Bus journey to Amritsar

Our bus was luxurious with comfortable seats. Air conditioning was on, even at this early hour, but temperature inside bus wasn't as cold as outside. We were wearing our overcoats for protection.  It was a good decision. Bus started from Central Bus Depot right in time at 5.45 am. It was to pick up more passengers at various locations in Jammu city. It was taking us through lanes and by lanes apart from major roads. This turned out to be our Jammu tour. Our original plan included one day at Jammu. Due to bad weather, cancellation of helicopter flight and our decision to climb on foot has altered our original plan. We could not visit many interesting places such as Raghuvir Temple, Kedareshwar and Jammu market etc. This can be a good reason for another longer visit to Jammu.

Over last four and half decades I have traveled over length and breadth of India. Indian cities maintain their distinct identities, but most often look similar to each other, whether it is Jammu, Guwahati or Kanyakumari. Many times in the first visit to some cities I felt as if been there earlier. Most cities have a main road named Mahatma Gandhi Road. They have a large city square named after first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. Old city usually has bit dirty, unclean narrow lanes, with shops in either side or small houses and during daytime heavily crowded. As one starts moving away from city center, a new city with wide cleaner roads and beautiful buildings around can be seen. In the morning, one can see men and women in bright coloured sport shoes taking a walk. Chubby kids and children in uniforms, going to school is also common scene. This hour traffic is usually very less. I always enjoy this scene on tour. This bus journey in Jammu was a revisit toy experience.  While I was engrossed in these thoughts our bus came out of city on the highway.  Distance between Jammu to Amritsar is about 225 kilometers.  This highway is parallel to Pakistan border, at a distance of about 25-30 kilometers from border.

The Sun started rising in the east.  As we were on western part of India sunrise was little late as per my watch. There was greenery on both sides of the roads. The fields were ready for harvest. These green fields were telling us that we were now in Punjab, a leading agricultural state of India. These different hues of green seen in early morning rays were spellbinders. One can see many canals providing water for irrigation in this part. Punjab has highest percentage of irrigated land in India. I felt as if molten gold was flowing through them due to reflection of early morning rays. There was many armed force's vehicles were on the road. It was obvious as we were traveling on a road close to border connecting many important army installations. For us who come from Mumbai this was unusual view. If we travel to extreme south end of Mumbai we see some army vehicles, otherwise in other parts of city and suburbs it's a rarity. It was cool and comfortable journey. We were crossing some villages also. I caught some episodes of sleep on the way. Every time I opened the eyes there was hardly any change in surroundings.

We saw a blue line at a distance. It was beautiful amidst green everywhere.  This state is called Punjab as it is made up of five tributaries of river Sindhu. Britishers started calling it Indus and hence this country as India. The ancient name is Bharatvarsha. These rivers have made the land very fertile. Only three of five rivers viz. Sutlej, Vyas (Beas) and Ravi flow from current state of Punjab in India,. The other two flowing from Jammu and Kashmir meet Sindhu in Punjab province which is part of Pakistan now. Human settlements in India, in the ancient times started in this Punjab province of Pakistan. The roots of Hinduism are at Harrapa, Mohanjadaro and Multan are on the bank of Sindhu (Indus) and it's tributaries.  They meet Sindhu before it empties itself in Arabian Sea. This Sindhu river originates near Mansarovar at the base of Mount Kailash and travels through Ladakh before entering Pakistan. In the thoughts I was travelling on the banks of Sindhu. Now that blue line came closer. It was one of the tributary of Sindhu called as Ravi. We crossed Ravi near town of Lakhanpur on Jammu Amritsar highway. Afterwards a canal on the left was running parallel to the road for a long time.

Our bus took a halt for breakfast at about eight in the morning. We alighted here. One sardarji was selling steaming hot tea there. We had that refreshing tea. Nearby a vendor was making cheese toasts. Many of our fellow travelers first went there, they were regular travelers on this road I felt. Then we also joined them. Cheese toast garnished with green chilly pieces was tasty. In Mumbai I may not venture out to eat on the road. But enjoy such moments on a trip. Our bus now resumed its journey. Five kilometers from this place was a turn which goes to Pathankot. There was a terrorist attack on Pathankot base two month’s back. It gave us realization how close we were to the border. Now sleep was catching up. In the thoughts I don't remember when I slept in my comfortable seat like a toddler.

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