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.
Morning walk enthusiasts or local workers are their daily customers. Glancing through the major news headlines in a newspaper and sometimes pausing the glance at the advertisement of the newly launched car in that newspaper, one waits for tea to be prepared on a gas stove kept on that cart.
The sound of a temple bell echos in the backdrop and you see someone standing with folded hands and eyes closed, channeling his concentration towards devotion as he/she prays in front of a beautifully decorated idol of a Hindu deity, in a small one chamber temple, sometimes situated right in the middle of a road of this beautiful old city of Amritsar.
Sipping on the tea, one often ponders and asks the vendor about the source from where he gets that “special” tea.
Sometimes its not the “special” tea leaves which make the taste unique and pleasant but the ambiance, the time of the day, the people around you, the mood it makes and sometimes the combination of all this which makes the tea even more special!
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 🙂