Claire: The Golden Temple
Dani and I took an 18-hour train ride to Amritsar, Punjab this past weekend. The draw? To see the Golden Temple- Sikhisms holiest site, and a symbol of human brotherhood and equality. It is a place where everyone, regardless of race, religion, or class, is welcome to seek spiritual solace and enjoy the temples beauty.
The temple and its surrounding buildings (community kitchen, community dormitories) are up-kept by donations, many volunteers, and a small group of permanent stewards. We felt the positive serene vibes as soon as we entered the premise. A clean premise! Out of respect, men and women must wear head coverings, and shoes must be off. There was even a mini pool of water you had to step through to ensure your feet were clean. I don’t normally become excited over temples, but the Golden Temple is GORGEOUS. It is not a large temple, but it is stunning. It was built in 1577, and the temples dome is gilded with 750 kg of pure gold. A shinning trophy during the day and a glowing star at night. My favorite spot to look at it was from the side of the pool. Dani and I would sit on the cool marble floor for hours, people watching and absorbing the peace and beauty while holy music played softly in the background.
The history was interesting as well. Guru Nanak founded Sikhism in the 15th century. He was frustrated with the caste system and rituals of other religions; Sikhism was formed to be all-inclusive. In Sikhism, women have complete equality and can even be the head of the religion. Unlike the Pope of Catholosism or Dalai Lama of Buddhism, a woman can lead the Sikhs if she is elected, like a democracy. The all-inclusiveness of the religion was clearly shown in the spirit at the Golden Temple.
We were able to see people reading from the holy books inside the temple, and we watched the evening ceremony where the holy book was put to bed.
We were pestered often for a picture, since we were usually the sole foreigners. We said yes to little kids, women, or couples, but always said no to boys in packs. You just can’t trust boys in packs these days.
Langar hall is the name of the community kitchen/free eatery building. It was awesome in the true sense of the word, and easily a highlight of my trip thus far. This kitchen is open 24/7 and feeds over 50,000 people a day, and during religious holidays over 100,000 people a day. It is the most efficient system i’ve seen in India. I was blown away. If this weren’t amazing enough, I learned that it has been going strong for 450 years, without missing a day.
You collect a plate, bowl, and spoon from volunteers handing out dishes, and follow the crowd to a massive sized room. There is row after row of twine runner rugs that everyone files down, taking a seat on an open rug space. You sit cross-legged with your plate out front. Volunteers walk down the rows with their buckets of simple but yummy vegetarian food and plop it on your plate. Other volunteers have baskets of chapatti and you hold out both hands to catch them. If you want more, they happily serve you more. Once you are finished, you scoop up your stainless steel tray and take it to the wash station as the next wave of pilgrims file in.
My favorite food was the coconut ride pudding. Delish. They also serve dal, aloo gobi, and chapatti. The food was safe and cooked well. You can tell they’ve perfected the system in the 450 years.
The experience of peacefully sharing a meal with hundreds of people from different religions, races, cultures, and backgrounds in the spirit of equality was incredible. I’ve never been so proud of the human race before. The world could use more places like this.
We were able to see the food being mass-produced. There is a chapatti-making machine that I got the chance to operate, groups of volunteers chopping up onions, garlic, and chilies, and massive sized cauldrons for cooking the lentils.
Anyone can stay at the temple as well. Non-Sikh westerners are accommodated in a very basic dorm with guards out front. We stayed two nights and gave a donation for our stay. Dani and I met a bunch of very interesting travelers in the international dorm. We met a few Israli’s, a few French, a Polish couple, a man from Argentina, and a few Chinese folks. Danny was our favorite. He’s originally from China, a student in England, and cracked jokes all day long.
I feel so fortunate to have experienced a place like this. I will never forget it.
WE Travel Correspondent Blog: Intern in India 