Summer residence of the first Sikh Emperor, Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Here are a few pictures of what used to be the summer residence of the great Sikh Emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It is situated at the Ram Bagh garden which is also referred to as the Company Bagh by the local people. The old residence was undergoing restoration work when it was photographed here.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh who lived from 13th November 1780 - 27th June 1839 was also called "Sher-e-Punjab" (The Lion of Punjab). He became the first Sikh Emperor, after uniting the 11 Sikh Kingdoms of Punjab together to form an Empire, from 1799-1839.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a great warrior, fearless soldier, able administrator, clement ruler, statesman and liberator of Punjab. After several campaigns, his rivals accepted him as their leader, and he united the Sikh factions into one state and he took the title of Maharaja on April 12 1801 with Lahore serving as his capital from 1799.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh stopped India's non-secular style and practices. He treated both Hindus and Muslims equally. He banned the discriminatory religious tax the "jizya" on Hindus and Sikhs which had been imposed by the various Muslim rulers.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the first Asian ruler to modernize his army to European standards and was well known for filling the leadership positions in his Darbar with men of varied Religions. People were recognized and promoted on their ability and not their religion.

The Maharaja never forced Sikhism on his subjects. This was in sharp contrast with the attempted ethnic and religious cleansing of past Muslim rulers - Afgani or Mughal. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had created a state based upon Sikhi's noble traditions, where everyone worked together, regardless of their background. One where its citizens looked at the things they shared in common, e.g. being Punjabi traditions, rather than any religious differences.


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(Text inputs source: http://www.sikhiwiki.org/)

The Jallianwala Bagh Memorial

A kind of sadness overpowers my mind when I think of Jallianwala Bagh. Since childhood, I have listened to the stories of how so many innocent people were killed on the occasion of Visakhi (Baisakhi in Hindi language) in 1919.

Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, on the instructions of the then British Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, Michael Francis O'Dwyer ordered British troops to open fire at a mass gathering on 13 April 1919 at the Jallianwala Bagh resulting in one of the most tragic incidents in the Indian history known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. A memorial for the martyrs of the massacre stands in the center of the Jallianwala Bagh.

                                                  Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar

The number of people killed as quoted by the Indian National Congress was over 1000. The exact number of people killed in the incident however remains unknown. Indian man, Udham Singh who was just a teenager at the time of the massacre, shot dead Michael O'Dwyer in 1940. The assassination of O'Dwyer has been described as an avengement of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre.
Many people jumped in a well to escape the bullets. The well has been named as Martyrs' Well.
A plaque in the monument at the site, set up after independence, says that 120 bodies were pulled out of the well.

                                                                 The Martyrs' Well

                                                       The plaque near the Martyrs' Well

The bullet laden walls stand witness to the horrific incident:

 Recently, a presentation titled, "Light and Sound show" has been introduced at the Jallianwala Bagh, narrating the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and incidents leading to it and incidents that followed the massacre. The deep voice of veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan adds to the emotions while one listens to the presentation (narrated in Hindi) and hear the voices and sounds that seem to be recorded during the era when these incidents actually occurred. I strongly recommend witnessing this presentation if you understand Hindi.

                                        Visitors sit during the Light and Sound presentation


The Bagh (garden) is open for public from 0007 hrs till about 1900 hrs. The Jallianwala Bagh is at about 5 minutes walking distance from the Golden Temple.

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India Pakistan Retreat Ceremony

The India-Pakistan international border lies some 30 kms from the Amritsar city. Popularly, known as the Wagha or the Wagah Border, it steams up with patriotic energy as the Sun goes down, every day. The public starts piling up in audience galleries on either side of the border to witness the "Beating the Retreat Ceremony" or the Wagah Border Ceremony.

For long, the place has been known as Wagah border and still about 90 percent of the people, especially tourists refer to it as Wagah border whereas in fact Wagah is a town which lies on the other side of the border in Pakistan. For some 2 years or so, the authorities have changed its name to Attari border, associating it with the village of Attari which is about 2 kms from the international India Pakistan border. The border line is guarded by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and there is a heavy installation of barbed wires to prevent any intrusions. Recently, In 2009, first ever batch of women troops of the BSF were deployed along the India Pakistan border here

Coming back to Beating the Retreat Ceremony, the visitors would witness queues of people lining up to get entry to the "stadium" to witness the ceremony and it is in fact a good idea to arrive much before the scheduled time of the ceremony if you want a good seat in the house. The start timings of the Beating the Retreat ceremony varies according to Summer and Winter season. Generally, the ceremony starts around 1615 hrs in Winter and at about 1645 hrs in the Summer.

The ceremony is the ceremonial closing of gates and lowering of flags of India and Pakistan. The highly "entertaining" ceremony culminates with the lowering of the flags of India and Pakistan. The adrenaline runs high with patriotic slogans being shouted from both the sides. A competition of a different kind is seen between the Indian BSF soldiers and Pakistan Rangers when they attempt to kick higher and stomp harder on the ground and shout for longer than their counterparts in an attempt to outdo each other.

More number of people turn up on weekends and public holidays to witness the Beating the Retreat Ceremony, which lasts for about 45 minutes. There is no accommodation for tourists to stay overnight near the Attari border and they prefer to stay in hotels in Amritsar.

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Amritsar - Discovering the old city

The charm of getting up early in the morning and taking my cameras along for a long walk through the old city area of Amritsar never ceases to thrill me. An aroma of the pleasantly cold streets in the summers is what one cherishes in the memories, long after one has taken a stroll in these petite lanes.

                                     For a start, from the main entrance of the Golden Temple, take a walk towards the right side, towards North or North-Western side and you would start entering those cozy and beautiful little streets, with shops on both the sides. Often, you would come across a vendor, selling Chai (Chaa in local Punjabi language) or Tea on his cart.

There is a Tea market just a few yards away from the Golden Temple periphery. Established about 200 years ago, the tea trade flourishes in this market, situated at Katra Ahluwalia area. The shops still hold the feel of the old styled shops with wooden doors. It is said that the Green Tea manufactured in this market is not available anywhere else in India.

Doing business in the parallel lines to the Tea traders, you would come across shops who deal in Kashmiri shawls, blankets etc. Complimenting the Tea traders' shops, the business in these shops runs as good as any and in the mornings the porch of these shops provide a nice place for a couple of Barbers who start theirs and their customers day with neat haircuts and shaves.

More in upcoming posts :)

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I can never predict...

"This is the place which never ceases to amaze me." ...continuing from the last post where I said that I'd touch this topic in the next post.

The Golden Temple has been described by many as marvelous, wonderful, magnificent, serene, awesome, spiritual, religious and the list of adjectives used for it goes on and on. From a photographer's point of view, there is one adjective that I use most of the time for the Golden Temple which is, "unpredictable." Yes, it is! Think of it from a photojournalist/photographer's point of view and you will realize what I mean by this. I have been to this place a countless number of times, yet it never ceases to amaze me by what I get through my lens every time I visit there. e.g. take a look at the following image:

Those of us who have been to Golden Temple on many occasions or local residents can very well tell you that this is not a shot that you get everyday at the Golden Temple. Why? because its not a common practice to take holy bath in the sacred tank of the temple with the use of buckets. Isn't it? I got lucky when one day one of my young friends asked me to take him along to the Golden Temple in the early morning so that we could shoot together. He could not get up early and I was there right on time the next morning. As soon as I stepped in from the main entrance, I had a smile on my face as I saw the water level, below its normal mark in the holy tank. I knew I was going to get some unusual shots that day which I eventually did. The shot above is one of them. I value this shot a lot as it is very symbolic and of course its different from usual shots at Golden Temple as well.

Coming back to the main point again, every time I visit Golden Temple it has to offer something different to me as a photographer. This would hold true for any photographer for that matter. Sometimes, I used to think about picking up my camera and going to Golden Temple and at the back of my mind thinking, "What would I shoot there this time?" But, every time my doubts were proved wrong. The place is so much full of energy and happenings that its impossible to come back empty handed. It throbs with religious vibes and devotion. One only needs an "eye" to spot these.
I see expressions of people changing as soon as they enter the premises and have the first full glimpse of the sanctum sanctorum, vibrating in gold. Its as if they have taken off a mask and kept it outside before entering the sacred shrine.

I have tried to capture various emotions and sentiments of the people on many occasions there and every time there's something different. I have sometimes seen people crying while praying, as soon as they enter the premises.

Be, it the people praying at the main entrance or taking a holy dip in the sacred tank or partaking 'Langar' in the community kitchen or queuing up to enter the sanctum sanctorum or sitting by the holy tank, you will have countless moods and shots to capture when you are at the Golden Temple with your camera.

That is why I say, Golden Temple is really unpredictable and I love the sacred place!

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The Golden Temple

This is the place which never ceases to amaze me. The holiest of Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple attracts more visitors per day than the Taj Mahal. You may see some of my Golden Temple Images collection here. The sacred place bears some dark memories on its history pages as this was the place who's premises echoed the sounds of gun shots and canons back in the year 1984 during Operation Blue Star and again in 1988 during Operation Black Thunder II


Aged, 8 years, I was not living in the Amritsar city at the time of Operation Blue Star as my father's posting as an engineer in irrigation department was at a small town called Kotla near Anandpur Sahib, another one the most important Sikh pilgrimage places. We were back again in Amritsar when Operation Black Thunder II took place and I remember the sounds of fired shots and watching the "light bombs" fired by security forces, exploding in skies over the Golden Temple at night to catch the hiding separatists off guard and to trace them.

The tourism suffered a lot owing to the effects of these operations and an era which affected thousands of families in Punjab and families related to Punjab, living abroad or otherwise living elsewhere in India. The things started to get smooth and it took a long time for normalcy to return to the state of Punjab.

Its now very safe and secure to visit the city and roam around as much as you can. I feel that if you have to get the real taste of the city; plan on spending at least 2 full days here.
A large part of your memories about the city would be overpowered by the street food of Amritsar which is just awesome! I will keep on posting pictures related to all the aspects like the street food which I mentioned and would describe in as much detail as I could about every picture. ...and yes, I started the page with the text saying, "This is the place which never ceases to amaze me." I will touch this topic in my next post. Bye for now :)

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