Amritsar di galiyan

I recently spent a day walking through the bazaars of Amritsar.

Amritsar is not, by any stretch of imagination, a beautiful city. There are no tree-lined avenues, nor smooth-as-silk roads nor beautiful architecture.

Amritsar is chaotic, bustling, with some really old moth-eaten buildings and impossibly narrow lanes which twist and turn out of sight. And every turn is graced by the presence of a dhaba, a restaurant, a 'thela', a sweetshop - I counted two miniature thelas selling pakoras in one 6-foot-wide lane - which was a dead-end!

I havent sampled much of the famous Amritsari food, so will reserve another post for it - but its abundantly clear that Amritsaris love their food! 'Kulche and Chane' seem to be the staple here. And the servings are very generous - just like the people. I ordered a sandwich in my room since I wanted to eat light - and it came with a pile of piping-hot French fries and a whole bowl of the thickest, yummiest tomato ketchup- not the regulation greasy wafers and watery pumpkin-tomato sauce one generally gets. Of course, the idea of eating light went out of the window!