The flight from Delhi to Amritsar was short and smooth, but our prearranged hotel didn't send a taxi as promised. We may know why - there's free bus service from airport to the Golden Temple. Once there and feeling abandoned, we subjected ourselves to street food while Arthur searched for alternative lodging. Soon we were settled in a nameless hotel nearby. It served the purpose, despite dripping water in our bathroom that required emptying a 10 gallon trashcan a couple of times during the night.
But we weren't there for the hotel, and were quickly off to the Golden Temple, the central pilgrimage site for Sikhs
. Shoes off, a wade through a foot bath, heads covered, and there it was - gleaming in afternoon sunlight. More than awesome architecture and colorful clothing all around, this was our first exposure to Indian piety. The fervor of some people in the crowd was impressive. They were kneeling and bowing low to the ground before unfamiliar (to us) gods or gurus, priests behind picture windows were reading aloud from oversized sacred texts, a giant video screen scrolled passages about the uncaused cause. We joined the long line of people to enter the actual temple, sat there awhile to experience music and prayer. Photography is not allowed.
Unsure about food, we skipped the free meal offered by the temple and made do with aloo parathas (potato filled flatbreads) from a nearby vendor. Then it was back to the temple for the nighttime experience. Very pretty, and once again thought provoking, though for us in our ignorance still mostly mystery.
A short walk to the Golden Temple
Thursday, January 09, 2014
Amritsar, Punjab, India
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2025-02-11