The Connecticutian

During our stay in Amritsar, we also visited a memorial of a massacre that occurred in 1919 at Jallianwala Bagh. It was a sad place, as many people were shot and killed, and others jumped into a well in order to avoid being shot, but it was a very deep well, and those people died.

While we were there, we were part of the rare few white people. Many other tourists (Indian) wanted their pictures taken with us. Above is also a photo of my with a recent bride.

We also visited the Durgiana Temple, a Hindu temple to Durga. This is sometimes called the Silver Temple, because its doors are made of silver.

Finally, we went to the Mata Lal Devi Mandir, which honors a female guru. Women who want to become pregnant pray here. It was a very unique temple, filled with lots of ups and downs, passages, tunnels, and “caves.” It felt a bit like a fun house, because of this jumbled set-up, and the kids even loved it. At one point, you have to crawl through a tunnel, and at another point, you go into this cave-like room and then walk through water. I wondered if it symbolized a birthing canal. We could not find out the answer why it was so uniquely designed.

On the train ride home, the AC broke for a bit, and about 10 different men kept going up front to try to “fix” it or at least give their two cents. It’s kind of like how a bunch of men stand around a car that is broken down surmising what must be wrong. “I think it’s the catalytic converter.” “No, it’s gotta be the temperature gauge…” You know what I’m talking about.

Then the AC worked and it got chilly. Men were wearing their wives dupettas, leaving their wives to be cold, though some men shared with their wives.

Although Amritsar was extremely hot, it was a great weekend. Since I have returned, I have come down with a cold. I tried to go to an internet cafe today to no avail. I dropped of an unstitched suit to the tailors and felt like a complete idiot, because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I still have to buy material for a sari blouse. So many things to do! When am I going to see the Taj Mahal?

The above photos are of the amazing Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh temple. Here is their official site. It is in Amritsar, which is in the state of Punjab, near the Pakistan border.

They city itself is broken into two main sections, the old city and the newer section. We stayed in the old city at a place called Hotel CJ INternational. It was a great location, but it was only so-so in terms of its amenities. It’s touted Golden Temple view was from a shared hallway balcony. (I guess I’ll save my review for TripAdvisor.)

Anyway, it was one of the most peaceful places I have been. We first went in the evening, and that was when it was particularly peaceful. I don’t mean that there were few people. On the contrary, there were a lot of people (though more and more the two subsequent times I went in), but the whole Temple complex is filled with the music of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. In the inner sanctum of the temple, two priests sing from the book twenty-four hours a day. There is light drumming and other accompaniment that makes for a somewhat hypnotic soundtrack as one walks around the temple complex. The temple is surrounded by a pool of sacred water, and pilgrims come to bathe their, a religious ritual. As we walked around the temple (throngs walk around it in a clockwise direction), I said to Lesa that this place makes me want to be Sikh. Then of course I also saw the gender disparity, as with most religions. Women cannot bathe in the pool of sacred water. Instead they may only drink from it and put some on their faces. Men go in and submerge themselves. Women cannot be priests, etc.

Aside from the extremely common form of inequality, the Sikhs seem to be very much about equality. They have a communal kitchen at the Golden Temple that operates twenty-four hours a day and is run solely by volunteers. In fact, all operations are run solely by volunteers, and it is a huge operation. They feed thousands and thousands of people everyday, a simple meal of chapati, dal, and sweet rice. See the pictures above. They cook the dal in giant vats, also pictured above. There is no charge, though donations are accepted. Many people are from Amritsar, and go there often to eat. The two boys in black t-shirts ate next to us, and they were alone, local boys — and very sweet boys.

There were very few white people in Amritsar, so all sorts of people wanted to come up to us, to touch us, to have their picture taken with us. I don’t normally get fawned over like that, so I ate it up. 😉

Simply to sit next to the pool of water and listen to the prayer was heavenly. Amritsar is insanely hot this time of year, but if you can go there some time, I highly recommend it!

BTW, I think my sister wears a dupetta very well (as in the above photo in the communal kitchen), and I think she looks a little like Benazir Bhutto when she wears it on her head.

Over the weekend, we went to Amritsar on the train, which was actually relatively easy. When we got to the station, I was a bit nervous as it was very crowded, but once we more or less figured out what train we were on, it was pretty easy. This website, all about train travel in India, is very valubale, as is this website called India Mike.

We took the Shatabdi Express to Amritsar, which also served lots of good food and was an easy trip.

When we arrived in Amritsar, I took my first auto rickshaw ride, which was a lot of fun!