18th of February, 2023.
Hitchhiking in India: Amritsar
As soon I am walking down the street, a car stops. The couple inside, Anita and Vishal, tell me they are going to Kangra. I don’t really know where it is, but I am taking anyway.
Anita and Vishal are lovely, very kind and simple people. We drive together for only a little bit, but they drop me off in a more “main road” to Amritsar, just before Kangra.
I walk a bit out of town, and stop just before a bridge. In a few minutes, a car stops and the driver tells me they are going only 20 Km ahead. I tell him I am OK with that, but when I lean down to take my backpacks, they leave. Fortunately, the wife noticed my intentions and tells him I had actually accepted the lift, so they stop a few metres ahead.
Shivala, Raju and their children are going to visit some relatives. Shivala has the small boy in the passenger seat with her, and their little girl is on the back seat with me. We chat all the way and they both get very surprised about my adventure. They are actually from Chandigarh, and are going back there on the same day as I, on Monday. Their first stop though, a temple, is by the main road which I’m taking to Amritsar, so they park their car and take their way, while I start hitchhiking again.
I don’t raise my sign for taxis or buses, so it was by pure luck that Leslie saw my sign from her taxi. Actually, when I came to the car, I was thinking to myself that I will have to explain to the taxi driver that I cannot pay. Instead, I see Leslie on the passenger seat, smiling. I do tell her though, that I cannot share the taxi with her because I don’t have money. To what she answers: “I already paid, come on in!”
Leslie is from California and the driver, Sanjul, from Dharamshala. They are coming from Mcledo. It is the second time Leslie comes to India and she is works with healing programs. Her plan is to focus on clients from big companies / industries in the world, some CEOs and owners of some important organizations. Why? The plan is helping them to understand the responsibility they have in their hands, and hopefully make they change their behaviour towards a more sustainable way of acting and living. Isn’t that brilliant? The last suggestion I have heard for this problem it came from a person who, even though consider himself a deep Yoga practitioner, wanted to annihilate all the people on power. I wish I have met Leslie before so I could’ve told him her brilliant, violence free plan!
It is lovely talking with Leslie. Actually, in many times it is like talking to a mirror. She is just lovely! But we also reserve ourselves some moments of silence and reflexion, while starring to the beautiful mountains and nature of Northern India.
Even though the distance is only about 200 Km from Dharamshala to Amritsar, due to the mountain’s terrain and tortuous roads, it takes us up to 5 hours to finish the route. They drop me off a bit outside of Amritsar but on the way to the Golden Temple, which is perfect.
It is quite hot here and I am caught in surprise! I wasn’t expecting this weather, not at least until reaching Rajasthan! Walking under the sun for about 5 Km is no easy task either. But finally, around 3 p.m. I arrive to the Golden Temple.
10 Years Around the World 