Hide and Sikh

After just 5hrs in the AC chair class train from Delhi I arrived in the Punjabi town of Amritsar. The town was founded in 1577 by some fella with a beard and a turban. Amritsar is the beating heart of the Sikh religion. I discovered that the religion is quite new. It was "invented" by men who did not like the cast system or Islam either. They did however like beards and turbans and wanted to concentrate a Religion on the mediation of Gods name without food restrictions or Idol worship where all men (and women) and equal. The main attraction of Amritsar is the Holy Golden Temple. Now I have been to say a gezillion holy places in India with varying degrees of madness, ungodliness, aggression and warm welcomes. This place is special there is no doubt. Thousands of pilgrims come here everyday and they are all housed and fed for free. No one asks for any money (though there are donation boxes). I was put-up in a special foreigner dorm with others non Indians. Normally I am not that keen on dorms for no matter when you go there is always some American tosser playing a guitar. Anyway I had my ear plugs and I checked that the toleration chip implanted in my brain was working above the acceptable level of efficiency. I had my dinner with an English girl from Sale near Manchester in a HUGE dinning hall sat on the floor which as dished out Dahl and Chapatti for free. I have never been to such a big spiritual place where everyone no matter who you are (street people, poor and homeless, anyone) made to feel totally welcome and not excluded from the "religious club". All they asked was that you took off your shoes and covered your head. I did not actually visit the Golden Temple proper on the 1st day for it was late and I wanted to see the Indian/Pakistan border show. Each evening at sunset the soldiers on either side of the boarder gates have a choreographed display of extreme machismo and manliness. Lots of out-stomping and out-scowling as they take down the flags and close the gates to the crossing. There are special stadiums built on either side for the loyal fans to cheer and sing songs. It was great fun, John Cleases would have been proud of the excessively silly walks that were on display. It was an excessiv display of pure theater and very enjoyable. After a night sleeping a sub-room of the main dorm with a Canadian guy who had walked half way across the Himalayas I had another free feed and went into the Golden Temple proper. The temple itself as you would imagine is golden. It has been built on a artificial island in the middle of an artificial square lake. I walked around bare footed to the main gangway and across the water. Once inside I saw the Gurus singing poems in Punjabi and people knelt and gave money and prayer. I went up to the top level to sit on the carpeted floor to warm my toes. After about an hr and a half of peaceful contemplation I was very chilled listening to the singing from the floor below. I was sharply brought out of my deep relaxation by the sight of two young white western men dressed in the fully Sikh warrior robes with turbans and daggers. I tried to figure out what they were doing. I very quickly came to the conclusion that they were poncing around. I don't know what is wrong with me but I had an uncontrolled urge to vomit over them. Perhaps I do have a problem but i feel the same way about tie dye skirts and western women in Shari.
It would appear that my "tolerater" chip had malfunctioned. After a personal prayer for more tolerance to any God that would listen I went for dinner with my new friends, a mix of Americans, Italians, English a German and a Lithuanian. Some of them had come overland from Italy to Turkey to Iran and then Pakistan. I was very impressed.
I wandered back though the Golden temple complex to buy a train ticket and stopped to have tea with some workman for 30mins in some secret allyway inside the complex. Punjab and Sikhs are special I feel, very friendly and seeing more than just the $ sign on your forehead. It was a refreshing change. With less then a week to go till my flight to See Chris in Sydney I bought a ticket for Jaipur further south in Rajasthan. More deserts, more camels, more heat and less beards.