Greetings from Amritsar, the most sacred city for Sikhs. I was excited about coming here due to my teenaged obsession with Bend it Like Beckham, a movie featuring the expat Sikh community in the U.K. Joanna was excited because of her fascination with the efficiency of Sikh volunteerism, and their model of feeding community members, visitors, and the poor together, strengthening inter-class ties. At the outset of our trip, Joanna gave the percentage chance of Sikh conersion at 50%. After two days here, I am absolutely convinced that I am opposed to religious pilgrimages, and that divinity cannot be found in mad crushes of people. I may stop praying for Bayit Shlishi.
This morning we went to the Golden Temple. We got on line to see the Inner Sanctum at 8:17 AM. Shortly thereafter, Joanna and I got separated from Leanne. For the next three hours, Joanna and I played Geography while inching our way down the line. I had already accepted that Indians don't really value personal space--if you are not crushed up against the person ahead of you in line for the ATM, Indians assume that you're not waiting for it, and if you so much as pause to look for your wallet while paying at the store, someone else will come up next to you, and demand that the cashier ring them up before you've paid. But today was on a whole new level. Parents encouraged their children to push and shove their way past the bamboo sticks that served as dividers, so that parents could pass through, claiming they needed to watch their children. When we passed through the first gate into the temple, many pilgrims paused to kneel at the threshold. People jumped over them. I later learned that Leanne gave up on entering the temple after about an hour, as she was so tired of men touching her.
The one bright spot during the long wait on line was that we got to see some of the Sikh volunteerism in action. Volunteers were giving out water in tin cups to people waiting in line. After we were done with our cups, they were collected, and brought to a series of five bins filled with either fresh or soapy water. A group of women methodically dunked the cups in the bins, assembly-line style, and at the end they were refilled, and passed back out.
The Inner Sanctum wasn't really anything to write home about--it's a pretty temple, but nothing compared to some of the grand temples that I saw in Thailand, or the Taj Mahal. Certainly not worth the three-hour wait. The view from the outside is much more interesting. While there is some sort of museum within the Golden Temple complex, I was so exhausted after getting through the line, that I wanted to drink water, and then go straight back to the AirBnB.
Our lunchtime excursion involved the most intense maneuvering around rickshaws, hand-drawn carts, bicycles, etc. that I've experienced in India. At one point, my pants got caught on a passing rickshaw, and I had to scream to prevent the driver from inadvertently ripping my pants, and possibly chopping off my leg.
Tonight we saw Naam Shabana, our first Bollywood film. It's an action movie centering on a Muslim woman from Mumbai who gets recruited by India's security service following the murder of her boyfriend (and the inability of India's legal service to prosecute his murder). There was insufficient singing and dancing, and an American movie would have had at least three more plot twists to make you think that the good guys were actually the bad guys, but all-in-all it was a fun girl power movie with lots of fight scenes. I will admit to falling asleep for part of the second half, but anyone who knows me knows not to keep me up past 9 PM.
Backing up to Dharmasala...
Not sure who thought it was a good idea to build a city into the side of a mountain, but I loved Dharmasala. Thus far it has been the only city in India that I've seen with any degree of quiet or natural beauty. The downside is that going anywhere requires extremely steep walks--either uphill or downhill. On Tuesday, we attempted one of those walks before I had breakfast, which led to a very cranky Eliana.
After breakfast, we went on a tour of the Dalai Lama's complex, and a museum on the Occupation of Tibet. Like in Thailand, there weren't a whole lot of explanations of the symbolism or significance of many of the temples and ritual objects. I did learn that rows of massive cylinders contain texts of prayer, and spinning a cylinder gets you the same merit as if you said all of the prayers yourself. We went on a walk into the woods where Tibetan prayer flags hang from the trees, and there's a monuments that lists all of the names of Tibetans who have self-immolated for their freedom. On Wednesday, I got to eavesdrop on an Israeli explaining the Tibet situation to someone from home. The parallels between Tibetans and Palestinians (population transfer to decrease Tibetan political power, refugees who aren't allowed to return to their homes, Occupation, etc.) seemed less obvious to her than they were to us.
Tuesday evening we went to the movie theater, and saw the new live-action Beauty and the Beast for $3. Leanne and Joanna were totally enthralled, and initially wanted to commit to seeing the movie at least once a day, every day, for the remainder of our trip. I have gotten them to back down to seeing it only once more, with Max and Eve in Mumbai. There's a decent chance that we will karaoke every song in the movie (although, aside from the one song that Audra McDonald sings, that may not be such a bad thing. Seriously, if Audra McDonald is in your cast, just have her sing *all* the songs).
On Thursday, we hiked a Himalaya! We went on a half-day hike with Ajay, one of the owners of the AirBnB where we stayed. I loved it. Leanne loved it. Joanna hated it. I did, unfortunately, get quite sunburnt, which gave me a bit of a headache. We spent the rest of the day at Illiterati--an ironically named literary cafe.
*Title comes from BT Berachot 6a. Rava says that the crowding at the kalla, the gatherings for Torah study during Elul and Adar, is due to demons. Damn Demons.
This morning we went to the Golden Temple. We got on line to see the Inner Sanctum at 8:17 AM. Shortly thereafter, Joanna and I got separated from Leanne. For the next three hours, Joanna and I played Geography while inching our way down the line. I had already accepted that Indians don't really value personal space--if you are not crushed up against the person ahead of you in line for the ATM, Indians assume that you're not waiting for it, and if you so much as pause to look for your wallet while paying at the store, someone else will come up next to you, and demand that the cashier ring them up before you've paid. But today was on a whole new level. Parents encouraged their children to push and shove their way past the bamboo sticks that served as dividers, so that parents could pass through, claiming they needed to watch their children. When we passed through the first gate into the temple, many pilgrims paused to kneel at the threshold. People jumped over them. I later learned that Leanne gave up on entering the temple after about an hour, as she was so tired of men touching her.
The one bright spot during the long wait on line was that we got to see some of the Sikh volunteerism in action. Volunteers were giving out water in tin cups to people waiting in line. After we were done with our cups, they were collected, and brought to a series of five bins filled with either fresh or soapy water. A group of women methodically dunked the cups in the bins, assembly-line style, and at the end they were refilled, and passed back out.
The Inner Sanctum wasn't really anything to write home about--it's a pretty temple, but nothing compared to some of the grand temples that I saw in Thailand, or the Taj Mahal. Certainly not worth the three-hour wait. The view from the outside is much more interesting. While there is some sort of museum within the Golden Temple complex, I was so exhausted after getting through the line, that I wanted to drink water, and then go straight back to the AirBnB.
Our lunchtime excursion involved the most intense maneuvering around rickshaws, hand-drawn carts, bicycles, etc. that I've experienced in India. At one point, my pants got caught on a passing rickshaw, and I had to scream to prevent the driver from inadvertently ripping my pants, and possibly chopping off my leg.
Tonight we saw Naam Shabana, our first Bollywood film. It's an action movie centering on a Muslim woman from Mumbai who gets recruited by India's security service following the murder of her boyfriend (and the inability of India's legal service to prosecute his murder). There was insufficient singing and dancing, and an American movie would have had at least three more plot twists to make you think that the good guys were actually the bad guys, but all-in-all it was a fun girl power movie with lots of fight scenes. I will admit to falling asleep for part of the second half, but anyone who knows me knows not to keep me up past 9 PM.
Backing up to Dharmasala...
Not sure who thought it was a good idea to build a city into the side of a mountain, but I loved Dharmasala. Thus far it has been the only city in India that I've seen with any degree of quiet or natural beauty. The downside is that going anywhere requires extremely steep walks--either uphill or downhill. On Tuesday, we attempted one of those walks before I had breakfast, which led to a very cranky Eliana.
After breakfast, we went on a tour of the Dalai Lama's complex, and a museum on the Occupation of Tibet. Like in Thailand, there weren't a whole lot of explanations of the symbolism or significance of many of the temples and ritual objects. I did learn that rows of massive cylinders contain texts of prayer, and spinning a cylinder gets you the same merit as if you said all of the prayers yourself. We went on a walk into the woods where Tibetan prayer flags hang from the trees, and there's a monuments that lists all of the names of Tibetans who have self-immolated for their freedom. On Wednesday, I got to eavesdrop on an Israeli explaining the Tibet situation to someone from home. The parallels between Tibetans and Palestinians (population transfer to decrease Tibetan political power, refugees who aren't allowed to return to their homes, Occupation, etc.) seemed less obvious to her than they were to us.
Tuesday evening we went to the movie theater, and saw the new live-action Beauty and the Beast for $3. Leanne and Joanna were totally enthralled, and initially wanted to commit to seeing the movie at least once a day, every day, for the remainder of our trip. I have gotten them to back down to seeing it only once more, with Max and Eve in Mumbai. There's a decent chance that we will karaoke every song in the movie (although, aside from the one song that Audra McDonald sings, that may not be such a bad thing. Seriously, if Audra McDonald is in your cast, just have her sing *all* the songs).
On Thursday, we hiked a Himalaya! We went on a half-day hike with Ajay, one of the owners of the AirBnB where we stayed. I loved it. Leanne loved it. Joanna hated it. I did, unfortunately, get quite sunburnt, which gave me a bit of a headache. We spent the rest of the day at Illiterati--an ironically named literary cafe.
*Title comes from BT Berachot 6a. Rava says that the crowding at the kalla, the gatherings for Torah study during Elul and Adar, is due to demons. Damn Demons.
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