Jumping into Sikh culture!

Namaste, or let's go with "Satsriakal" (the Punjabi greeting) from Punjab!

After spending a relaxing 4 days in a hill station after my Hindu pilgrimage trip where families enjoy the cool temperatures (I never thought I'd say that 30oC is refreshing!!) and go for horse rides around the mountain, fairgrounds as well as enjoy ice cream (yes, life's tough!!) I decided to catch the train to Punjab. There is a large Sikh population (the main religion in the Punjab) in Vancouver so hence my interest.

The main area of interest is the Golden Temple in Amritsar. What a truly fascinating place. The Gurdwara (temple) is a huge complex made out of marble with a large pool surrounded by a large walkway. In the center of the pool is the sanctuary which is plated with gold. The religious feel of the temple is accentuated by a continuous chant from the Sikh holy book- really neat. The men almost all wore traditional Indian dress (long white kurta top with white pants) in addition to the turban. In addition to the uncut hair, which is one of the 5 emblems of Sikh culture, they carry a comb (kangha), a sword (kirpan), a steel bangle (karra) and wear a form of loose underwear to symbolise modesty (kaccha). You must wash your feet and cover your head while entering the temple. I really felt like I was in a different word...

In addition to the temple itself, the founder of the religion stressed equality in the form of social service, family and hardwork. There are communal kitchens and free dormitories for all visitors, regardless of faith. They must feed about 10 000 people a day and they even have a chapati machine! It was humbling to sit on the floor among hundreds of others while enjoying chapati and daal. And the Sikh people I met were incredibly kind (though pointy elbows were quick to emerge while trying to get onto the free bus from the train station!!).


Above is a snap of a smaller langur (community kitchen) in Anandapur Sahib. Everyone sits on the floor and seconds are welcome... neat concept! ... and yummy food too! :)

I was thoroughly taken by Amritsar so decided to go to the holiest Sikh city, Anandapur Sahib to learn some more. The landscape of the village is doted with Gurdwaras everywhere! It was neat to experience the smaller scale temples, still beautiful with the chanting and white marble walls in contrast to the gold. Again it was dorm style accomodations and I met some Indian friends that helped me navigate the town (not much english and only a paragraph in the Lonely Planet- not even a map, my travel bible is letting me down!!!).

Anyways, I don't think I've explained this well as I'm still pretty amazed by the experience. So hopefully the pictures will help! :)




Much peace to home, I hope all is going well!
Phir melange (see you!),
Kristy