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Sikh Pilgrimage Luxury Train To Begin From Dec 29; All Tickets Sold Out

The 9-day journey will cost `2.10 lakh per person
Indo-Asian News Service
Chandigarh, Dec 26

A unique pilgrimage of Sikh shrines across India on board the Deccan Odyssey luxury train is all sold out. Never mind if the nine-day journey costs a minimum of Rs 2,10,000 ($4,665) per person. Titled 'A spiritual journey to the Guru's abode' on the Deccan Odyssey, all 80 seats for the first trip of the train, which begins from Delhi on Wednesday, are taken. The journey is not only religious in nature. It will have the passengers celebrate New Year's Day at the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines, in Amritsar. They will also be taken to historical and tourist destinations in Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Agra and Patna. "This is an exclusive, once in a lifetime journey. All 80 seats are sold out. We have a mix of passengers from the US, Canada, Germany, France and a few from India also. People on board will begin their new year at the Golden Temple complex," Sajive Trehan, CEO of The Luxury Holidays, informed. The passengers aboard the first journey of the train to the five Sikh 'Takhts' - temporal seats - will also include a Bulgarian couple who are interested in the Sikh religion. "The age profile of the people travelling with us is a mixed one. We have a wide range - from kids to elders. Most of the passengers are NRIs," Trehan said. "The journey will cost each person from Rs 2,10,000 to Rs 4,50,000 ($10,000). This includes everything - 5-star stay, food, travel, airfare, sightseeing, guides and much more," he said. The train will not only have traditional artists performing on board during different legs of the journey but Sikh hymn singers, Raagis as they are called, will also perform 'kirtans' at the conference hall of the train which will be converted for this purpose. The journey and stay of the passengers will be mostly be on the luxury train. Only the section between Mumbai and Patna and the return from Patna to Delhi will be by air. From Delhi, the train will first embark on an overnight journey to Takht Keshgarh Sahib - the birthplace of the Khalsa Panth sect. It was founded by the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh in April 1699 at Anandpur Sahib, some 100 km from Chandigarh. It will be followed by a visit to a nearby shrine at Kiratpur Sahib.