the people of Amritsar LOVE foreigners. i spoke to pauline about this, and she agrees--for some reason, they are even more receptive of foreigners than the usual indian, who is already quite friendly. it was CONSTANT smiles and handshaking and people asking to have their photo taken with us, and (my favorite) people handing you their babies (to hold, to have their picture taken with you and so on). everywhere we went there were people willing to help us out, recommend places to go, point us in the right direction...
people in line to get into the Golden Temple, the Harmandir Sahib--a Sikh temple (or gurudwara). it is known as one of the oldest ones that exist in india.
The Harmandir Sahib is considered holy by Sikhs because the eternal Guru of Sikhism, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (the holy literature), is housed in the temple. its construction was intended to build a place of worship for men and women from all religions to come and worship God equally... [Photo taken by Sander--it's a beautiful shot]
Really cute baby.
Jallian Wala Bagh--this memorial commemorates the 2000 Indians who were killed or wounded, shot by the British on April13, 1919 while participating in a peaceful public meeting. this was one of the major incidents of India's freedom struggle.
a guard at the Wagha Border, the one shared by India and Pakistan. we were trying to decide if his hat is made to resemble a fan or a peacock (for the record, Nith claims that female peacocks are called peahens...). i swear he noticed i was taking photos of him and thus he was going for the model pose.
as i said, it was deliriously hot, but we were there for over 2 hours. mainly sitting in the blazing sun. and the actual retrieving of the flags didn't that long at all, just a lot of guards walking funny back and forth and chanting. but it was the atmosphere that was so, so cool--it was punjabi rock concert meets military ceremony. we sat on our side with music blaring, women and teenage girls especially dancing like crazy in front of the crowd, cheering and yelling. on the other side, the pakistanis weren't dancing, i think, but definitely cheering, too. it was like the two sides were competing to see who could be loudest...i did join in on the dancing, it was hilarious--these girls are so into it! what a great way to celebrate a country...
it was jam-packed with people, we met a really nice american med student, and a TON of israelis. we sat in the VIP/foreigner section, which was rather amusing in and of itself.
this is the silver temple, a hindu temple also in amristar. very beautiful as well, and there was also music playing inside, loads of flowers and sweet offerings and lights, children running around, singing. i kept on thinking about how this is how religion should be-joyful, celebratory, full of gratitude and exaltation, not guilt and pressure and compensation.
we spent the night at the golden temple...which was definitely memorable. there are hundreds sleeping on the floor, entire families. we slept at midnight, and at 2 am they woke us up to offer rose-scented water. i think a bit later, we had to pick up and move because they were washing down the spot where we were--prayers started at that point, playing over the speakers. then at 4:40 am, one of the Sikh men in full garb (spear included) woke us up again. it was crazy, but there was already a huge line formed outside the temple.
money shot!! (hah, no pun intended, since it is covered in gold) the inside of the temple was really beautiful as well (i feel like im overusing words like beautiful, unbelievable, amazing...), but the reflection really makes it so unique compared to other temples. and cool at night due to the breeze and the water--which counts for a lot in india.
1 comment:
They are called peahens
Post a Comment