Amritsar and the Golden Temple

Sadly I had to bid Coreen, my partner in crime farewell but Chanda who is equally cool has taken her place. I think the two of us cause a little confusion – the Caucasian South African and the African American.

This weekend our motley crew - Chanda, Nic, myself and Ravi the Super Sikh from the US - missioned off to Amritsar and the Golden Temple. Unfortunately Laura/Lauren had to pull out at the last minute because of a bad attack of Delhi Belly. This time we travelled by train in style – second class, AC. We were in Amritsar for all of 18 hours but we managed to see some awesome sights and eat the most delicious food for which the Punjab is famous:

• The Golden Temple is the most sacred shrine in Sikhism. Sikh devotees, for whom the Temple is a symbol of freedom and spiritual independence, come to the Temple from all over the world and ritually dip themselves in the water that surrounds the building. It is inlaid with more than 750kg of gold and breathtakingly beautiful. Respectfully bowing turbans and prayers reverberating around the enclosure combine to create an indescribable air of reverence and an almost tangible positive energy. What amazed me was the sense of community. Everybody works together and everyone is welcome, no matter creed or colour. As we were standing on the edge of the water, a group of about 100 people came past us washing the marble. Everyone helps no matter how young or old they are or how much value they add. There is also a 24 hour kitchen serving a free, simple meal of ciapati and dal serviced by volunteers. The boys bravely slept at the temple whilst Chanda and I copped out and opted for the decidedly more comfortable hotel beds.

• The changing of the guards at the India-Pakistan border was incredibly entertaining. The area gets completely packed and the atmosphere is set by school kids merrily dancing to the patriotice music blared over the loudspeakers. The guards, somewhat incongruously dressed with large fans protruding from their hats and chests swelled with self importance, nightly go to acknowledge the Pakistani border guards on the no mans land between the two borders. The atmosphere turned a little political when the guy behind me starting making machine gun noises!

• The Amritsar orphanage houses many of those orphaned in the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple. Ravi raises funds online for them so we had an opportunity to go and visit them. It was a completely humbling experience. We arrived in the evening in time for their prayers and were invited to join them. I think we were more of a disruptive influence then anything as for most of them we were probably the first foreigners they had met. Nic gained instant favour with the cricket bats he had bought along as gifts. We also arrived laden with an enormous crate of bananas which we handed out with their dinner. The funniest part for me was trying to take a group photo. Every attempt was foiled as the kids repeatedly launched themselves up right in front of the camera just before the photo was taken. Some of the kids were even lifting up their friends by the pants (resembling a rugby line out) to ensure they were the primary focus of the picture. I also received my first marriage proposal! One little kid started with the question and then before long about ten kids had joined in. Although incredibly flatter, I suspect they didn't really know what they were saying.