Posts Tagged With: Amritsar

No-one goes hungry in Amritsar

Posted on November 17, 2012 by julieallen36

We also visited, both at night and the following day, the area of the temple called Guru Ka Langar which is basically a voluntary kitchen where they feed all the pilgrims and other people that come to visit the temple for free. Jane had heard about this place from Trip Advisor before we came and thought it might be a good place to eat whereas I had my reservations.
It’s an incredible place and the scale of the operation is enormous. We again felt privileged to be able to visit behind the scenes here both in the kitchens and then in the food hall where the folk get to eat. I asked our guide if it was only because we were with him that we got to wander about but he matter of factly said ‘No, anyone can come here -there are no restrictions.’
We started off in the area where they serve thousands of bowls of chai (tea) and thought this was very busy but then we went into the actual food hall and there were hundreds of people sitting on the floor waiting to be served their lunch on a silver plate. The estimates for how many people they can feed here on any one day vary between 10,000 and 100,000 but whatever it was – it was definitely a lot of people! We could have eaten here but to be honest it felt awkward as there were some incredibly poor people eating here and it didn’t feel right. However, then our guide told us that the idea here was of equality and that by all eating on the floor together it showed that there was no difference between the rich and poor. So that felt awkward too but no-one else seemed to mind.
After this we also had a little tour behind the scenes both at night and in the day of the kitchens. We saw where the large group of volunteers were preparing the huge piles of garlic and we saw the giggling man who tended the fires underneath the vast bowls of boiling broth. We also saw the groups of ladies hand rolling the chapatis and Joyce and Enid felt compelled to volunteer here which they did enthusiastically. Then we saw the huge German chapati making machine which could churn them out much faster but they probably don’t taste as good.
Finally we saw the area where they do the washing up. Again this is manned by volunteers who could be a local teacher who had popped in during a free period to give some time or a guy from Canada who has come all this way to do his service for a week. The atmosphere here was extremely organised but with a sense of sociable fun. I think we have found a place for Enid now that she is due to go part time and is looking to do some voluntary work.
In the end I was left asking the question here of ‘ Why couldn’t this model of voluntary giving on such a grand scale work elsewhere?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Amritsar, Sikhism | Leave a comment

Lost for words at the Golden Temple

Posted on November 17, 2012 by julieallen36

Randeep took us through the streets of Amritsar to the Golden Temple and by now it was dark and the streets a slightly calmer version of what we’d seen elsewhere. We had to be dropped off about a 10 min walk from the temple as the streets become too narrow here for a car or van to pass through. It was very busy with people coming and going but definitely all moving with a purpose.
At the entrance to the Golden Temple we had to take our shoes off and wash our hands. We also needed to cover our heads with the scarves we’d brought with us. As you walk towards the temple gate you have to walk through a small channel of very clean water. You then enter via one of the 4 gates (N,S,E & W) which represent the fact that people from all over are welcome and people of the 4 main religions of India (Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Christian).
The sight that beholds you as you enter is truly awesome and I’m afraid that I was lost for words. Not something that happens very often and only the other day, whilst reflecting on how this blog was going, I said to Jane “Who knew I had so many words in my head?” to which she replied “I did, bab.” in her lovely Brummie way. I think she meant it kindly.
Anyway, I definitely think that night time is the best time to see the Golden Temple for the first time if you have a choice. There she sits shinning in the ‘pool of nectar’ which is the literal meaning of the word Amritsar. The reflections in the water look like liquid gold. It is really beautiful. A lot of people back home had told us that this was their favourite place in the world or their spiritual home and it was easy to see why the place means so much to them. It felt like an incredible privilege to be at the heart of somewhere of such religious importance and yet so inclusive and friendly. It was both lively and peaceful at the same time and we walked around the pool with everyone else being stopped again regularly by people who wanted their photo taken with us. People prostrate themselves as they enter and they like to take a ‘holy dip’ to purify themselves and to wash away previous sins. There is a kind of hypnotic music playing all the time which is actually being broadcast from live singing within the temple itself. This is people singing sections from the holy book which is what the people in the Sikh religion hold sacred. They treat the book as the ‘living master’ and so the book is kept covered when it is not being read from and put to bed each night to rest. There are copies of the book all around the temple which priests are constantly reading from.
The next day we returned to the temple with our new guide Jaswinder who was a lovely Sikh lad of 26 who I think rather enjoyed having a very attentive group of English ladies to entertain for the day! He was another great guide and took us inside the Golden Temple itself. There is a huge queue along the length of bridge to get in but it moves fast and once in the temple its a heady mix of fragrance from incense and marigolds. The music is playing and being sung hypnotically and the book is on the cushion. Some people just come to look, like us, whilst others just find a place to sit and read their little prayer books. I was amazed that we got to go in here and I even got to touch the golden roof itself as we went right up to the top. The temple is in fact gold plate over a layer of copper over the base of the building which is white marble.
Jaswinder also taught us a lot about the Sikh religion for example we learned about the 5 Ks which are important to those Sikhs who have chosen to be baptised.
Kesh is long hair kept in a turban
Kachha is a special kind of underwear
Kirpan is the small sword which must be kept on the person at ALL times
Kangha is the comb used for the hair
Kara is an iron and steel bracelet
We generally agreed that the principles that Sikhs hold to are pretty good ones:
> The book is the master
> Work hard and look after your family
> Give 10% of your earnings each year to charity either in money or time equivalent.
I’m going to leave it for a couple of separate posts to tell you about the kitchen situation and also to share with you the faces of some of the people we met. Suffice to say that this was definitely one of the absolute highlights of the trip so far.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Amritsar, Golden Temple, Sikhism | 2 Comments

Train or plane? Train or plane?

Posted on November 16, 2012 by julieallen36

Can you believe that we’ve arrived now at our last hotel and for the first time on our trip we’ve had problems accessing the Internet? Everywhere we have been they have had Wifi and everywhere else except Delhi this has been free. That’s New India for you. However, when we got here the Wifi was down so it prevented me updating until now. Not because it was down for all that time but because we have been incredibly busy having the most fantastic time!
Anyway, before all of that we have been reflecting on our modes of transport and the question in the title was one I posed yesterday at Jaipur Airport whilst we were waiting for our flight to Amritsar. Needless to say the answer was a resounding PLANE. I then went on to do a small survey of my fellow travellers to ask whether looking back on it would they have missed the overnight train experience out? You see, I wouldn’t have missed it now for the world but I am afraid my fellows all gave another rather definite YES (they would have missed it out thank you).
So how come the girls are so strongly in favour of the plane mode of transport? Well our trip from Jaipur to here is a perhaps a good example of why. We left the hotel at 5.30pm and checked in about an hour and a half before our flight was due to leave firstly to Delhi. The journey was extremely civilised and we arrived in Delhi bang on time. Then we had a 4 hour wait for the flight to Amritsar. Lets compare this with the wait in the 1st class train waiting room shall we? Well here we really did do some shopping. Firstly for some nice gift items in the craft shop and then most importantly for some drugs in the pharmacy. Joyce and Enid had finally given in and decided they needed to get something other than Imodium to treat their stomachs. So without hassle here they could pick up lots of mystery pills purporting to be anti-biotics and pro-biotics. They cost about £2 so I decided that although I’d been feeling a lot better I might as well get the same as my mates. No problem.
Then we went up to the food hall and guess what was waiting there for me? Yes indeed a newly opened Costa Coffee. Naturally I had my usual croissant and a cappuccino and Jane had a doughnut from another outlet. Joyce and Enid needed to eat some food with their new drugs and so they gave up all that good work on the vegetarian diet and went and got a Sausage and Bacon McMuffin and a cup of tea from McDonalds! How low can you stoop!!
Then we went off to a bar so that Jane could watch the cricket on the big screen TV. You see the trains have a long way to go if they are going to compete. Virgin opportunity perhaps?
We arrived early at Amritsar airport and met our new guide Randeep. He is a Sikh guy as are a lot of the people here obviously as the Golden Temple is their sacred place. He took us to our latest hotel the Ranjit Svaasa. It’s an old heritage home and a beautiful rambling old building with some really lovely parts like the lounge I’m in now which is full of antique furnishings and plush upholstery but also some funny bits where they’re doing building work or just where the chic has worn off and it just looks shabby. Sorry. Our rooms were up on the top floor and Joyce and Enid had a lovely huge room more like a suite whereas ours was rather more like a broom cupboard with no bath, fridge and most importantly for the cricket fan- no TV. We were quickly swapped….
Anyway we now had a free afternoon so we decided to make the most of the spa facilities again. This time Jane joined in as well. Joyce and Enid had Indian head and face massages which they thought v good whereas Jane and I decided to try the Karl Pilkington Spa Treatment. This involves having to wear nought but a pair of skimpy paper pants, lying on an old door and in Jane’s case being pummelled with something in an old sock (snooker ball?) and in my own case being rubbed down from head to toe in oil of cloves. At one point I rubbed my nose and thought it was going to fall off the oil burned so much. Jane also had a couple of mosquito bites thrown in for good measure.
Anyway there wasn’t really time after this to have a proper shower as it was time to get off to the Golden Temple. I’m afraid therefore that the oil didn’t really come off and I stank to high heaven still of clove oil. Still seemed to keep the Mosquitos away from me!
Now then we were going for our nighttime visit to the Golden Temple and it totally and utterly deserves a post all of its own-tomorrow……