4 kids world tour year

The golden temple in Amritsar is something that I wanted to visit way back in the late 1980s, but I couldn’t. Way back then, it was the epicentre of a political crisis that shook India and has had consequences ever since. In the early 80s, there was a movement for a quasi-independent Punjab. I'm not fully independent, I guess because it wanted to be covered by India’s security. That said, the politics got out of control with an armed Sikh insurgency, which the Indian government clamped down on. In the end, the leaders of the insurgency sought sanctuary in the golden temple in Amritsar. The Indian government hesitated but eventually went in after the insurgents, killing its leader. That seemed to be the end of it, a bit far from it, when a few months later, two Sikh guards of the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Ghandi, killed her. That led to an eruption of violence against Sikhs across India, with a huge number of deaths. I haven’t followed what has happened in the intervening period, but in our visit today, that violence and those tensions appear to be part of a distant past.

We had briefly visited the temple the night before, but today, we wanted to understand more of the history and the religion, so I asked the hotel for a guide. The front desk guy seemed baffled. Unusual , as a white guy asking for a guide, is a great business opportunity. However Sikhs are different. He tells me to go to the main entrance and get a guide who works for the temple for free! So we walk around to the front gate, Flo and I go into the information office, and we are greeted warmly by a big guy in a yellow turban. How many are you, he asks? Go deposit all your shoes and bring them in. So we do, and return. He then gets someone to bring us each a bottle of water, and each a tea. He then asks if we have any questions. So we go through a long list of questions. (I thought this was for him to win time to find a guide ), but in fact, our guide was sitting next to us the whole time. So it remains unclear why we spent 30 mins in the office before setting off, but it was informative, and in the temple it’s a bit loud, so maybe that was a good move on his part.
Once in the guide, explain the 5 sins that Sikhs seek to counter. Ego, lust, anger, avarice, greed. He also explained the 5 duties they have; to come your hair twice a day, which is symbolic for cleansing your mind. Never to cut your hair so that you remain natural. To cover your head as a sign of respect of god, your parents, your grand parents and your wife’s parents, to wear long trousers, I missed exactly why, and to carry a dagger to protect yourself should all your good efforts fail due to another. Self-defence only!
We then visit the perimeter of the temple. It is not a place for religious study. The colleges are elsewhere in the city. It is a place of worship and cleansing. It is also a place of charity since it offers free meals 24 x 7 to anyone. There are 10 Sikh masters in the initial phase of the religion that started around 1400 as a counter to the Hindi region’s caste system. The golden temple was conceived by the 4th master, largely built by the 5th and opened by the 6th. Each day is the same, one of the gurus opens the sacred text in the golden temple, and a group of singers chant prayers all day, whilst believers file by, and then drink holy water and consume some food.
Anyone can join in, the temple is open to everyone, and we feel very warmly welcomed. Oh, I almost forgot to say that we are continually asked by local people if they can take our picture, alone and with them. There are young people, old people, babies, and whole families. I asked the guide what was behind it, but he didn’t have a real answer. It was, however, pleasant. I was even interviewed on TV, and I had no idea what station, but I had nice things to say.
One highlight of the visit was to go to the kitchen and the restaurant. “100,000 are fed each weekday, double at the weekend”. The food is prepared, cooked, and served by volunteers. The pots are truly enormous, the halls for eating likewise, and there is a huge joint effort too in the washing up area. Incredible. All voluntary and all free, and always open for anyone.
We did not eat there today because Lola felt unwell, but let's see tomorrow.
Last but not least, we visited the Golden Temple itself. “How long is the queue?” “Oh usually 1.5 hours, longer at weekends”, but if you have a guide, it's only about 30 minutes, and if you have a baby, you don’t wait at all. There is a long wide queue for men, but we are put in the women’s queue, where maybe one in 50, like me, is actually male. There are far fewer in this queue, and it's far more orderly. On the other sides there are guards to ensure order and hold the men back.
Once in the temple, there are really three aspects. First in the main hall, there are musicians and singers, who chant all day without pause. The music and signing seem to fit well with the surroundings. Separately, there are a couple of rooms where gurus sit,and look over the sacred texts, and lastly, there is a 2nd, and even a 3rd floor where very few seem to venture. I have no idea why they wait so long, but do not explore the upper part of the building. The temple is impressive, but it's small, and the gold is not as impressive as I would have thought (probably because it’s a gold and copper alloy). Nevertheless, visiting the whole complex is a unique experience, and the people are incredibly nice. It's also great to see a religion that practices as it preaches and looks after the poor. “Nobody should be hungry in Amritsar, and indeed in all our temples worldwide we offer food to anyone in need”Läs mer