Aditya and Samir visited Kartarpur in Pakistan and Amritsar. Here is a quick summary of our trip.
Kartarpur (Pakistan), Golden Temple – Jan 17
Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, also called Kartarpur Sahib, is a gurdwara in Kartarpur, located in Shakargarh, Narowal District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is built on the historic site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, settled and assembled the Sikh community after his missionary travels (udasis to Haridwar, Mecca-Medina, Lanka, Baghdad, Kashmir and Nepal and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib.
This 42 acre gurdwara site is located about 4 km inside Pakistan. The shrine is visible from the Indian side of the border. Indian Sikhs used to gather in large numbers on bluffs to perform darshan, or sacred viewing of the site, from the Indian side of the border. The Kartarpur Corridor was opened by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on 9 November 2019, the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and just days before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. This historic moment officially allowed Indian Sikh pilgrims rare visa-free access to the site in Pakistan.
In Dec 2022, we had applied for Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) about 30 days in advance at the Kartarpur Website run by the Indian government. ETA is given to India passport holders and OCI card holders. There was detailed police verification and home ministry verification. We answered multiple phone calls. We got the ETA only 4 days prior to our date of travel. Apparently, this is normal. They do not send confirmations too far in advance.
On the morning of Tue, Jan 17, we flew in from Delhi to Amritsar, reaching Amritsar airport at 6.45 am. We immediately took a taxi from the airport to Dera Baba Nanak, a town on the Pakistan border, about 50 km north of Amritsar airport. We reached Dera Baba Nanak at around 8 am. We were the first to reach the immigration terminal. It was extremely cold, around 0 C. We put on all the warm clothing we had. Our driver Ram Sewak Singh parked his car and waited for us there.
We had to first clear immigration and customs on the Indian side at Baba Dera Nanak. Though it was visa-free, they checked our passport and ETA multiple times.
Then, a golf cart buggy took us for about 300m to the the border.
We crossed the international border line with Pakistan on foot.
On the Pakistani side, another buggy took us from the border for 500m to the Pakistani immigration terminal.
We changed INR 1,000 into PKR 2,000. We also paid the $20 cash per person Kartarpur visit fee and got a receipt.
Then we proceeded to the Pakistani immigration counter which is manned by the Federal Investigation Agency which handles their immigration. We were given yellow “Yatree” badges to wear. Pakistanis who came from within Pakistan had green badges.
Once we passed Pakistani immigration, we boarded a bus that drove for about 3.5 km to reach Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara.
There was a separate gate for Indian pilgrims to enter. They checked our passports and ETAs. Inside the gurudwara there were no checked. We were briefed by the guide and we roamed around freely. It is a massive 42 acre complex. It is quite tastefully done.
There was also some anti-India propaganda at the well that was dug by Guru Nanak in the early 1500s. The propaganda was about how the kripa of Guru Nanak saved the site from Indian bombs.
We ate langar. There were quite a few muslims serving langar and saying “Wahe Guru” each time they served prasad. Pretty cool.
We interacted with a few Pakistanis. They were quite nice and hospitable. We went to a tourist market in that gurudwara. We bought some Sohan halwa from Multan.
On the way back, we did the reverse process. Passport check while exiting the Gurudwara, at the Pakistani immigration terminal and then at the Indian immigration terminal.
We finally came back to the Indian side at around 1 pm. We took the taxi back and came to Ramada Inn, Amritsar around 2.15 pm. This hotel is nice and very well located, about 10 mins walk from the Golden temple, Partition museum and Jalianwala Bagh.
At around 4.30 pm, we walked to Golden Temple. We did the darshan and walked around the complex. We had to remove our shoes and walk barefoot inside the temple complex. The complex looks beautiful in the sunset hours.
We finished our Golden Temple tour at around 6.30 pm. Then we walked to Kesar da Dhaba where we had Gobi Kulcha and Aloo Kulcha with chhole.
We headed back to the hotel at around 8 pm and slept early.
Partition Museum, Jalianwala Bagh, Wagah Border, Gobindgadh fort – Jan 18
We started our day by going to the Partition museum at around 10.15 am. It is an extensive museum which talks about the pains of partition. Worth the trip. We finished the museum around 11.45 am.
We then went to Jalianwala Bagh which is a few hundred meters from Golden temple. Jallianwala Bagh is a historic garden preserved in the memory of those wounded and killed in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre perpetrated by General Dyer that occurred on the site on the festival of Baisakhi, 13 April 1919. This site brings tears to the eyes and is a grim reminder of the horrors and uncaring nature of British colonialism. We could not bring ourselves to take selfies due to the solemn nature of the site. We finished Jalianwala Bagh at around 12.45 pm.
Bullet holes from the bullets fired at the civilians by General Dyer are marked.
There is also an Amar Jyoti in the memory of the martyrs.
We headed to eat Pithi Kulcha, Dal Makhni, Chhole and special chutney at Bhai Kulwant Singh Dhaba. It was delicious.
We walked back to the hotel around 1.30 pm. We left for Wagah Border around 1.45 pm and reach the Wagah Border around 2.45 pm. Though it is called the Wagah border, the Indian side is a town of Attari. So it is actually the Attari border. Wagah is on the Pakistan side.
We also visited the BSF museum at that site.
Thanks to Vinoy Choubey (IIT Kanpur 91), the current PCMC Police Commissioner, we had gotten a VIP pass. We were able to park close by and sit in the second row close to see the ceremony at 4.30 pm.
The lowering of the flags ceremony at the Attari–Wagah border is a daily military practice that the security forces of India (Border Security Force) and Pakistan (Pakistan Rangers) have jointly followed for a few decades. The drill is characterized by elaborate and rapid dance-like manoeuvres and raising legs as high as possible, which have been described as “colourful”. It is both a symbol of the two countries’ rivalry, and a display of brotherhood and cooperation between the two nations.
The mood was very patriotic with “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, “Hindustan Zindabad” and “Vande Mataram” slogans being shouted by the Indian crowds. There were some pre-ceremony events. There was master of ceremonies who was encouraging the Indian crowds to shout the slogans loudly.
The ceremony started around 4.30 pm and ended by 5 pm.
We then left Attari border at 5 pm and reached Gobingadh forth around 6.30 pm. Gobindgarh Fort is a historic military fort located in the center of the city of Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab. The Fort was until recently occupied by the army but was opened to the public from 10 February 2017. Today the fort is being developed as a museum and theme park, as a repository of Punjab’s history. There was a 20-min 7D show on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, some bhangda and dholak and a nice laser show. The ticket price is a little steep Rs. 500 per person.
We spent time till about 9 pm at Gobindgadh fort. We ate Kulcha, Chhole and Sarson ka saag for dinner.
We left for the airport at 9 pm and reached at 9.45 pm. We took the 11.50 pm flight to Pune reaching at 2 am and home at 2.30 am. There were G20 summit flags at Pune airport.
It was a wonderful quick 2-day trip. Unique experience.
