massacre Occurred is now a tourist attraction in it's own right. As such it's had concrete plastered all over the place destroying its atmosphere and there was more work continuing which made the crowds there worse. So I don't recommend it.

The surprise packet at Amritsar was a visit to see the border closing ceremony at the Pakistan border. Dad and I had witnessed a similar ceremony at the Bangladeshi border in Tripura, but that was quite a small crossing and quite a small ceremony when compared with the border near Amritsar. There must have 500 people seated in three pavilions on the Indian side (mostly Indian tourists I think) and probably 200 on the Pakistani side (though I couldn't see over/through the gate so well. The atmosphere was like that of a sports event with both sides cheering on their team. Like in Tripura the two sets of army guards synchronised their rituals so that it all occurred simultaneously. They also had an amplification system used by both officers and civilians to hype up the crowd. To pass the time waiting for sunset some of the women were allowed down onto the thoroughfare to dance to the loud Bollywood music while men clapped along and cheered from their separate pavilion. Then the real show began. The soldiers marched around, the guy with microphone shouted nationalistic slogans for about 20 minutes, the crowd enthusiastically joining in the responses. The Sargent demonstrated how long he could a note/yell while his Pakistani counterpart did the same - though we couldn't hear enough from the other side to tell who could hold it longer. Then finally they ceremoniously lowered the flags.

Again it wasn't the main event that most fascinating to me but the way the crowd engaged in it. First there was the pushing in the queue to get in. The young lads were obviously expecting a good time and were in the mood. For the security check the crowd wandering toward the pavilion was required to form a single line. So first the crowd forms a tight huddle which gradually thins into a line, though not before the lads had their fun by pushing the whole group as much as possible - and getting slapped around the head by the guard for their efforts. My biggest fear at this point was pickpockets but had the pushing got much worse I would have considered withdrawing from the queue/huddle.

Then there were the crowd dynamics in the pavilion. I don't think I ever sat in the middle of such rampant nationalism, though I suspect the crowd is simply interested in whatever fervour it can find so is happy to take the nationalistic kind on offer. The social contract was then put to the serious test as at various points of peak action (or mostly peak hype) the front rows would stand up. This would create a wave as each row's view was blocked by those standing in front and would stand in turn. Then as the peak declined those at the back would begin calling for people to sit down and the wave would regress. However it usually got stuck towards the front as those soaking up the energy seemed to have no incentive to sit down, especially as this meant temporarily denying ones own view while waiting for the more stubborn people in front of you to sit down. Where they refused to sit down the wave would begin to revert slowly back up the stand and back and forth it would go. What made it more difficult is that one's view was blocked by the people standing 2-3 rows in front/below you. This meant even if the people immediately in front of you sat down you still couldn't see but neither could you really do anything to advance the sit-down wave as it was now out of reach. I'm not sure if this is making sense but the whole situation was essentially a case of individuals making and breaking a group consensus or social contract. If people at the front didn't sit down then everyone was forced to stand (or not see anything). To make sitting down worthwhile, required the agreement of everyone in front of you without exception. Anyway, not sure what I learnt exactly but it was fascinating to watch such a simple form of these sort of group dynamics in action. And one couldn't help getting caught up in the celebratory atmosphere - despite the nationalism involved.

Different Delhi and Camping Kashmir

So there I was in Delhi, another one of those cities with a population equal to that of all of Australia. Luckily I had a semi-local in Cara to show me around and navigate something close to a fair fare with the rickshaw drivers. Though even Cara (who has spent several months here over the years) was a bit disoriented because Delhi is undergoing dramatic changes in preparation for next years Commonwealth Games to be held here. In particular the construction of the underground metro system has changed many travel routes, both in terms of roads currently available and in terms of altered traffic flow on various routes as a result of the parts of the metro already in use.

Delhi doesn't really strike me as much of a tourist destination, except as a transport hub. It has it's own fort, but this has nothing on the one in Agra and it has temples and other sights but nothing really unique. The unique experience for me though was staying in outer suburban Delhi with Cara who was house sitting for a friend. This gave me a chance to experience something of everyday life for the everyday people - and of course escape the touts and guides! Better yet it was a chance to just stop and hang out with Cara after the packed in schedule I'd had with dad.

What Delhi is famous for is Delhi Belly (food poisoning) but of course I'd had that in Kolkata and again in Darjeeling so it was time for something different. It started as what seemed to be a case of sunstroke and dehydration from wandering too long in the sun with out water. At first this just added to my lack of motivation for doing much and I was happy just to rest and read some of the cheap books I bought. But after a couple days my recovery felt stalled and Cara returned from a religious retreat and diagnosed it as some sort of virus - always good to have a nurse around! Presciption: more rest - oh well! So in the end I had nearly two weeks in Delhi and stayed in several different parts but I can't say I did much exciting.

So for some excitement - how about Kashmir? it came with both high recommendations and serious warnings. The recommendations featured relaxed stays on houseboats and mountain hiking while the warnings are about the old conflict over the territory between India, Pakistan and the locals. The conflict hasn't flared for a while though so it seemed relatively safe. While I was there I saw nothing untoward, though the army was out in full force for the Prime Minister's visit on my last days there, so obviously there is some level of risk. My stay was much more along the line of relaxing houseboats and mountains. I'd met a guy in Delhi who helped me one night when I was particularly unwell and so supported his family's business buy staying on their boat and taking their hiking tour. Happily there was a young Japanese guy doing the same thing, so we shared some time together. The houseboat and family were nice enough but nothing special. It's probably better closer to summer as by late October it's getting pretty cold up there. I was glad to actually need all the warm clothes I was carrying though - and more!

The mountains were really the highlight, particularly with beautiful autumn colours. The first snow and fallen a week before and still remained on the higher peaks but thankfully none fell while we were there. The climbing was very steep and I was surprised to find that I needed to ride the horse brought along for that purpose. I think this was partly because having climbed close to 5000m the air was thinner than I'm used to, plus we were trying to squeeze a lot into our main day there. Anyway we made it heights I never reached before and back down along near sand-dune-like dusty track (they obviously get very little actual rain to was away the dust) before dark. The second day we tracked more along than up and saw some magnificently steep gullies - there's nothing quite like really rugged country to me. Then it was back to town because we were being charged more than $100 a day. Our guide was able to quote quite a few expenses, none of which seemed unreasonable on their own but it did all add up to more than I thought it should of.

The other new part of this experience was being taken camping/hiking. I've done plenty of this before but always by my own arrangement - or shared with companions. The notion of going camping but having someone else do all the camp set up, cooking and route planning actually removed half the fun of making sure you have everything you need to survive in the bush for however long you want. It also meant there were times of sitting around waiting (eg for dinner) which would be fine in the warm, but in the cold I'd much rather have something to take my mind of the cold and keep me moving a bit. Not that we suffered or anything, just a reflection on the mental experience. All in all a well worthwhile experience, though I've no need to go back.