Seat of Our Pants » Punjab

Junk Can Be Beautiful

Jaime — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:11:09 +0000

To make way for the new and modern Chandigarh, the existing villages in the area had to be cleared in the 1950′s, which created a lot of waste. This waste, just junk to your average person, caught the attention of a Pakistani refugee named Nek Chand. He began hauling it back to his forest home and sculpting it into new forms. Over time, he’d amassed thousands of these cement and recycled material forms, made into animals, people and otherworldly objects.

Funnily enough, these sculptures weren’t officially discovered until a shocking 15 years after he began this work. And, in a brilliant forward-thinking move, the sculptures weren’t destroyed. Though Chand worked illegally on government property, he wasn’t punished. Seeing his work as a future asset, the authorities gave him 50 laborers and a salary to continue his work.

The result is the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden, a truly amazing feat of recycling. We’ve captured it in over a hundred photos, but the gallery below shows some of the highlights.

nek-chand-fantasy-rock-garden-image-12

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Amritsar’s Golden Temple in Video

Jaime — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:10:14 +0000

Check out this short video we took at the Golden Temple. It gives you some idea of how it felt to be inside the temple grounds.

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Chandigarh

Martin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:52:07 +0000

Our current location, Chandigarh, is the capital of the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana. It is very, very different from all other cities in India. See, it’s not another run-off-the-mill five thousand year old smack full of sights and wonders and poverty type of city. No, it’s a city that was constructed in the 1950s and 60s from the blueprints by this guy: Le Corbusier.

Le Corbusier - the Swiss Arcitect

The result is a green and expansive city, with broad avenues and nice parks. Its housing reminds me of the 50s and 60s housing projects in Sweden – pure modernism, symbolizing an unwavering belief in the future. This is the High Court as it looked when it was new:

And this is what it looks like now:

Being a city that people live in, it is no longer an exact version of Le Corbusier’s vision. He may have thought of silent, effective people living and working here, intent on the betterment of India. Today it is full of auto-rickshaws, bicyclists and curb-side kitchens, and it is as Indian as anywhere.

We actually find the place rather charming.

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The Golden Temple

Jaime — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:42:36 +0000

The Golden Temple is the Sikh’s holiest shrine and true to their inclusive nature, all are welcome. They ask only a few things of you before entering: you must wear a head scarf, walk through a pool of water to wash your feet and not smoke. Easy enough.

The temple is surrounded by a deep pool of water, which many of the devout are bathing in. The atmosphere is relaxed. Prayers ring out over the loudspeakers, adding to the spiritual ambiance of the place.

Golden Temple Dining Hall

Not only do the Sikh’s let you in their temple, they feed you as well! The food is served in shifts. You file into the dining hall and sit on the floor in rows. Volunteers walk down the aisle, ladling food onto your plate. Simple, yet delicious scoopfuls of coconut rice, lentils and bread was served as our breakfast. We dined with 500 other people, and that was just our shift. This goes on all day, everyday. It’s an outstanding feat of organization and generosity – the meal is free.

We left the temple with warm food in our bellies and a warm place in our heart for the the truly amazing Golden Temple. Martin and I both agreed that this temple is hands-down the most incredible religious sight we’ve seen to-date.

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India-Pakistani Border Closing Ceremony in Video

Jaime — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:31:36 +0000

As I explained here, the ceremony was best caught on video. Here is the series of events, in all it’s glory:

The all important warm-up:

The march toward the gate:

The fierce opening of the gate:

The super-sweet-double-scary-arms-in-the-air-stance – take that Pakistani border guards!

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Bring on the Kicks!

Jaime — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:09:57 +0000

What are all these people waiting around to see? Why, it’s a nightly border closing ceremony, of course!

Amritsar is 30 km from the only Indian border crossing into Pakistan. As Martin explains here, relations between the two countries aren’t all that great. One would think that the border would be a dangerous place. A place that would be avoided by, oh, the 10,000 people that come here nightly to see the gates shut for the night.

Not so.

The ceremony has become such a spectacle that it draws in huge crowds from both sides. The general idea is this: each side, Indians and Pakistanis, have a number of guards that stomp around and kick as high as they can. This is done while being very manly and (probably) gnashing their teeth at one another. Once enough kicking and stomping has happened, the gate between the two countries is closed for the night.

I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. I’m laughing about it still.

: Indian border guards

Pictures don’t really do it justice, so I’m posting a series of videos in my next post: here.

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India vs. Pakistan

Martin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:50:13 +0000

I guess every country has to have an arch enemy. For India that enemy is Pakistan. The two countries were under the same rule up to 1947, and the partition was as bloody as it was abrupt. About 500,000 people are believed to have been killed during those troubled times.

You’d think that after a bloody melee like that, the two would hold their peace for a bit? Nope – they went on to fight three wars during the later half of the 20^th century.

These days they can’t fight any more wars. See, they’ve both gone nuclear. An all-out war would cost so many lives that it wouldn’t be meaningful. So instead of wars, they have two things to alleviate the pressure: Cricket and kooky border ceremonies. Let’s all hope that they leave it that.

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Home of the Sikhs

Martin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:17:13 +0000

We’ve made it to Amritsar, which is the main city of the Sikhs. If you haven’t heard of them, you’ve probably seen them. They’re the guys that wear turbans.

Sikhism was founded in the 15^th century. It comprises elements from both Hinduism and Islam, although the final result is quite far from either. To me it appears to be a practical sort of religion, with strong emphasis on living a righteous life and abstaining from drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Sikhism also emphasize the equality of all beings, something that gives the religion an unusually inclusive note.

The Sikhs themselves are often found in public office, in the army and in various important functions. A successful bunch, all in all.

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You Name it, We’ve Ridden in it.

Jaime — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:01:48 +0000

We’ve been on our fair share of transportation in the last five months. I’m pretty sure we’ve ridden everything, short of a space shuttle. If I had to choose, after all this research we’ve done, I’d have to say that the train is my favorite.

All the important things can be done on a train. You can stretch out with a little walk down the aisle. You can read without getting car sick. There is often a toilet to use, so you don’t have to hold back on drinking liquids (Martin and I often go an entire day without drinking water while we travel on buses – you never know when you will be given a bathroom break and they don’t stop if you time your bathroom need poorly).

It’s been quite since we last traveled on a train. It was Vietnam, four months ago. We’ve been in India for three weeks, a place I expected we would only travel by train in, and we just boarded our first one yesterday.

It was only a 3 hour ride, but we learned many things. First, even if you have a reservation, your seat will be taken. We had to insist that the seat numbers printed on our tickets were the same ones that a man had sprawled himself across. Second, the seating is mostly a free-for-all, so reservations are necessary if you want to have your own seat. People also have no qualms about standing with their butt in your face. A man decided that standing in the aisle, next to my seat, would be a good way to pass an hour. His rear end was 5 inches from my face.

Next train we’re booking into a slightly higher class, which promises no haggling over seats we’ve paid for or slight fart-smelling aisle standers or ladies that look at us like this:

Happy train riding ladies

We hope, at least.

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Slimy Pastry

Martin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:55:48 +0000

Jaime had seen these pastries, Jalebis, on a picture in our Lonely Planet guidebook. When we chanced upon a stall that sold them, naturally she sent her trusty scout (me) out to find one for her. After handing over twenty cents to the unnaturally obese salesperson, I returned with my booty wrapped up in a newspaper bag. Proud to have supplied my wife with her heart’s desire, I watched her take a first, delicate bite on the orange pastry. With bated breath, I waited for her approval.

“Yuck this is absolutely inedible!!”

Turns out Jalebis are nothing else than deep fried batter filled with sugary syrup. The taste is reminiscent of the bag it was delivered in, to which is added the lamest, unflavored hyper-sweet syrup explosion imaginable. The calorie count is still classified by the Indian authorities.

Unstamped by the seatofourpants.com stamp of approval.

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