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Published: February 21st 2007
Namaste!
We got lazy in Punjab and neglected to write a blog entry, so I guess that it's about time to update you all. Amritsar was a really cool city. We stayed at the Golden Temple, one of the most holy sites of the Sikh religion. We found the vibe there very different from everything we had experienced up to that point. The Sikh people seem to be much friendlier and more welcoming than those along the Hindu "cow belt".
Upon arriving in Amritsar at 430am, we found a free bus which dropped us off right at the doorstep of the Golden Temple complex. After a very brief wander, we were ushered in to a room by a very friendly old guy. He gave us a small dorm room all to ourselves, and when i asked how much it would cost, he just wobbled his head and told be "no problem". We later discovered that we were staying on the edge of a massive block of dorms and private rooms set aside for pilgrims. There was enough room for literally thousands of pilgrims, and there were still hundreds of them sleeping under awnings and staricases all around the complex. Not one of these people was being charged a rupee to be there, which we found absolutely incredible. Of course, there are donation boxes, but everyone pays to their ability and nobody pressures you to leave anything.
We found the community dining hall after a nap and quickly found ourselves enjoying some of the best chana, chapatis, yogurt, and pickles that we had come across yet...and again, it was all free! Apparently the temple feeds 30,000 pilgrims each day. We found this really beautiful, as again nobody asked any questions, nobody asked for any money, and the food seemed to come from a place of genuine giving and a desire to give to the community.
We explored the magnificent Golden Temple itself after eating our fill. It was absolutely breathtaking. The temple is a (supposedly) gold plated building sitting in the middle of a man-made lake. All the way around the water there is a marble walkway with a marble wall/building complex fencing it in. The contrast of the blinding marble and the gold temple is stunning. After waiting in line with hundreds of pilgrims, we found ourselves inside of the temple itself. The are four priests inside that keep sacred hymns going all day. These songs are broadcasted throughout the complex by loudspeakers. They are a beautiful mix of Isamic prayer songs and Indian rhythms and sounds. Inside of the building the energy was so alive and real, we sat upstairs and watched the procession of pilgrims for quite some time, just soaking it all in.
The Museum of Sikh history was odd to say the least. Before going in we read some brochures about the Sikh faith. From the sounds of things, the message was the same as just about every other religion out there...live a simple life, dont hurt anybody, give back to the community, and plant trees. Strangely, the original teachings preach against dietary or dress restrictions, but in reality things have turned out quite different. The museum was full of paintings of Sikh warriors, battles, and martyrs. Many depicted babies being butchered and turned into jewelry for their mothers to wear, devout sikhs being sawed in half, and gurus being boiled alive. Others still showed holy Sikh armies clashing with Mughals and Hindus. The Sikh warrior brotherhood is very revered...odd. Needless to say, we left the museum with mixed feelings.
The next day we went to see Jogiwallah (or something like that...) Bagh, the park where British soldiers slaughtered hundreds of peaceful protesters and wounded thousands more. The same walls still stand all around the park, and bullet holes still remain everywhere you look. Also stil standing is a well that countless people dove into in order to escape the bullets. The creepiest thing about that was that it was shallow enough that we could see the bottom, which was definitely deep enough to break a lot of bones, but not deep enough that it was the kind of abbyss that you expect from a well.
Lastly we met some people from New Zealand at a restaurant who had hired a car much like we did in Rajasthan. They were on there way to the Pakistan/India border closing ceremony, and invited us to come along. Of course we couldnt say no, as we had heard stories about the sheer obscenity of the ceremony. We are SO glad we did it. It was absolutely hilarious. After walking through a broken down vintage metal detector, past electrified barbed wire, and a small army of drug/bomb sniffing dogs, most of whom were overweight, senile, and passed out, we entered the neutral border area. After a five minute walk, we reached a very bizzarre spectacle. Around the road and the gate, there is a semi circle of bleachers on each side of the fence. It was absolutely packed with people waving flags, dancing, singing, cheering, and so on. Down on the street there were hired cheerleaders and a guy yelling all kinds of insults and slogans into a microphone over blaring bhangra beats. It was way too wierd...and it only got wierder when the ceremony commenced. One pakistani and one Indian soldier each grabbed a mic and just belted out one long, loud yell into it. They basically seemed to be trying to yell louder and longer than eachother. After they both stopped, another soldier from each country marched as fast as they could without running in a race to reach the gate first. When they got there they stared at eachother really hard and then started kicking their legs over their heads and stomping on the ground really really hard, before spinning in circles and running back on forth across the street. This went on over and over again, with the crowd cheering louder and louder each time until all five soldiers from each country were lined up along the border. By this point the crowd was absolutely frantic. Everyone was screaming insults at the pakistanis and vice versa, cheering, and there was more dancing than ever. As the last soldier reached the gate, the crowd was allowed to flood on to the street, where they started frantically flailing their arms in the air and gyrating their hips. Then the flags started to come down. Of course, neither country wanted their flag to come down first, but neither do they want to look hesitant to bring it down, so they came down painfully slowly, inching their way down the rope. Then it was all over. The crowd dispersed, the music stopped, and we headed back to our car. Too wierd...
We arrived two days ago in the Himalayan hillstation McLeod Ganj, the headquarters of the exiled Tibetan government and just an all around awesome place. Tomorrow we start and eight-day intensive course in Tibetan Buddhist philosphy and meditation. We will write again soon.
"May all beings find happiness"
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Dusan
non-member comment
hey, just dropping by to say hello from the looks of things, it seems like you guys are having a great time on your trip i hope to see some cool photos when you come back cya