Amritsar Diaries

What can one say about the Golden Temple?? It is something that has to be experienced..to be felt, to be soaked up...The rays of the morning sun adds fire to the already brilliant dazzle of gold...there are scores of families, mostly Sikh families, who come to the temple in the morning for a dip in the holy pond. Sat there on the marble steps of the pond for over an hour soaking up the atmosphere...didnt knew how time flew..

Early morning sun sets the gold ablaze...

Reflectionzzzzz....

Devotee taking a dip in the holy pond

Getting inside the actual temple accross the pond is a pretty time consuming process. The access is through a single walkway over the water. There is such a huge crowd always because of which the progress is extremely slow..sure is a good test for your patience...but more to the point, we reached the temple after spending almost 3 hours in the que..but the wait was well worth it...the interiors are so rich and permeated with the holy chantings and singing...even if you are not a Sikh, you can feel the divine presence inside...and, there are some really beautifull marble inlay works...

A Temple Guard

One of the things that strike you most is the brilliant range of colours present...especially of the people...the white marble around the pond acts as a brilliant backdrop for the myriad colours- the gold of the temple, the innumerable bright colours of the people's dresses and ofcourse the different colours of the turban...all in all it is a visual treat...

The community Kitchen or the 'Langaar' is truly one of the most simple yet truly brilliant idea for serving the people. Here everyone is given free food irrespective of caste, creed, religion or social status, thus helping in bridging the glaring gaps in our society. One has to see the amount of people making use of this facility to really comprehend the scale of operation..It is said that on any given day, close to 20,000 people have food here!!! The food is the basic roti chawal with dal n sabji, yet is really tasty. The amazing thing is that inspite of such a huge number of people taking part, the place is really neat and clean. The food is free but one may offer his services in the kitchen or for cleaning or even can contribute voluntarily donation.

This particular concept which has been implemented sucessfully for so long left me wondering how it may be replicated on a larger scale, benefitting people all over the country? We may then perhaps ensure that no one goes to bed on an empty stomach....