Amritsar is amazing. The Taj Mahal may be hailed as the national icon of India, but it is said that more people visit the Golden Temple of Amritsar, or Sri Harmandir Sahib, it’s real name. It’s the holiest temple for the Sikhs.
It's located in Punjab, a state in northwest India that borders Pakista. (Amritsar is about 25 km from the Wagh border with Pakistan)
Before coming to India, I knew nothing about this religious group. Still, I feel I know very little about them- but over the weekend their warmth, amazing devotion, and incredible hospitality amazed me.
There are several free/small fee basic places to stay on the premise of the Golden Temple for pilgrims and foreigners. Sri Harmandir Sahib is in the center of a pool. To enter, you have to take off your shoes and socks and have your head covered. Whether it’s broad daylight, or the middle of the night, the shrine has an everlasting glow. Walking into the temple itself we are even invited to drink the holy water.
One of the most fascinating parts of the complex is Langar, the Community Kitchen. It’s free. It serves over 50,000 people a day. You walk in and are handed tin trays, then led inside a huge hall. The first time you go in, you are mesmerized. You follow the crowd in sitting down cross-legged. The Kitchen works like clockwork. As soon as we are seated, someone comes with water and in the opposite direction, someone else is pouring a steaming pot of dal down the aisle, then comes the warm gourd. You hold out both your hands and are tossed a couple chapaits. Everyone devours the food at Indian speed (which could rival that of any eating contest contender). We are offered seconds, thirds. Dan loves the endless chapatti.
At our last community kitchen meal, Dan befriended one of the workers, Ritchie. He gave us a tour of the facility- from the enormous barrels where they make the rice, dal, and of course- the wondrous chapatti machine. It spits out thousands of chapattis in an hour. There are half a dozen people stacking the fresh chapattis to be into baskets.
I did mention this community kitchen serves food 24/7, right???
The Langar is obligated to serve everyone who walks in regardless of religion, age, nationality, ethnicity, etc. I can't imagine how much harder it must have been before such inventions like the 'chapati machine' were around....
After the tour we sit outside the kitchen with Ritchie drinking warm milk with sugar from tin bowls. It’s a surreal experience. Dan’s broken Hindi and Ritchie’s Punjabi overlap- and he speaks some English too. We find out he’s an electrician and works here in the evenings because he loves it so much. I can see why. Most of the workers are volunteers who have real jobs and use their spare time to help out in the kitchen. He mentions a few places in the U.S. I asked if he wants to go there. His voice had what I mistook to be a wistful tone as he recited the names of a few cities he knew about and of course, George W. Bush. He shook his head, ‘No, no’ and explained how happy he was in Punjab, in India.
After a few ‘snaps’ (photo shootings), and email/phone number exchange, we say our goodbyes. Harmandir Sahib gleams under the moonlight, as thousands of people bow down and pray. The Punjabi chanting (which is a continuous reading of Guru Granth Sahib) echoes on into the night. Regardless of your religious affiliation, journeying to Amritsar is a pilgrimage worth taking.
