Day 11 The Golden Temple—the Mecca for the Sikhs

All Muslims dream is to visit Mecca once in their lifetime.  All Sikhs dream to visit the Golden Temple once in their lifetime.  For us, one down, one to go. 

Our guide met us at the hotel at 8:30pm for the ride to the nightly ‘putting the book to bed’ ceremony!?  This, we learned, is a huge ceremony performed every night in every Sikh temple in the world.  The Guru Granth Sahib is a 1400 page collection of hymns, prayers and sayings dating from the 15th century.   (I just downloaded it on my Kindle for $.99!)  The book is so revered that that they put it to bed every night in its own bedroom, let it ‘sleep’ wake it up in the morning, take it back to its holy place in the Golden Temple, and do it all over again every day. 

The procession is very precise with the preparation of the Palanquin for its transport.  Our guide, who takes Westerners here frequently positioned us precisely in different locations so that we could observe every part of this most sacred ceremony.  We among the 1000’s of Sikhs.  Quite an experience.  I felt like this was an amalgam of the Old Testament ceremonies in the Hebrew’s sanctuary and Lord of the RIngs.  A few pictures:

Everyone needs a head covering,  we purchased mine on the street for 10 rupees, (20 cents).  Our guide is putting it on properly.  Also, no shoes, or socks, everyone is barefoot.  Period.

All of the Golden Temple is either veneered in gold or solid gold.  Average daily attendance is 100,000 people!  More than who visit the Taj Mahal!

We stood right in front of the Palanquin as it was being prepared to transport the Guru Granth Sahib from the Temple to its bedroom.  One of the prepares actually scolded Gloria that her head covering wasn’t doing the job fully!

Lots of singing an chanting during this preparation ceremony.  They guy in the white turban is the lead.

This is where the Guru Granth Sahib will end up.  Everything is fresh and clean.  They now take the Palanquin all the way back to the Temple and the Book Keeper places it in the Palanquin to be brought back here, then the Book Keeper picks it up to take into the bedroom.  BTW, the Palanquin is SOLID gold, takes 6 struggling men to carry it!

Yep, this the the bedroom, they tuck the Guru Granth Sahib in just like a baby.

This guys is blowing his horn in front of the Book Keeper.  A crush of people singing and chanting, sensory overload.

This is an amazing shot Gloria got of the Book Keeper, no flash allowed, so hard to get good clean pictures.  He has the Guru Granth Sahib on his head.  Again, people all around us, body to body, we were the only Westerners.

An amazing complex of buildings.  I have never seen so much gold anywhere!  BTW, several times our guide was stopped by someone who wished him well.  He knew quite a few people in the Temple area.  As we were going out, one more guy shook his hand.  Gloria mentioned to him that he seemed to know a lot of people, he says he did, AND the last guy that said hi was none other then the Book Keeper himself.   Whoa!

Day 11 On the train to Amritsar

Early car ride from the hotel in Delhi to the train station.  Our group had been kidding us about the train ride in that the trains we had seen to date were pretty clunky and draped with people.  Well…..this one was a little bit better, but a huge disappointment from what we were expecting.  After staying at some 4 star hotels, this train was a 1 star at the most.  But, what can you do about it.  So, 6 hours of dozing and reading.  The view outside was disappointing as well.  First, extremely smoggy and the trash piled up everywhere was daunting.  Not a pretty sight. 

Crazy/busy train station

Typical sight out the window for 6 hours

 

This is why you go to the bathroom before you get on a train.  You can see where you are supposed to squat, and that bright spot in the middle are the train tracks!  (common courtesy is to not use the bathroom when at a station.

Busy at the destination as well.

 

After we settled in to a very nice Holiday Inn, actually the nicest Holiday Inn I have ever seen. We walked around our neighborhood a bit.  Not much going on until the evening at the Golden Temple tonight at 8pm.

Great picture.  The one guys is ironing clothes with a coal(?) heated iron, with the guy behind him sewing.  Never seen this before……

Day 10 School visit and farewell party

Last breakfast buffet at the Le Meridien.  Time to move on…..We drove to a local village school this morning to see the kids and talk to the teacher.  Very small. Maybe 20 kids.  Government sponsored, so it is free.  They also throw in a uniform and daily lunch.  The lunch is to encourage parents to send their kids to school; in some states they actually pay the kids a bit to attend as well.  To send your child to school, in the short term, is challenging for some families.  If the kids stayed home, uneducated, they could make more money for the family.  Big challenges for the poor of this huge country.  Once they complete 6th grade, the next school is a 4 mile walk.  Another challenge to education.

 

These kids must have been only 3 or 4 years old

 

Finally, our farewell dinner.  Most are leaving for Beijing tomorrow morning at 3am.  A couple in our group is staying in Delhi for a bit longer, and Gloria and I are heading to The Golden Temple tomorrow morning on the train.  A great group, and a great guide.  Someone even said we should do another trip together.  Really, the best group we have ever been part of.  Fun.

Day 9 The bazaar and worshiping at the local Hindu temple.

First, we relaxed in the morning.  A lot from our group got massages, we hung out at the pool, got caught up on the computer and reading.  One gal, Carol, our oldest at 76 was not fairing well.  Ashok called a physician and he did a ‘hotel call’.  He ended up hydrating her with two liters of fluids and some antibiotics.  We understand he and his assistant did a nice job, .  Total cost: US$90.  Not bad!  She is recovering well.

The afternoon took us by tuk-tuks to a very busy street bazaar for Gloria to bargain with the merchants.  The ride was exhilarating.  When you are in a huge intersection with busses, cars, motorcycles, and trucks, your little convertible tuk-tuk seems pretty insignificant.  We survived.  Speaking of bargaining.  Yesterday we were on the elephants to go up to Amer Fort.  Guys were everywhere taking our pictures as our elephants trudged up to the Fort.  As we were leaving, they were waiting for us to sell us their pictures.  That’s fair.  We passed, many others paid.  However, later in the afternoon, one of the guys found John and Carol below, in a completely different part of the city with the same photos to sell.

But even more surprising, TODAY, the same guy tracked them down on the tuk-tuk and tried to sell them the pictures again!  Persistence. 

John and Carol, our tour buddies

Gloria ‘doing business’ in a jewelry store

After a noisy, crowded navigation through the bazaar, it was off the to the largest Hindu temple in Jaipur to check out their twice daily ceremony and get sprinkled with holy water.   The Brila Temple was built out of white marble in 1985 to honor Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and beauty.  No pictures inside, the two deities looked very peaceful, the man deity had four arms.  The prayer ceremony was quite interesting.  Lots of bell gonging and the Hindus were chanting very loudly.  When the monk started throwing holy water out among the faithful (and the tourists), it was quite a shower.  We are all now blessed, and wet.

Day 8b The observatory and Ashok

Brief post, not sure when we will get internet again.  Tomorrow is free in the AM, then a bazaar trip in the pm.  Then, the day after, (final day of our holiday), we  relocate back to Delhi; everyone heads out to Beijing except us, we stay for two more days and go to Amristar and the Golden Temple.

First a couple of pictures from Day #8 taken at the Janta Manta, an astrological and astronomical observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh in 1738.   It is a collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments and it features the world's largest stone sundial.  It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Our guide explained several instruments to us.  None of us really understood what he was talking about.  He tried to explain, and we tried to understand why Indian Standard time is 30 minutes off from Greenwich Mean Time Standards.  He basically said that Indian time is more accurate……

This sundial, which is huge, can tell the time within 2 seconds!

 

Here is a shout out to our guide Ashok, (Ah-shook).  A great guy and a great guide.  Very attentive to all our needs, making sure we stay together As we all are under the weather off and on, he is always asking how we are doing.  He is a free-lance guide, has a master’s degree in Tourism and really enjoys his work.  Very knowledgeable about the culture and history of India.   We couldn’t ask for a better guide.  Yeah, Ashok!

Day 7 Visiting a village and high tea at the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

We are now traveling to Jaipur.  But a couple of stops first.

The majority of the population still live in villages and they are considered the soul of this great country.  Quite different from the hustle, noise and smells of the urban streets.  These villages are small, quiet and clean.  Women are preparing for Diwali, the yearly celebration, by replacing their dirt floors and repainting their houses.  Women are very busy, not sure where the men are.

The village store.  About 6 feet square.

A typical house.  You can move your bed inside our out depending on the weather and temperature.  A pot of water on the left, a sack of recyclables hanging in the middle.

Getting your dirt floor refinished for Diwali. 

Repainting and decorating for Diwali.

Everyone is now used to seeing the swastika all over.  The Nazis stole the symbol from the Hindus.  They have been using it for a thousand years.

 

Next stop is the Castle Kanota, for high tea; the location for the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.  Built in 1872 by Thakur Zorowar Singh, a key member of Jaipur’s government as his home and statement of authority and wealth for the surrounding villagers.    His ancestors still own the property; it is a hotel, but, alas, not the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Those that served us high tea were in the movie, we promised to re-watch it.

We think these are recognizable from the movie.  We do need to re-watch it now.

Day 8 Elephant ride to the Amer Fort

Man Singh I began its construction in 1592, it reflects a classic Rajasthani romanticism with a forbidding exterior that hides an inner paradise, a fusion of Mughal and Hindu.  We can only imagine what it looked like with all the interior walls painted bright colors and all the floors covered with rugs with tapestries covering all of the doors and windows.  I think this is India’s version of Beijing’s Forbidden City and Great Wall all wrapped up into one location.  Then you add an elephant ride up; really amazing.

 

Finally, we were taken on a tour of Jaipur.  This included a textile factory, the City Palace and Museum and a drive by of Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds).

Built in 1799.  The Palace of the Winds was so named because it was essentially a high screen wall built so the women of the royal household could observe street festivities while unseen from the outside.

Day 6 Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve Part II

Our guide told us we were lucky.  We all agreed.  Enjoy.

After she walked right in front of our truck, she rested, then went down to catch a boar.  A bit too slow, they all ran away.  Our guide told us that she is a three year old female, still learning how to hunt.  Amazing to watch her.