The Golden Temple

The Golden Temple

This blog post was composed by both Carl and Cara on the bus.



Carl and I went to The Golden Temple on Friday. The Golden Temple is located in Armitsar which is close to the Pakistan border. More people make a pilgrimage to The Golden Temple than any other place in India. It was built by the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjun, in the 16th Century. Carl and I were both blown away by its beauty. The Golden Temple floats on the "pool of scared nectar" aka dirty water that people bath in and drink. Actually its really amazing and cool but dirty like most things in India.  Not only were our minds blown by the beauty of the temple but our egos were boosted as well because everyone wanted to take pictures with us. Not with their camera though, with ours- something we are now calling the reverse paparazzi.

Carl and a Sikh dude that wanted to steal my sunglasses and didn't speak any English

Carl and some boys

This guy followed us around for 10 minutes before we allowed him a reverse paparazzi.

We took a tuk tuk from our hostel to the temple in the afternoon. It dropped us off several blocks away. The streets were crowded with Indian men and women in colorful clothing and at every step someone offered to sell us a scarf to cover our hair.  Men and women must cover their hair when visiting a Sikh temple.

Outside the temple we had to remove our shoes and leave them with at the shoe check where we received a metal token in exchange. We followed the crowd to the hand wash station and then crossed over a little foot pool to clean our feet before descending the white marble staircase into the temple.

We strolled around and followed the crowd as chanting reverberated through the open space. We both wondered if this was recorded or if someone was actually singing and playing live.

As some people bowed and prayed and others dipped in the water we followed the crowed, slowly making our way around the square temple space. Our hostel owner said we could have free lunch at the temple and that they feed 50K people every day. The flow of people led us down a path where we were handed a large silver plate, a bowl and a spoon. Then we ascended the stairs with the crowd to a large dining room. People were sitting in long rows of 50 people and we found a spot on the long grass carpets. We placed our plates in front of us and almost immediately volunteers were walking around serving dal, and flat bread. The dal was slopped onto our plates from buckets and we received the bread with two outstretched hands. The food was actually very delicious, filling and we ate in awe looking around at the room full of almost a thousand people. Some people finished their food within five minutes and the cleaning of the floors started immediately. The floors were cleaned with water from a giant tea kettle and a huge squeegee. The dirt and food was swept into grates in the floor that ran along the wall. The next thousand people would be eating within minutes. 

People eating

Waiting for food

As we finished our meals we followed the crowd to the post meal processing. First we dropped our spoons in large metal bowls then we handed our plates to the beginning of the dishwashing assembly line. The noise from all the plates being thrown against a large pot to remove the larger food scraps echoed through the open air room. The plates were then handed down to the washing station. There were at least 10 different phases of the cleaning process. Hundreds of volunteers vigorously washed the dishes as the were past along the assembly line. Finally when they were clean the plates were moved to were they could be handed to the next group of people receiving their free meal.

Women peeling garlic and onions. Behind people are in line waiting to enter the dining room

First stage of cleaning plates

Washing plates

Alllll of the plates

After we returned our plates we curiously wandered back to the kitchens. The biggest pots I have ever seen sat on the floor in a small room on the side of dinning room. Volunteers refilling their food buckets  worked while others stirred the pots and other just stood around. After having a quick look we headed outside through the back door and down the stairs to where the flat bread was being made.

Dal being prepared before serving 

Men and women were rolling out balls of dough that they threw onto large metal griddles heated by wood fires underneath.  Sikh men in turbans and long beards were cooking the dal in giant metal kettles.

Dal being cooked outside with a wood fire oven

After our filling meal and our explorations of the kitchen we walked to the entrance of the of the Golden Temple. We waited for about 15 minutes in a breezy coverage passageway until we were allowed to enter the temple. Immediately we found out that the music was live and not recorded. Elaborate gold and purple gilding covered the walls and ceiling. Sikh dudes chanted in the middle while pilgrims circled and sat in prayer. We explored the three floors of the temple spiraling up the marble staircases to the rooftop. Along the way we encountered different sikh dudes reading, chanting and meditating. 

After the existing the temple we got reserve paparazzied many times before collecting our shoes to leave. After the temple we shared a SUV with 10 other people to the flag lowering ceremony at the Indian-Pakistan border.  

In front of the temple at night