The Golden Temple itself is situated in the middle of a large pool. Sikhs like to go for a quick dip to be blessed and cure illnesses. The lifeguards on duty had pretty sweet uniforms and mean-looking sticks.
We decided against swimming in the pool, but a lot of the faithful decided to take the plunge.
Another part of the Sikh religion is that men need to have their hair covered at all times. In the Golden Temple complex, the head-covering rule was extended to anyone that visited, so we made sure to keep ours covered.
One of the best parts of the Sikh religion in general and the Golden Temple in particular is the desire to feed those that come to visit. If you go to any gurudwara (Sikh temple), they will probably give you something to eat. Because the Golden Temple is such a big pilgrimage site and a big tourist destination, they have to feed lots of visitors. The whole operation involved several large rooms where people were cycled in an out. It also involves a lot of plates and cutlery.
Just outside the dining room was a huge open air kitchen. The big cauldrons below are full of dal being cooked for the guests. There were also teams of women making dough and rolling our chapatis. The man with the long stick below is actually cooking the chapatis that the women are making. We were not too trusting of the sanitary conditions of the kitchen and we're not huge fans of dal, so we decided to have lunch elsewhere.
The Golden Temple is free to visit, so after seeing some of the other sites of Amritsar, we thought we'd stop in again to see the building at night. It was a beautiful site.
People have told us that Amritsar is an overwhelming city and that we shouldn't have planned to go there over break. We found it to be no different from other large cities in India and really enjoyed our experience at the famous Golden Temple. We don't need to plan any return trips in the near future, but we're glad we visited.
Dave and Beth
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