February 25, 2016

February 25, 2016

Last night we had our tour welcome dinner at a local restaurant. Aimee and I are both pleasantly surprised how good the food is. While very different from our own, it has very tasty flavors.  Interestingly Curry is not a spice but refers to the gravy that sometimes covers food and which contains a variety of spices. Also Hindus are the original vegetarians, so many dishes use things like chick peas and cottage cheese as a base.

This morning we drove to the Delhi Airport for an afternoon flight to Amritsar in the state of Punjab in the northwest corner of India.  It is a short flight, less than an hour, but surprisingly was filled to capacity and in one of the new big Boeing Dreamliners.  

At Amritsar we are met by a local guide and driven to our hotel in separate cars.  The architecture of Amritsar, consisting chiefly of concrete block buildings and dirt roads, looks less Hindi and more like what we have seen in shows about the Middle East.  Our accommodations are in the Hyatt Amritsar, which is more dated than our last hotel in Delhi.  We have several hours before our next tour, so we go next door to a shopping mall with another couple.  Except for some of the store names, you would think we were back in the US. Eventually I nudge the group into a brew pub for a beer.

In the evening we drove into town for another group dinner and more tasty food.  It was completed by some colorful spice blend breath freshener that supposedly aids digestion but tasted like perfume.

The Punjab is known for its high concentration of people who practice the Sikh religion.  They can easily be identified by their beards and omnipresent turbans.  The Sikh religion is a monotheistic faith that originated in the late 1400’s at the geographic intersection of the Muslim and Hindu worlds. Amritsar contains their holiest site, the Golden Temple.  After dinner we drive close to the Temple and then walk the last few blocks along dirt alleyways, dodging traffic. The darkness, bright lights, smog, and third world setting makes our walk an adventure in itself.

Outside the Temple walls, everyone has to cover their heads with a scarf, and take off shoes and socks.  At the complex entrance we wash our feet in a stream and then pass through the outer walls.  Inside we see the beautiful Golden Temple, brightly illuminated and sitting like an island in a small lake.  Every night the holy book of the Sikhs is closed and carried by procession from the temple to another building for storage. The process is reversed each morning.  

We follow a large group of Sikhs down the causeway out to the Golden Temple while music plays and a Punjabi script is chanted.  Right outside the Temple doors the throng suddenly sits while the Holy Book is closed and wrapped.  We enter the temple, passing the holy book and then climb to the second floor of this temple completely covered in gold leaf.  We walk with the procession as the book is carried by palanquin back out the causeway.  It is a very cool ceremony for a westerner to participate in.  It really seems out of the Dark Ages.