The Golden Temple and the India/Pakistan border

We just returned from a five-day whirlwind tour. Megan, Clare and I went to Amritsar, site of the Sikh’s most holy temple (called the Golden Temple). Because Amritsar is only about 20 or 30 minutes away from the India/Pakistan border, and because I like to give my father things to worry about, we went to the evening border closing ceremony while we were there. In fact, it was the first thing we did after checking into our hotel.

Both countries have bleacher seating on their own sides. The seating was on concrete risers that were hotter than…well…hotter than anything I’ve ever experienced. The hot seating combined with the weather meant that we all felt like we just might die of heat stroke. Anyway, India’s side was notably colorful, with people singing, waving balloons, and dancing in the streets (to Bollywood music, of course!).

Pakistan’s side, on the other hand, was quiet, still, and BORING. Tell me, which country knows how to party?

Soldiers from both sides (pictured below are India’s soldiers) would shout, stomp their feet, march swiftly to the border and back again, and just generally put a lot of very silly machismo on display. There was an MC leading the audience in cheers, and the Pakistan soldiers (who I couldn’t see very well) were doing something similar on their side, though clearly the Pakistan side was just not having as much fun. Or they weren’t allowed to have as much fun, I’m not sure which.

And finally, on our way out, this rather startling sight of Indian soldiers patrolling the border.

The next day, we visited the Golden temple. Both women and men must have their heads covered and shoes removed. Everyone takes a foot bath on their way into the temple (these are the large white rectangles that you see in the photo; they contain about 3 inches of water and everyone must walk through them before entering).

Inside, the temple is a brilliant gleaming gold, surrounded by a large pond of holy water and a white marble complex. It’s quite beautiful. The water has holy properties, and many people were bathing in it. There was even an opportunity for visitors to drink some of the holy water, but we declined.

Inside the golden temple itself were beautifully decorated rooms filled with the devout, chanting and singing and praying and meditating. It was a total contrast to the Muslim shrine we had visited earlier in the week (which I have yet to blog about, I know). At the Muslim shrine in Ajmer, people were pushy, loud, the the crowds literally crushed us (I had a hard time breathing, that’s how tight we were) and several women were groped (lousy people at the Muslim shrine! How dare they do that, ESPECIALLY in a holy place?). The Sikh Golden Temple, on the other hand, was peaceful, entrancing, and people were gentle, and kind. It was like night and day. We walked through the several stories of the main temple (where we can’t take pictures, unfortunately) and saw many old men with beards and the Sikh turban chanting and praying. On top of the temple I saw a lot of Indian people taking pictures, so I figured that pictures were okay and asked Megin to take one of me. Turns out pictures weren’t allowed up there. Oops.

After touring the temple and eating prasad (or rather, failing to eat it, as Megin’s prasad had a large, dead wasp in it), we sat under some shade and watched the crowds and meditated to the chanting. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I have never found it so easy to meditate. The experience was unbelievable–my mind felt expanded, and detached, and completely at peace. And we were not the only ones with this idea.

After this we went back to the hotel, where we hired a taxi to take us to Dharmshala. I know, it sounds expensive, a taxi for a 7-hour drive, but it really wasn’t that bad: about $80 (total) for the three of us. For our own personal taxi! We though it sounded great, until the hotel told us that “if anyone asks, you must say the car belongs to your friend.” WHY? We were very persistent in asking why, and they would not give us a straight answer. This gave us cause for alarm, so we called Matthew and asked him to keep track of us and make sure we got to Dharmshala okay. Turns out when we got there we had no phone reception and no way to call Matthew, so the poor man was in a bit of a panic until we finally located a public pay phone.

I will post about Dharmshala in a separate entry, as it really is another story entirely.