The day after we crossed the border from Lahore into Amritsar, India, we visited the Golden Temple. One of the most visited sights in the world, it is said that 100,000 people visit here daily. The temple is the most sacred site in Sikhism and was built as a place for people from all walks of life and all religions to worship God equally.
To enter the temple visitors must first wash their hands, take of their shoes and then walk through shallow pool of water that precedes the entrance. Walking through the white marble arched entrance, the temple is instantly seen across a modest lake (water in which Buddha is said to have once bathed). A beautiful gold building that seemed to float upon the water, a steady line of people crowds a single causeway in an average 3-hour long wait to enter.
There is much more to see here than inside the sacred golden building. The temple also has a full kitchen run entirely by volunteers – doctors, lawyers, fruit sellers, taxi drivers, bakers, tour guides, it is considered highly auspicious to volunteer here and people from all walks of life volunteer their time to make roti, stir huge vats of dhal, chop vegetables, wash dishes or serve food in the dining hall. We joined in the meal and it was delicious. Everyone is entitled to as much food as they can eat – but everyone must finish whatever is on their plates.
After a wonderful and interesting time at the Golden Temple, we also visited Jallianwala Bagh where British troops famously massacred over a thousand Indians for a nonexistent mutiny. Not much to see here apart from a memorial and a few bullet holes in old walls, but an important site in India’s history.
That evening we caught our first train in India from Amritsar to Delhi, which ended up being quite delightful. In comfortable seats, we settled in for an approximately 4-hour journey. Our only concern was food, as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and did not know what would be available when we arrived later that night. To our relief, a tray was soon brought out with a hot samosa, sandwich, cake and tea. Perfect, we thought. Then, about thirty minutes later, the attendant handed us 2 breadsticks and a container of butter. Curious, we thought, but appreciated. A few minutes later he appeared with a cup of tomato soup! Wonderful, we exclaimed. Then, another short time later, a full dinner was brought out, with dhal, paneer curry, roti and rice. Absolutely splendid, we thought, overjoyed at getting our full money’s worth and not having to pay for dinner that night (all the food is included in the ticket). Then, when we thought things couldn’t get any better, the attendant came around one more time…with ice cream!! When travelling in India, I highly recommend the Shatabdi trains, where your ticket pays for itself in food!
Our first day in Delhi we toured some of the sights such as the Jama Masjid (Mosque), the old city, government buildings, viceroy’s house and the Qutub Minar and Qutb ruins, which was a beautiful Mughal site that had been built from an ancient Hindu temple.
The next day in Delhi we visited the Mughal gardens, which are only open in a short period in March, coincidentally when we happened to be there. The gardens are in the back of the Viceroy’s house and quite lovely, though coming from Victoria, BC (home of Butchart Gardens) we were a bit of a tough crowd with high expectations.
That afternoon we visited the largest Hindu temple in Delhi: Akshardham. This was quite an experience that we were not prepared for. To get into the temple, we had to deposit all our belongings (only allowed to carry a wallet and a clear water bottle) at the front before lining up through security gates. Once inside, we were struck by the beauty of the place. Not old but intricately carved and designed in the traditional elaborate Hindu style, the entire complex took over 3 million volunteer hours to complete. It is built in honor of the Swami Swaminarayan whose following now stretches all over the world (his temple complexes are now found in London, New York and Toronto). The complex is huge, with a lake featuring water that was ceremonially transplanted from all the sacred lakes in India, huge gardens, a cafeteria, kids play area, and the temple itself which is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen, beautiful what marble elaborately carved over every surface. The complex seems half temple and half amusement park, with a daily water show, movie about global spirituality, an avatar (life-sized realistic moving dolls) show demonstrating the life of the guru, and a water ride that takes visitors through the history of India (think Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean meets the ancient Vedic civilization). We saw the avatar show and took the water ride before settling in to watch the water show, which starts as soon as it gets dark. The water show was quite amazing – we didn’t know exactly what the story was (it was in Hindi, something about the various Hindu deities) but the music was catchy and accompanied complex water and laser displays unlike anything either of us had ever seen before. It turned into an incredibly interesting, eventful and beautiful evening. The only regretful part was that we weren’t allowed to take photos!
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