Amritsar, Punjab - 7th March 2011

We get ready to leave early in the morning, but we hear that Joice wont be joining us. The last couple of weeks saw her health slowly worsen and now it had reached a pitch where she couldn’t continue on the journey. So as we departed for Amritsar, Joice heads to Delhi. It was a little sad to see her go, but I guess it was better this way.

Our program in the morning is at St. Francis School in Amrtisar. A few kilometres before, we boarded some gypsies and trucks and took part in a bike/gypsy/truck rally to the school. We reach the school and there’s a hoard of people waiting to receive us, all holding malas and waiting to garland us as we enter. There were just the few of us and we were thoroughly outnumbered, so people just kept garlanding everybody over and over again! Ravi and Rakesh bore the brunt of it. It was hilarious!

After the program, our next stop is the Golden Temple. We reach and we get a guided tour from the President of the management committee for the Temple. He takes us around and tells the history of the Temple, its significance and other interesting facts. The thing he said which I  liked the best was the doors in all 4 directions were open coz they are open to everyone from every faith and caste and all. And  as we were walking around the sacred pool, I noticed there were these depressed sections with water to wash your feet. I was wondering about the water that was in there being clean with so many people walking in it, but then you can see that it has a very developed drainage and refilling system, keeping the water fresh at all times.  So cool..

We all sit down and are served langar. The food is wonderful and the people who are serving are so kindly and gentle, offering the langar so patiently and sweetly, and even joking with us a few times. And when we were done, we go outside and I thought there would be a place where we would have to wash the plates, but there’s another bunch of people who are doing seva and taking the plates from us, for washing. Again, here these people shared that kind, gentle, helpful vibe. The whole place had a very peaceful feel too, probably because it was a place of worship, but one thing I noticed was everyone around was very patient and tolerant - The people who came for worship, those who volunteered or worked here, everyone. I had a feeling this place made you like this even if you weren’t, normally. It had that much power.

 

We get in the line to enter the main sanctum of the temple, and it moves slowly, but this allows you to enjoy the view of the temple premises from where you are and also take in the bhajan that has been constantly playing over the PA. We never really noticed it properly till now, but listening to it here, it was so peaceful and gentle, and again, so patiently being sung in devotion.

We reach the inner sanctum and we don’t get to spend too much time there before the line behind us continues its surge. We just get to do a short pranam before moving on. But I do take in how royal the room looks. Bright, vibrant, rich red and gold hues adorning the room. Beautiful..

We also find the source of the music here. There are 5 singers and instrumentalists here breathing their heavenly music into the mics.

After Langar, we are guided by the President to where the food is prepared. We get a first hand look at the process. Many of us had actually wondered how this was done for sooooooo many people everyday (We heard something about 80,000 people being served Langar everyday). We see the people peeling onions, and the tubs full of raw vegetable and someone operating the machine that prepares the aata for rotis and people making rotis and another person stirring something in the hugest karhai you’ve seen. 

Then we get to see the roti making machine. They even did a little demonstration for us. Apparently it generates about 700-800 rotis an hour.

It was amazing to see the dedication of the people working here, making food, serving, clearing it away, guiding you along, offering their help and support at any place.. It inspires and humbles one to the core.. We learn that we’ll be given an opportunity to do something of the sort when we reach Delhi. On the 1^st day of the 3 day youth festival there, we’ll be visiting ‘Places of Hope’ which includes Bangla Sahib Gurudwara. Looking forward to that..

We depart from the Golden Temple soothed and at peace.  We’re moving on to the last state of our campaign next.. We gear up for Jammu & Kashmir now, ready for what’s in store.