Mustard Fields Forever

Mariellen Ward experiences everything she expects in punjab: hearty food, mustard fields, bhangra, a colour riot, and more...

- Mariellen Ward

It was my first time in the state of Punjab, but I thought I knew what to expect from all those Bollywood movies I’d seen, Punjabi restaurants I’d visited, and Indian weddings I’d attended. Heroines running through fields of yellow mustard flowers. Tall, bearded men in colourful turbans dancing with abandon. Large portions of rich and hearty food like thick lassis, fluffy paranthas, paneer tikka masala, and tandoori-baked, well, everything. And the Sri Harmandir Sahib (aka Golden Temple) shimmering in the centre of it all.

Yup, it was all there when I joined the five-day ‘Punjab: Beyond the Brochure’ tour from Breakaway. Punjab was everything I expected it to be and much, much more. Together with our tour leader, travel writer Puneet Kaur Sidhu, we began our spiritual and culinary tour in Amritsar at the Golden Temple. Amritsar is known as the home of this famous gurdwara, a draw for thousands of tourists and Sikhs alike each day. The city is also known as the culinary capital of Punjab. How can you not love a city that celebrates the divine, and divinely delicious food, in equal measure?

Amritsar is not a city of fine-dining rooms and starred chefs, but rather tiny hole-in-the-wall joints that proffer high calorie goodies with unabashed and unrepentant generosity. Rich kulchas, spicy choley, moist Amritsari fish, dripping sweet gulab jamun. The best food in Amritsar is found in the narrow, ancient lanes that spread out like a fine web around the Golden Temple, or the restaurants that grew from these humble beginnings.

Starting our Punjab tour at the Golden Temple was fitting because Sikhs are intrinsically linked with the state, and because we would be finishing our tour five days later at Hola Mohalla, an exuberant Sikh festival that coincides with Holi.

INDUSTRY AND SERENITY IN EQUAL MEASURE