We have entered the Punjab region for two days only but it is evidently clear when we arrive (by another painful bus experience) by the amount of turbans we begin to see.
The Sikh religion was founded in this region by Guru Nanak who was unimpressed with the main religions of India at the time. He believed in equality of all and campaigned against the caste system and unlike many indian holy men, he married and had children.
We are staying in Amritsar which is an ugly, dirty city with a beautiful attraction.. Like a diamond in the rough. That's my opinion anyway.. I would love to met somebody who thought differently of the city. I prefer Delhi.. Which is a big call to make.
The diamond in this case being the Sikh golden temple. A beautiful golden temple surrounded by a sacred pool and beautiful white buildings. The roof of the temple contains 750kg of gold!!
We went three times as recommended to see the temple lit in all ways - dawn, day and night.. But it was at dawn that we had the most fun.
We arrived with heads covered at 6am and promenaded once around the outer edge of the pool before lining up on the causeway to sneak a peek inside the temple. We gathered with the swarms of people pushing to get in and then morning prayers commenced and it was suddenly peaceful. There was a lot of simultaneous bowing by everyone on the causeway but Hannah and I - leaving us standing awkwardly amongst everyone, until we saw down with them to stop drawing awkward attention to ourselves. Once prays finished, everyone got up and the pushy indian ways took over again.
Our timing is excellent.
One of the practices of showing equality is langar - where anybody despite religion, race or class in society can come and sit side-by-side and enjoy a free meal at a communal kitchen. After our prayers this is where we went and our timing again proved to be impeccable. There was a big crowd gathering around the communal kitchen which we assumed was normal so we joined the queue. Who wouldn't want free food!?
Suddenly, somebody came out and announced it's opening and suddenly the mad rush was on. Everybody was diving for metal plates and I, who had never seen anything like it, hung back a little and grabbed the back of Hannah's backpack as she took off for the plates. She turned and looked at me, saw my expression and with a huge grin said 'just like the London Underground babes'. What a woman!
A nice Sikh boy grabbed two plates for us and we took them gratefully... And then we were getting plates thrust at us from everywhere as people tried to help the white girls. We decided to wave our plates in the air so everyone knew as we pushed forward in the crowd. The same Sikh boy got us bowls and then spoons.
We followed the mosh pit into a dining room which was a massive room with two long, thin carpets in lines along the floor. We sat down cross legged beside our same young friend and got ready for our meal. I managed to relax a little after being freed from the stampeding, hungry, plate-wanting mob and began to love the situation we were in. Volunteers started coming around with steel buckets full of curry and slopping them on our plates and then somebody came and threw chapatis into our waiting hands. Dig in.
My favourite part of the breakfast, apart from ongoing offers of chapatis, was the water machine. It's hard to describe but it's pure simplicity and brilliance was incredible. It was a big water tank on a trolley with brakes. A waterboy pushed it along the rows and when he pressed the brakes, a nozzle lifted off a well placed tap at the bottom and water came out into our bowls. He did this up and down the rows and managed to entertain us throughout the whole meal. At one point, he was chatting on his cellphone whilst operating the machine. We both agreed that the kitchen ladies at CDHB would lose their marbles over such a machine.
The second pearl being the India-Pakistan border closing ceremony. We rode out there in a shared taxi for eight. The shared taxi translating to a normal sized jeep and eight translating to thirteen. It was cosy but we got the front seats so we could observe that none of the dash board was functional. Neither were the seat belts but the driver made us pretend to wear them anyway.
It was my first time to a border and it did not disappoint. The patriotism was high and it is easily forgotten in a country so polluted and corrupt, so it was nice to be reminded. There was grown men sporting indian flag face paint, mini flags and little flag sun visors. There was popcorn and drink stalls and the bleachers were packed.. Oh yes. The ceremony is so big they have built stands on either country side to accommodate everyone. The Pakistan side was a lot less populated (possibly due to Ramadan) and the men and women were separated.
Before the ceremony started, the latest Bollywood hits played over the speakers and females from the bleachers ran onto the road to perform their latest dance moves. The uniforms of the border security team were beautiful, brown and red.
The ceremony began and there was a lot of build up. High kicks from the guards, a little fist pumping to Pakistan and a cheesy commentator who seemed like he belonged on a TV game show wearing a white track suit with an indian flag on the back. Finally the gates on both sides were open, there was a salute and the flags hung together to the background cheers of the audience. A show of present harmony against a very rocky history.
I then got diarrhoea, just in time for our night train to haridwar.
Of course.
The Sikh religion was founded in this region by Guru Nanak who was unimpressed with the main religions of India at the time. He believed in equality of all and campaigned against the caste system and unlike many indian holy men, he married and had children.
We are staying in Amritsar which is an ugly, dirty city with a beautiful attraction.. Like a diamond in the rough. That's my opinion anyway.. I would love to met somebody who thought differently of the city. I prefer Delhi.. Which is a big call to make.
The diamond in this case being the Sikh golden temple. A beautiful golden temple surrounded by a sacred pool and beautiful white buildings. The roof of the temple contains 750kg of gold!!
We went three times as recommended to see the temple lit in all ways - dawn, day and night.. But it was at dawn that we had the most fun.
We arrived with heads covered at 6am and promenaded once around the outer edge of the pool before lining up on the causeway to sneak a peek inside the temple. We gathered with the swarms of people pushing to get in and then morning prayers commenced and it was suddenly peaceful. There was a lot of simultaneous bowing by everyone on the causeway but Hannah and I - leaving us standing awkwardly amongst everyone, until we saw down with them to stop drawing awkward attention to ourselves. Once prays finished, everyone got up and the pushy indian ways took over again.
Our timing is excellent.
One of the practices of showing equality is langar - where anybody despite religion, race or class in society can come and sit side-by-side and enjoy a free meal at a communal kitchen. After our prayers this is where we went and our timing again proved to be impeccable. There was a big crowd gathering around the communal kitchen which we assumed was normal so we joined the queue. Who wouldn't want free food!?
Suddenly, somebody came out and announced it's opening and suddenly the mad rush was on. Everybody was diving for metal plates and I, who had never seen anything like it, hung back a little and grabbed the back of Hannah's backpack as she took off for the plates. She turned and looked at me, saw my expression and with a huge grin said 'just like the London Underground babes'. What a woman!
A nice Sikh boy grabbed two plates for us and we took them gratefully... And then we were getting plates thrust at us from everywhere as people tried to help the white girls. We decided to wave our plates in the air so everyone knew as we pushed forward in the crowd. The same Sikh boy got us bowls and then spoons.
We followed the mosh pit into a dining room which was a massive room with two long, thin carpets in lines along the floor. We sat down cross legged beside our same young friend and got ready for our meal. I managed to relax a little after being freed from the stampeding, hungry, plate-wanting mob and began to love the situation we were in. Volunteers started coming around with steel buckets full of curry and slopping them on our plates and then somebody came and threw chapatis into our waiting hands. Dig in.
My favourite part of the breakfast, apart from ongoing offers of chapatis, was the water machine. It's hard to describe but it's pure simplicity and brilliance was incredible. It was a big water tank on a trolley with brakes. A waterboy pushed it along the rows and when he pressed the brakes, a nozzle lifted off a well placed tap at the bottom and water came out into our bowls. He did this up and down the rows and managed to entertain us throughout the whole meal. At one point, he was chatting on his cellphone whilst operating the machine. We both agreed that the kitchen ladies at CDHB would lose their marbles over such a machine.
The second pearl being the India-Pakistan border closing ceremony. We rode out there in a shared taxi for eight. The shared taxi translating to a normal sized jeep and eight translating to thirteen. It was cosy but we got the front seats so we could observe that none of the dash board was functional. Neither were the seat belts but the driver made us pretend to wear them anyway.
It was my first time to a border and it did not disappoint. The patriotism was high and it is easily forgotten in a country so polluted and corrupt, so it was nice to be reminded. There was grown men sporting indian flag face paint, mini flags and little flag sun visors. There was popcorn and drink stalls and the bleachers were packed.. Oh yes. The ceremony is so big they have built stands on either country side to accommodate everyone. The Pakistan side was a lot less populated (possibly due to Ramadan) and the men and women were separated.
Before the ceremony started, the latest Bollywood hits played over the speakers and females from the bleachers ran onto the road to perform their latest dance moves. The uniforms of the border security team were beautiful, brown and red.
The ceremony began and there was a lot of build up. High kicks from the guards, a little fist pumping to Pakistan and a cheesy commentator who seemed like he belonged on a TV game show wearing a white track suit with an indian flag on the back. Finally the gates on both sides were open, there was a salute and the flags hung together to the background cheers of the audience. A show of present harmony against a very rocky history.
I then got diarrhoea, just in time for our night train to haridwar.
Of course.
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