Golden wonder

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When I woke up at 6:45AM, it was so dark in the room that I was convinced sunrise wasn't going to happen any time soon. So after snoozing my alarm for about half an hour, I got up, had a shower that only had lukewarm water, then went outside to discover that the sun had already risen. If only I'd noticed that I was in a ground floor room in a triangular courtyard of a two storey hotel, so the light had been blocked out ...

It was rather on the chilly side, but I soon forgot about that when the temple complex hove into view, with the golden domes of one of the shrines standing out in the dawn haze. I had to leave my socks and boots at a storage point, then tiptoed gingerly over the cold wet stones to the temple entrance. You have to have your head covered in order to enter and, because I had nothing with me, I picked up one of the free headscarves that can be borrowed for the duration of your visit. Having no idea how to tie the thing properly, I simply flopped it over my head - this method of wearing was probably responsible for 90% of the strange looks that subsequently came my way (the rest no doubt because I was the only foreigner there), and I eventually figured out how to tie it correctly by looking at other people's. (I shouldn't have been too worried - some people simply wore handkerchiefs on their heads.) After wading through a footbath, I was then able to descend a flight of stairs to the inside of the complex.

I ended up staying for nearly 3 hours, as it was completely fascinating. The complex consists of a manmade lake surrounded by a marble walkway (the Parikrama), fortunately with a couple of carpets to keep your bare tootsies from freezing on the cold stone. A narrow causeway connects the walkway to the Golden Temple itself (the Harmandir). The Harmandir contains the Sikh holy book the Adi Granth, the chapters of which are continuously intoned throughout the day by selected priests, accompanied by tabla and some sort of squeezebox. This hypnotic chanting and music is relayed around the complex through loudspeakers, and gives a restful atmosphere to the place. Behind the gateway to the causeway is the Akal Takht, to which the Adi Granth is transported at night, before being brought back in the wee small hours of the following morning. The Akal Takht is the building occupied by Sikh militants in 1984, which was subsequently heavily damaged by security forces in the ill-fated Operation Blue Star. It's apparently now almost back to its original state.

Another building in the complex, the Guru-ka-Langar, houses a canteen that dispenses free meals to all-comers 24 hours per day. As you enter, you're handed a metal tray, spoon, and waterbowl, then inside you're directed to the appropriate end of a row of fellow diners, sitting on coir mats. Black dal is then ladled into your tray from a bucket, accompanied by a hand-delivered pair of chapatis, and water is poured into your bowl from a watering can. Once an entire row has finished eating, the floor is mopped down and the row is then ready for another batch of hungry visitors. It's a very efficiently run operation, all paid for out of the temple coffers.

In the afternoon, I had prebooked a place in a taxi to go to the border ceremony at Wagha - an event I had first heard about in a Michael Palin documentary (Himalaya, I think). There were 5 other taxi-goers with me - an Australian couple , an American mother and daughter, and an English guy. It turned out we were not all paying the same price. It took half an hour or so to get to the border. We then stood around in a milling crowd behind a set of gates, with the border gates a further quarter of a mile or so behind them. At some signal, the first set of gates opened and there was a dangerous crowd surge as everyone tried to push through. There was then a mad dash to get to the border gates themselves, near which had been set up some elevated stands for people to sit on. I, along with all other foreigners, was steered into the VIP gallery, which had the best view of the gates.

The ceremony itself was clearly designed for maximum entertainment - which seemed an unlikely bit of cooperation from two countries effectively at war with each other. Though I couldn't really follow what was going on, there was a lot of loud, long bellowing from the guards, sometimes done as a call and response with the crowd. This was duplicated on the Pakistani side of the gates. Every so often, a guard or group of guards would speed-walk to the gates, arms swinging in exaggerated arcs. At the gates, some over-the-top leg-kicking and stamping would take place, greeted by encouraging roars from the crowd. The ceremony finished with both countries' flags being lowered, then the gates were slammed with a theatrical bang. People then took photos with the guards, and with the border as a backdrop, and everyone seemed to be going home happy after their dose of jingoism. Getting back to the taxi required a slalom through some very determined DVD touts.

I returned to the Golden Temple at around 8:45PM, as I had been told there was a ceremony at 9PM to transport the Adi Granth from the Harmandir to the Akal Takht. By night, all lit up, the Harmandir looked amazing, and there was a full moon for good measure. In complete contrast to this morning, I received a lot of "one photo" requests, as well as a guy who walked half way round the complex with me chit-chatting then suddenly asked if I would sponsor him for a visa to the UK. I bumped into the American mother and daughter who had been in the taxi to/from Wagha, and they showed me the second floor of the Harmandir, which I hadn't realised you could go up to. The workmanship inside is amazing, with mirrors, plenty of gold, and various patterns picked out in precious stones.

It was closer to 10PM before the ceremony took place. Heralded by sporadic bursts on a crazily shaped brass horn, and accompanied by martial drumming, the Adi Granth was brought down the causeway on a silver and gold palanquin, surrounded by a scrum of people.

I took a cycle rickshaw home, which was perhaps a false economy as, due to the topography of the city (or maybe my weight), I had to get off a couple of times so he could push the thing uphill. Back at the hotel, I was looking forward to a relaxing beer or two in Bottoms Up, the hotel bar. Unfortunately it was completely empty so I endured a Kingfisher in silence before heading to bed.

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Photos

Open wide
Some loud shouting to get things started

Tray array outside the food hall
Reminded me of school dinners

Comments

[mc]

I'll give you early!!
Good to see that you think an early rise is 8.22am, ya lazy ^"$%^!"%$!! Some of your photos here are immense johnny boy. Keep them coming!