Partha's Travelogue

We wanted to visit the Golden Temple. So, we returned from Simla one day early late night on 05-December-2018. Our train reached Kalka at 10:45 PM. I had arranged with Taj Chandigarh to send a Car to pick us up from the Kalka Station. When we reached the Kalka station, our cab was ready. We reached Taj Chandigarh by about 12:00 Midnight.

Before stating from Simla, I had arranged with Gurpreet Singh to take us to Amritsar and bring us back. We had met Gurpreet Singh when we arrived in Chandigarh on 02-Dec-2018. He was the Uber driver who drove us from Chandigarh Airport to Taj Chandigarh. Gurpreet Singh agreed to take us to Amritsar and bring us back for Rs. 6,000.

Gurpreet was to come to our hotel at 5:00 AM in the morning. However, by the time he arrived, it was about 5:45 AM. So, we started from Taj Chandigarh at about 6:00 AM.

Soon, we were driving across from East of Punjab to West of Punjab. The road out of Chandigarh is very good. However, after about 25 KM, there is construction happening on the road and thus it is very dusty and progress is slow.

By around 8:30 AM we reached Phagwara. We had to drive through the town and again join the highway. On the highway, just out of Phagwara, I spotted a Burger King joint. We stopped here for breakfast. We had our morning medicines. We have to maintain our timings as both Deepshree and I are diabetic and we have been prescribed some discipline in this matter.

After breakfast, we started once again. The road from Phagwara to Amritsar is very good and we were driving very fast. We reached the outskirts of Amritsar at about 10:15 AM. We made our way to the Golden Temple. However, that is another post.

From Golden Temple, we walked to Jallianwala Bagh. As we were walking to Jallianwala Bagh, a lot of Auto Drivers approached us asking if we would go to Wagah Border. This got all three of us excited. I found that Wagah border was 30 KM from where we were. It was about 3:00 PM at that time. We found out that the ceremony at Wagah Border would start at 4:30 PM. So, we requested Gurpreet Singh to take us to Wagah Border. Gurpreet agreed.

We walked back to where our car was parked near Golden Temple from Jallianwala Bagh. We started for Wagah Border at about 3:30 PM.

It was rather difficult to come out the narrow roads around Golden Temple. Then, we found rather heavy traffic in the Amritsar town. Anyway, once out the Amritsar town, the road was rather empty leading to Attari.

We reached the Wagah Border at about 4:30 PM.

There is a huge covered parking area at the Wagah Border on the Indian side. I cannot comment about the Pakistani side as we could not go over to that side. We parked our car. I am not sure whether there is a parking fees as Gurpreet was taking care of all of these. Then, we walked along the road along with a lot of people to the stadium.

We passed through a check point. The security here is very tight. The BSF (Border Security Forces) men searched us thoroughly. There is separate lines for men and women.

From the car park, it is about a 1 KM walk to the stadium. Just outside the stadium, there is very well maintained Toilets for men and women. It is a paid toilet. Also, there are shops selling souvenirs and caps and Indian flags.

The stadium on the Indian side is much bigger than the stadium on the Pakistani side. When we walked in, the stadium was almost full on the Indian side. The Pakistani side was rather empty. On the Indian side, there are 2 massive plasma TVs.

At the Wagah Border, there is a road leading from India to Pakistan. On both sides of this road, there are stadium on both Indian side and Pakistani side. In between, there are gates at the Indian side and Pakistani side. The gates were closed when we entered in the stadium.

Once inside the stadium, I understood the importance of Bollywood. The Pakistani side was very quiet with a few kids waving the flag. The Indian side was almost full. As I said before, the stadium at the Indian Side is almost 3 times that of the Pakistani side. The BSF personnel invited the ladies to come down to the road. Many ladies obliged. Then, they started playing Bollywood music and the Ladies danced to it.

The ceremony started at about 5PM. It was a spectacle.

We got separated while watching the ceremony. It was a very nervous 30 minutes for me. The crowd was huge and I had no clue as to how to find Deepshree and Ranoo. I and Gurpreet walked to the parking area where our car was parked and we waited. The phone signals are jammed here and so I could not make a call.

After quite a while I spotted Deepshree and Ranoo searching for us. So, we are together again.

We started back for Chandigarh at about 6:30 PM from Wagah Border.

On the way, we stopped at Haveli, Jullunder to have dinner. By the time, we reached Taj Chandigarh, it was 12 Midnight.