Sent the Koh-i-Noor back to Punjab!

As my infatuation with the turban wearing men keeps growing, I bought a book on Sikhism called the Sikhs by Khushwant Singh, a famous Sikh scholar.

The following is a brief summary on the most curious passage involving Koh-i-Noor and the cruelty of the English imperialism.

After two Anglo-Sikh wars the young maharaja Dalip Singh of Punjab surrended his dominions to the English and the kingdom of Sikhs ceased to be in 1849.

The English took the maharaja under their wing, and brainwashed him into Christianity. As if that wasn't enough they sent him to England and gave him an estate in Suffolk. In 1850 the Delhi Gazette reported an "announcement of a momentous event": The ex-sovereign of the Punjab has eaten a beef steak! "The king of Sikhs... has sold his claim to the allegiance of his people by a juicy mouthful".

The same year Lord Dalhousie, the man in charge of the English Punjabi operations visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The temple was beautifully lit up to honour of the conqueror. The English Lord did not care much for the Sikh hospitality however and chose to walk through the sacred precinncts with his shoes on.

The following year the English auctionedall the possessions of the Sikh kingdom except the Koh-i-Noor. The diamond was sent to England to become the most revered piece of the crown jewels.

However, the Sikhs were not at all that unhappy with the English rule. The last few Punjabi maharajas had been weak and the kingdom on the brink of collapsing. The English brought a period of peace and economic prosperity to Punjab. Not only that, the English demanded that all their new Sikh army recruits had to have a long, unshorn hair! According to Khushwant Singh, this demand was of enormous importance to preserving the Sikh identity as distinct from the Hindu which by the time was taking over the Punjabi pshyche. Had it not been for the English, Sikhism probably would have melted back into Hinduism.

History does have its odd twists. But I still think that the Koh-i-Noor belongs to Punjab. If you happen to know a petition I could sign, please let me know.

Visiting the Attari border - not what you expect

You'd thinks it's grand, pompous and dignified. But the closing ceremony at Attari border (30 km from Amritsar) between India and Pakistan is anything but. In fact it's more like a daily fiesta.

The ceremony itself probably is rather serious business. The marching and stomping soldiers make grim faces at one another while the flags of both countries are taken down. Or so you hear.

In reality the ceremony is so popular among Indian tourists that your chances of seeing a thing are pretty grim. I don't know how early you would have to be there to get proper seats for the 6 pm event, but I'm assuming at least 2 hours before. And that's along wait when there is no way to hide from the blazing sun.

But it doesn't matter! What's really worth seeing here are the Indians going crazy with national pride. For about 45 minutes preceeding the ceremony school girls and boys make quite a spectacle dancing on the street leading to the gates between the two countries. They jam to the latest Indian tunes - to me it sounded like music from Bollywood movies, but heck, what do I know, the songs could have been Punjabi just as well. The only word I could catch was "Hindustan" - which made the crowd go absolutely nuts. The Hindustan theme continues when the actual ceremony begins. And what a beginning it has! A man with a marathon runner's lungs just screams to the microphone for as long as he can. "Oooooooooooooooooo" And the crowd cheers. Then begins the marching accented by some silly looking kicks.

The cheering of "Hindustan" lasts all along during the ceremony. The crowd is as extatic as if they'd just win the world cup. It's funny and scary at the same time.

So yeah, I'd go and see the ceremony, even if it's quite different from what people tell you. At least it offers one insight to the relationship between India and Pakistan.

If you decide to go, here are a few tips:

1. Leave your valuables at your guest house or at the Golden Temple, if that's where you are staying. Bags are not allowed to the ceremony, something that no one seems to remember to tell you when you go.

2. By far the easiest way to make it to the border is by a shared jeep. The running price for a return ride is 75 rupees. If they try to charge you extra for parking, turn to another jeep. You don't particularly have to go look for a jeep in Amritsar. You'll be offered the trip to the border to an annoying extent. These touts are the single one bit I didn't like in Amritsar. A public bus goes there as well but apparently it takes about 75 minutes one way whereas the jeep only takes 30 minutes.

3. Be prepared to be pushed around - and I mean seriously pushed around. This ceremony is not for the claustrophobic, although I assume they would not come to India in the first place.

Read more about Amritsar and the Golden Temple here.

5 best of Amritsar: Good times for free!

I seriously don't understand why the Taj Mahal is considered to be the number one attraction in India - at least if we are talking about buildings. That notorious title ought to belong to Amritsar's Golden Temple. But thankfully it doesn't. Now Amritsar is visited by a relatively small amount of foreign tourists and thus has very few qualities off a tourist trap. Here's why:

1. You get to stay here for free. For foreign tourists the temple offers basic accommodation in a few small rooms of three people and one bigger dorm.

2. You get to eat here for free. The food at the dining hall is basic dal, rice and chapati, but hey, rice and dal never stopped being tasty.

3. The turban wearing guards are a great source of information on sikhism and the history of Golden Temple. Not only are they extremely knowledgeable, most of them speak really good English. They are so friendly as well! One of the guys I spoke to had a good laugh when I asked him if I could be a sikh and then he went on explaining how sikhs welcome all. And you know what, I think these guys are kind of hot too! I would not have guessed I was into turbans.

4. I'm not even streching it: Amritsar has the nicest ricksha wallahs in the whole of India. I intended to walk from the railway station to the temple when I arrived, but then bumped into this sweet sweet bicycle ricksha wallah. The man was so nice that I figured I might as well take the ride. I negotiated the price down from 40 rupees to 20 but ended up giving the guy 50 - he was just so genuinly helpful. So if you ever bump into Surinder, who can be reached at 97-809-15869, do ride his ricksha. Or if you've got friends at the UN, give them this man's number. His doing a world of good to the itchy relationship between backpackers and ricksha drivers. Lesser men have been awarded the Peace Prize.

5. Other wallahs and shop keepers understand the meaning of "no thank you". They just let you be!

Previous stop: Delhi.

Next stop: Srinagar.