The Golden Temple

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Day 533: Monday 14th December - The Golden Temple and the Ministry of silly walks

We have arrived in the Punjab, the area which spans from Central Pakistan to North-Western India. The Indian state of Punjab is dominated by the Sikh population, who form 70% of the state’s population. In India as a whole, Sikhs are only 2% of the population. Hindu’s form the majority with over 80%, Muslims account for 12%, Christians 2%, Buddhists 1%. Many of the Indians which came to Britain were from the Punjab for the Indian Civil Service and the British Indian Army in particular preferred to recruit Sikhs, which led to the migration of Sikhs into different parts of the British Empire, mainly for economic reasons. Punjab has more ex-patriots than any other Indian state, and has exported its culture far and wide.

Amritsar is the centre of the Sikh universe, and home of the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest site, and 400 years old. We get dropped off outside the temple complex and walk around aimlessly looking for the Niwas, the accommodation blocks that surround the main temple complex. I am sure there are more comfortable means of accommodation but part of the ‘Amritsar experience’ is staying in the Niwas. A nice Sikh man outside the temple complex comes to our aid and leads us around to the dormitories designated for foreigners. It seems a bit of a shame keeping all of the foreigner’s together but there are Sikh’s staying all around us in other rooms in the Niwas. In our dormitory there are just three beds, and our other roommate is a Czech guy who helps us get acquainted and shows us where the langar (dining hall) is.

One of the great things about the Golden Temple complex is that you can share a meal with all the other pilgrims and worshippers in a dining hall. A simple vegetarian meal is served around the clock to tens of thousands of people. It is a great atmosphere, and the meal is free, although donations are welcomed. Outside and inside the dining hall a host of volunteers help prepare and serve the food. Anyone is welcome to have a meal provided they observe the Sikh customs of covering their head and having nothing on their feet. The inclusivity of the Sikh religion is really refreshing and it is enjoyable joining the masses eating on the floor.

After we have eaten me and Bruno go inside the Golden Temple Complex and after cleansing our bare feet get our first sight of the Golden Temple. The temple is surrounded by a large Sarovar (manmade lake), known as the Amritsar (Lake of Holy Water or Immortal Nectar) which gave the city its name. We walk around the circumference of the holy lake, marveling at the gleaming temple in the middle of the lake and the clock towers which look very Victorian in style. The atmosphere inside is full of excitement, people are genuinely full of joy to be here and this is infectious. Many Sikhs approach us to talk with us as we walk around the lake. The Golden Temple itself appears to be floating on the Amrit Sarovar. Some Sikh men are bathing in the water as well. Four priests inside the temple keep up a continuous chant from the Sikh holy book and this is played over loud-speakers which adds to the peaceful ambiance of the complex.

Having got the idea from our Czech roommate, me and Bruno get a turban made up outside the complex. We are going to be Sikh’s for the day. We get many compliments from Sikh’s who seem to appreciate the gesture, and the effort we have made in respecting their custom of covering heads. Free scarves are given around the complex but our turbans look so much better.

A short walk from the Golden Temple is Jallianwala Bagh, the park where hundreds of innocent Indian’s were massacred in 1919 by the British authorities. 20,000 Indians were holding peaceful demonstrations in the open space surrounded by high walls when without warning 150 British troops opened fire. The event galvanised Indian nationalism and is one of the key turning points in India winning its independence three decades later. The massacre is depicted in the movie Gandhi and although it is a dark point in both India’s and my own country’s history I would like to see the scene as well as pay my respects. Bullet marks are still visible in the park.

We eat lunch in the langar again, after enjoying both the food but especially the atmosphere this morning. After eating, and still proudly wearing our turbans we walk around the Golden Temple Complex again posing for photos with our turbans on. We had planned to go inside the temple itself, but on seeing the long queues we will leave that for another visit. Our dormitories are only 100 metres from the entrance to the complex, so it is not if we have far to walk.

In the mid afternoon we take a shared van to the Pakistan border, which is just 30 kilometres away. We have no intention of crossing the border, instead we have come to watch the border-closing ceremony which happens each day just before sunset. Thousands of Indians come each day to watch the ceremony which seems to be a chance to vent some national pride in the direction of the country which is probably their biggest rival, and often seen as their enemy. It is a 20 minute display of pure theatre. A compere stokes the crowd’s patriotic fervour, as they cry ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ (long live Hindustan). The Pakistani’s are equally as vociferous, but it sounds like they are outnumbered by Indians on our side of the border.

With a call from the guardroom, a squad of soldiers stomps out onto the road, shoulders square and eyes bulging. The drill is to parade up and down in front of your home supporters, stamp your feet, throw in some yells and march to face the other side in a silly walk with a scowling face and clenched fists. Preceded by a kick so high the soldier looks in danger of concussing himself, the high-octane march is vaguely reminiscent of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walk’s sketch. The gates are flung open. The commanding officers march up to each other and perform a brief handshake and salute. Bugles blow and the flags are lowered slowly, diplomatically remaining at the same level. Some final shouting of ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ and the ceremony is complete and the border closed for the night.

Back in Amritsar, we decide to not eat in the langar. We eat instead in a famous Pizza chain, but the entire menu is vegetarian. I wonder if this is something to do with its proximity to the Golden Temple? Our eyes are bigger than our bellies and we each have half a pizza left, which we take out with us. In India one of the hardest aspects to deal with is the poverty. There are frequent beggars who hassle you to give them 10 Rupees (15 pence). If I gave in to every request, I myself would be on the streets begging. I prefer to make my charitable donations to organisations where I feel it will be distributed more equitably and hopefully with longer term objectives of alleviating the poverty. I have always felt that begging is a vicious cycle and supporting it just encourages those who do it to continue depending on other people’s charity. That said, it doesn’t make it any easier when you turn down desperate people’s requests or see emaciated people in the streets. With half a pizza each we don’t have to walk far before we pass a mother and child on the street who we can feed for the night.

Like the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple is worth visiting at different times of the day and with it now being after nightfall we visit the complex for the third time of the day. Each visit is special, but this one in particular will be at the forefront of my memories about this special place. Illuminated in the dark, the Golden Temple sparkles, and in the water below its image is reflected. At night the complex appears even more spiritual and the atmosphere is serene. After walking around the Amrit Sarovar with Bruno I sit on my own for some time reflecting on the latest addition to the special, special places I have visited over the last 18 months. After Varanasi and the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple is the third special place we’ve visited in the last week since we crossed the border, and this moment would perhaps be my stand out memory.

Full of cold and tired after our overnight train, Bruno and I get an early night. This is no problem as we now have the dormitory to ourselves.

Day 534: Tuesday 15th December - Everyone is called Singh and half a day to test the patience

We take breakfast in the langar, our third meal we have enjoyed in there. Each one has been a privilege. We would like to give something back, and volunteer some of our time in helping in the langar preparing food, but we are still both full of cold and neither have the energy nor want to spread our germs around. It is a shame as I think this would have been another great experience.

After breakfast we visit the complex for the final time, this time visiting the temple itself which is reached by a causeway (Guru’s bridge). The temple is a three storey marble temple, with a roof. The upper half of the temple is gilded with 750kg of pure gold, and the lower parts of the walls are decorated with marble inlay style of the Taj Mahal. We walk around the Amrit Sarovar once more and then visit the Sikh museum which tells the grisly history of the Sikh’s in a series of paintings. The Sikh’s were martyred by the Mughals, the British and Mrs Gandhi. With little information though it is difficult to learn too much about the Sikh history. For this I had to rely on my own research.

Sikhism was founded in Punjab by Gurn Nanak in the 15th century. Sikhs believe in one god and although they reject the worship of idols, some keep pictures of the 10 gurus as a point of focus. The Sikh’s holy text, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains the teachings of the 10 gurus, among others. Sikhs believe in rebirth and karma. Fundamental to Sikhs is the concept of Khalsa, or belief in a chosen race of soldier saints who abide by strict codes of moral conduct. There are five kakkars (emblems) denoting the Khalsa brotherhood: kesh (the unshaven beard and uncut hair symbolising saintliness); kangha (comb to maintain the uncut hair); kaccha (loose underwear symbolising modesty); kirpan (sabre or sword symblosing power and dignity) and karra (steel bangle symbolising fearlessness). A belief in equality of all beings lies at the heart of Sikhism.

Inside the temple complex there are many memorial plaques that commemorate past Sikh historical events, saints, martyrs and includes commemorative inscriptions of all the Sikh soldiers who died fighting in the two World Wars. I read the names on many of these plaques and find that 90% of them have the name Singh. Every Sikh that we’ve spoken to or has introduced themselves to us as we’ve walked around the Golden Temple Complex these past two days also seems to be called Singh. I discover Singh means ‘Lion’.

The remainder of our time in the city is spent relaxing ahead of our afternoon train back to Delhi. We don’t feel like doing much more with our heavy colds. The next 12 hours are in sharp contrast to the previous two days in Amritsar which have been wonderful. India is in your face and it hasn’t really tested me to date. I agree with Gregory David Roberts description in Shantaram of it being the country of the heart. It will test your response to a number of situations which you wouldn’t otherwise find yourself in. After 18 months of travelling I don’t think any of these are particularly new it’s just that it’s more intense, and in this particularly period it is one thing after another.

It starts with the auto-rickshaw ride to the station where we don’t agree a price before getting on. We paid 50 Rupees on the way to the Golden Temple and expect to pay the same in the opposite direction. When I hand our driver 50 Rupees (70 pence) he asks for 70. The disagreement gets heated and eventually he hands the money back to him. Bruno resolves the disagreement by giving him another 10 Rupees and I’m almost as angry with him for giving in as I am the driver who is cheating us out of money as 50 Rupees is probably more than the fair price. It is a sour note to end the visit to Amritsar as I have found the temple complex amazing and the Sikh people very friendly.

In the station we can’t find any information on which platform our train departs from. Indian Railways the biggest employer in the world are completely amateurish in so many aspects. If they were forced to compete in global markets they would be out of business in weeks. Providing your passengers (customers) such basic information is a given in almost every country I’ve taken trains in. Not in India. My frustrations with life are increasing and when we finally find our platform and train I lose my rag on a persistent shoe shiner who just won’t take a ‘no’ for an answer and refuses to leave me alone. I’m unfair to the guy who is just trying to earn a living but he just chose the wrong person at the wrong time. This incident is closely followed by a couple of children begging on a train, which is challenging.

Once the train gets away all is well, it is warmer than previous journeys for one and the time passes quickly until it is time to go to sleep. At 12:30am two teenage boys come on to the train and switch on the light and make a lot of noise disturbing the other four of us in the ‘cabin’. They won’t shut up and in the end Bruno tells them in is a sleeper train not a study train after they tell him they are studying, and he switches the light off. They eventually shut up and go to sleep. I can’t get back to sleep however. An hour later and two women join the train for an hour or so, sitting on two of the beds in our section and talking to each other and one of them is talking on her phone. I tell them to shut up and give them a dirty look but it doesn’t improve matters. In the end I give up and start reading my book for a couple of hours as our train is due to arrive at 4:15am. Indian’s may be warm and colourful people but I will say that a significant number are cheats and they can’t include courtesy amongst their national traits.

Amritsar was great, a special place, but the journeys to and from there from Delhi have given me a cold and now I’ve had less than four hours sleep and 12 hours I want to move on from.

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