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Published: February 21st 2009
Monday, after arriving on the train (early!) we cleaned up, ate, and took a tuk tuk to the Golden Temple, the holy site for Sikhs.
We arrived around 2 in the afternoon. After removing and storing our shoes, we covered our heads with our souvenir head scarves, and then waded through a pool of warm water before heading down the cool, white, marble stairs. The white complex surrounds a large pool of clear, clean water. (IE the opposite of the Ganges.) In the middle of the pool was the Golden Temple. It stood shimmering in the sunlight, looking magestic. It was almost like being in a dream. The line to walk through the temple stretched as far as my eyes could see (and farther, I soon discoverd). We walked around clockwise, taking some pictures around the complex. I was soon vaulted back to rock-star (vs rock) status when a group of Indians wanted me to pose with them in a picture. Only me. Several other groups posed with all of us. We joked that they came to the temple and saw us.
And then got in the never-ending line to make our entrance into The Golden Temple itself.
We stood in line almost an hour and a half (in the sun), surrounded by no other obvious westerners, people singing, chanting, praying, music playing from within the temple reaching our ears. Ahead of us a woman fainted and 2 somewhat crabby family members carried her out. On one side a man talked on a cell phone. On my other side was a man who gave us looks if we talked.
We discovered the massive, rush-hour congestion line was actually 2 lines and twice as long as we thought. (Hint, take the left line. It goes faster.)
We finally filed into one large room with musicians playing drums and a cross between a paino and an accordian. People would throw money as an offering as we were pushed along, and a man in the middle picked it up and stuffed it into a box. He used a metal stick to stuff it all in (like a shovel turned ice pick) because there were so many bills. A few people stopped to pray as well.
The room was deep blues and reds with ornate gold leaf patterns like wallpaper. Everything was lined in gold trim. It almost seemed to flicker
by the light of the chandelier.
We headed upstairs to more red and blue and saw a man reading out of a book. We were told by a Sikh traveler that the book was a copy of their holy book and had all been written by hand by one man. The book was several inches thick.
We passed more people reading minature prayer books and climbed to the top. What a view of the area! We could see over the top of the temple an see all the people walking around and waiting in line. We sat and relaxed in the afternoon sunshine and calm breezes.
We left the temple in awe and poked around until we found cheap internet and food. We were hungry. We had trouble finding the restaurant but finally found it by chance (not the directions we had been given). The food was tasty and cheap. I was thrilled to be eating idli again. Oddly, idli is a southern food and Amritsar is the only city I've found it in. Amritsar is also the most northern city I've been to on this trip.
After stuffing ourselves with food and Thumbs Up cola, we
headed back to see the temple at night.
At night the temple is all lit up. Against the dark sky it glowed. The white buildings around the complex were also slightly lit and had a warm glow to them. We walked around taking pictures from every angle (again) and posing for more pictures with other tourists. I managed to get some pictures of guards with very long spears (a lot of men here carrry long-bladed knvies) and pictures of pilgrims. Everytime I had to walk through the area where men were changing their clothes (to take a "bath" in the pool) I would run, feeling like I was accidently walking through an open men's locker room.
We ended up talking to 3 Sikhs: Sheera, Kama, and a guy with a really long name who didn't talk much. We had read ahead of time that Sikhs will be more than happy to tell you about their religion, but without the attempts to convert you. Until this point, we had yet to meet anyone like that. From what I was able to gather, Sikhs are "learners" and accept everyone. Even though we were non-believers, we were still invited to join
The Golden Temple
A holy pilgrimage site for Sikhs.them for the meal the temple serves anyone who wants it. (Most Sikhs will make the trip to the temple within their lifetime and many will volunteer there for up to 2 weeks when they do.) It's just a simple meal of dal and bread and maybe rice, but it smelled fantastic! Not much to us Westerners, but to most people it's plenty. Sheera also explained the different types of turbans and head scarves (his was called a parka) and how the different colors don't mean anything. (We had seen a rainbow of colors and were wondering about the significance.) He also explained the religious significance of why they don't cut their hair, which is neatly folded under their turbans.
Between Sheera and his friends, the people who explained things in the temple, and just people we've met on the street, I think this is the friendliest city I've been to on my trip.
Tuesday the 3rd I wasn't feeling well, so we slept late and then headed out for a relaxing day. We went to the temple area to find a ride to the Pakistan and India border (see next entry). Going to the changing of the
guard is a really big deal and quite popular. Sheera had told us that instead of getting a private car, which would be 450 rupees or so, we should get a shared taxi instead. We secured a ride for 3pm for only 200 rupees for the 3 of us. We poked around and hit the internet cafe again. It's the cheapest internet I've found here so I'm taking advantage of it.
At 3pm we met up with our driver and the rest of our riders, discovered we didn't fit into our van (we had one too many), switched cars, and then got stuck in the worst traffic jam I've seen yet. No one could move. Everyone was trying to get out (to go to the border) except 2 stupid cars who wanted in and were blocking the only driveway. And a 50 year old man kept opening his car door, unsure whether he wanted in or out, frustrated they weren't moving, not realizing it was his car and his stupid car door that was causing the jam.
...
Today, Wednesday, was our last day. We ate and checked out, leaving our luggage with the hotel. We headed
back to the Golden Temple. We wanted to find the tower Sheera had told us about. Supposedly you can see the whole city from the top. We also planned to visit the site of the 1919 massacre and look for bullet holes at The Golden Temple from the clash of 1984. We never found the tower or the massacre site, and by that time I was feeling quite horrid and lightheaded. We bought a deck of playing cards and played a Chinese card game Samuel had taught us. Random people would stop to watch, leave, and then watch from a distance. Some of the students, in Hindi, would compare our hands. We would hush them, of course, since even in Hindi all of the face cards are called the same as in English!
We went back to the temple to see the sunset and so Samuel could try the meal. If I had been feeling better I might have joined him. I was actually pretty curious. But part of me also felt that since Im not Sikh and have no plans to become Sikh, that it really wasn't proper to go and dine on their charity meals for pilgrims
and the poor. I know they say it's open to anyone and we had been invited previously, but I just didn't feel right about it.
Samuel's promise to meet us in 30 minutes stretched into 45, putting us now 45 minutes behind schedule. Which, of course, makes me nervous when I have a train to catch. He finally showed up at about the point Kent and I were getting ready to go find him and told us we HAD to go and see for ourselves all of the people. Samuel had seen hundreds of volunteers peeling potatoes and onions and making the food. Kent and I headed over while Samuel went in search of some sweet stuff they hand out that I'm sure is as sacred as communion bread. (No, I didn't try that either.) Prayers were starting, as the sun had just set, and by the time we found the area it was a stampede of people. We ended up seeing nothing (in an attempt to not get trampled or accidently fed).
We left for dinner and this time I skipped the Thumbs Up cola in favor of a Coke. (I'd been craving one for 4 days,
but this country seems to love Pepsi.) We all got Kashmiri nan, and this was the best we'd had. It was stuffed with cream and fruit to the point it was oozing out the ends. It was just like dessert!
After stuffing ourselves we tuk-tuked it back to our hotel to get our stuff and drink Samuel's beer from the night before. Here you buy it in the liquor store and then go next door where they have a room with tables and chairs set up. I was the only woman in the room. I was out-numbered by the 2 rats we saw. Samuel and Kent drank the beer quickly and we headed to the train station.
For the first time, for our last train of course, our train was already there, since Amritsar is the terminus. Lo and behold, our car was right by the entrance, no searching the rail 3 times required!
We settled in first to our area, claiming the appropriate amount of luggage space, and then pulled out our deck of cards.
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sumistha
non-member comment
i want to visit gurudwara in beginning of september. i want to book a a/c room in the gurudwara. please let me know the procedure for the same.