'Murricans in the Pink City

Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of posting in the past week... we've been living it up here in Jaipur, Rajasthan. :D

Our second and final night in the ITC Rajputana involved ginger ale during happy hour, lounging on the beds (yes, beds) outside by the pool, and some bellydancing. There were a few musicians camped out by the pool playing their traditional instruments, so Marie and I decided to hang with them for a while. She got a tabla lesson:

And then she busted out her new didgeridoo and we hung out doing that for a while.

The next morning, after our delicious breakfast of Indian food and coffee milk, we headed out to explore Jaipur and get settled in at a new (cheap) hotel.

Ooh, they have Pizza Hut!

You think they're having a party for that?

There are a couple of Singer stores in the Jaipur bazaars! We seamstresses geeked out in here for a little while.

Some students from Haryana who were in Jaipur taking exams. They struck up a convo with me -- I suspect mainly to practice their English -- while Marie and I waited for Brij to get his shave from a guy on the street.

The view from the very excellent balcony where we spent a good deal of our third night in Rajasthan.

Jal Mahal, a temple in a lake.

View of Jaipur from the Tiger Fort. The city spraaaaaaaaawls forever, it seems.

Rajasthan: get carried away!

Marie headed off toward Ajmer/Pushkar a couple of days ago, and Brij and I stayed behind to roam Jaipur a little longer. It was hot in Jaipur. In Himachal, most of the Indian women wear salwar kameez, which are basically tunics over pants, with a scarf/shawl. It's pretty rare to see anyone in a sari except for a few beggars. Out here in Rajasthan, the sari thing is much more common. I mentioned that I'd like to get one -- it seems I never pack quite the right clothing -- and within a couple of minutes we had decided that we'd both get some traditional Indian clothes to wear for Diwali (which is basically just the Indian version of Halloween) this Sunday. After a full day of shopping and haggling -- at one point we had a guy offer to sell us a pair of shoes for 200 rupees, down from his original price of 1450, thanks to Brij's mad bargaining skillz -- we each had a new outfit in hand. Now all we've got to do is find a few pieces of jewelry and get some shoes for Brij and me some mehndi and we'll be ready to rock Diwali in whichever city we happen to find ourselves come Sunday......

Sleeper-classing our way to victory

Brij is pretty much the dopest person like ever. (<< He even helped me write this post.)

He got us train tickets to Jaipur so we didn't have to take a bus the whole way from Dharamsala through Delhi and into Rajasthan. See? Super dope. Anyway, Thursday we said our goodbyes to D'sala and made our way to the bus station. It was only after arriving and asking around that we realized nobody seemed to know exactly when the bus we needed was leaving.

Notice the number of people sitting in the bus station... and then how many chairs are occupied.

We had heard 2:00, 2:30, 3pm... Just as we were getting into a solid discussion regarding contingency plans, this pulled up. 

I think this one goes to Pathankot!

A few hours of cramped bus riding later (the above photo was taken before it really filled up) and we arrived at Pathankot train station. Or rather, we got dropped off down the road and across a few sets of tracks from the station; luckily, there was an army guy on the bus who was also going to the train station, so he offered to escort us there.

Only the finest in amenities at the Pathankot train station.

So anyway, we nommed on some super cheap veg thali (40 rupees each) and eventually our train arrived; we had to run to find our car before it started moving again, but we figured it out. Sleeper class was fun, if loud and crowded, and we slept for most of the 13-hour trip anyway.

Brij has hookups, so we managed to get a room in a fancy pants hotel for the next two nights. It wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow, but we were tired and hot and hungry and didn't feel like dealing with searching out a hotel when we finally arrived in Jaipur, so we found a driver and rolled up to one of the most luxurious hotels I've ever been to in a rickshaw, laughing the whole way.

EIGHT pillow options? What luxury is this??

Sooooooooo yeah. We spent last night on tiny vinyl train beds, and tonight we swam in a pool, hung out in a sauna, filled up on free drinks and canapes in lieu of ordering an expensive dinner... and tomorrow morning there's poolside yoga and perhaps another visit to the spa in order. Rajasthan is great so far. ;) I'm all about having the "real India experience," but every now and then it`s nice to be comfortable.

Really comfortable.

Birthday Cake

Tibet Charity was closed today because the local Tibetan Children's Village school was having a celebration. This being an important day for the Tibetan community in general, a bunch of stores around town were closed, too. Gill, Gusti, and the two Danish doctors who recently arrived to volunteer at TC went; I had planned on going but wound up packing instead.

Because, you see, this morning Brij managed to get us train tickets to Rajasthan. I had begun to wonder if it was ever actually going to happen. It's official though – tomorrow evening we've got tickets for a train from Pathankot (we'll get a bus there from McLeod Ganj) to Jaipur, and from Jaipur we'll travel around Rajasthan for a couple of weeks before I come back to Dharamsala, Brij goes to Gujrat and then back west, and Marie, who is supposed to be meeting us in Jaipur, continues her journey around India.

I'm only taking one backpack with me, I think. This is great, except for the fact that it means I have to store everything else I've got in my possession here. It's not an ideal situation, but it could certainly be worse. I'm moving out of my room at Pause Dwelling because, frankly, I don't want to pay 2-3 weeks worth of rent if I'm not even going to be in the same state.

Speaking of not being in the same state, Gill headed back to New Zealand today; it'll be a little weird around here without her. She was the one who first showed me around McLeod, and we've grown to be friends over the last few months. Safe travels, Gill! Maybe I'll come visit you in NZ sometime!

Today was also Brij's last full day in town. The original plan was to return to the disco, but those plans fell through as we realized that Brij, Kalden, and I seemed to be the only ones who were actually planning to go. Truth be told, I wasn't entirely feeling it myself; I kind of wanted to just chill for what was going to be my last night in town for a while, as well.

Everybody's leaving, all at once... Verity, Gill, Brij... I'm leaving too, I guess, but I'm coming back. My students made me promise I'd be back before the end of the semester. :)

Anyway, Brij decided we should have pizza for his last dinner in McLeod. Om Cafe makes a damned good Roquefort/walnut/”chilly” pizza, so that's exactly what we had (along with an eggplant/herb/tomato pizza). Delicious, and for less than 200 rupees.

During his stay in India, Brij has become close friends with one of the local families who happens to own a cafe down the road. One of the sons was having a birthday party today, and they said that he had to go. In fact, they were waiting until he arrived to cut the cake. No pressure or anything.

He invited Kalden and me to come with him, making the argument that it was a party and likely to have dancing like the disco would, and since we had scrapped that idea, we may as well still get some dancing in and cake while we were at it. I decided to take him up on the offer, mainly since I plan on leaving some clothing here when I leave India and there's a good chance I'll leave it with them since they're friends of his. I thought I may as well meet the girls so I'd know who to talk to later on when the time came to make the drop off.

We arrived and they ushered us in, asking Brij why he was late. It's like he was a minor celebrity there, or perhaps more appropriately, a part of the family. They welcomed me just as warmly.

The birthday boy turned 12 today. I told Brij I had no idea how to sing “Happy Birthday” in Hindi, half jokingly, but he promptly started teaching me. As it turned out, we sang it in English anyway. I don't know if it's some kind of Indian tradition or just one in that family, but after the candles had been blown out, the birthday boy grabbed a handful of cake and offered it to each of us in the room while a woman, perhaps Mom, cut the rest of it into actual pieces. He got to me, held out his hand, and said “Auntie?” – I was touched. It's something I'm still getting used to here: “Auntie” and “Uncle” are what Indians call people older than themselves as a term of respect. It's kind of like “Sir” or “Ma'am” but it also conveys this sense of warmth, unlike in English. How could I say no to such a sweetie? Truth be told, the cake itself wasn't anything special... but the presentation more than made up for it.

Brij (|with frosting) and some of the girls.

After everyone finished eating, the music got turned up and the sisters started dancing. I got pulled up to join – which of course I didn't mind – and as the evening wore on I found myself giving an impromptu bellydance lesson. One of the girls in particular stuck by my side the whole night, mirroring every move I made. She's a pretty darn good dancer, actually, and I got her to show me a few Bollywood moves. They were all very, very sweet; I told them I'd be back from my trip in a couple of weeks and that I'd teach them bellydance if they taught me Hindi. Their eyes lit up – easy! What a great deal, right? They told me I was doing pretty well already, even though my vocabulary is pretty limited; apparently my pronunciation is good, at least. They all seemed thrilled to have made a new friend. I was even requested to make sure I was back in town by November 7^th so I could attend a birthday party for one of them... we'll see how Rajasthan goes, but I think I might try to get back for that. I may learn some Hindi and Bollywood moves yet!

Brij and I were the last guests to leave. It took us a while to actually get out of there; he's been around here for the last 8 months and everyone was sad to see him finally go. All the girls as well as the birthday boy gave us hugs goodbye, and he called me Auntie again; Brij even seemed impressed with how quickly I'd reached “Auntie” status. A couple of the younger girls insisted he come back next year, then that both of us come back next year, and by the time we left they'd gotten me to promise I'd come visit when I got back in town. I wish I'd gotten to know them sooner. I'll just have to make the most of my last few weeks when I get back to McLeod Ganj...

Interval Hovel

After seeing my nasty skin situation, the guys at Pause Dwelling offered to wash my sheets and blankets for me. I took everything down the other morning and it was only much later in the evening that I realized I couldn't find my one jump drive -- the awesome 32GB one that has all my movies on it. I went downstairs to ask if they'd washed the bedding yet and if they'd found anything wrapped up in them. They said they hadn't, and then they invited me to come back down for dinner. Free homemade dinner not being something I tend to turn down, I hung out in my room for a bit and then wandered back downstairs.

The guys had the TV on; they flipped the channels between the news (something about a guy called Narayan) and the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Kaun Banega Crorepati). I still find it amusing how Indian TV combines Hindi and English almost constantly. I was able to read the text on the news (somewhat laboriously) and I caught a few words here and there. For some reason I hadn't even thought to turn on my own TV to listen to Hindi; I guess I'm just so used to not watching TV in general that I don't even consider it an option.

Dinner consisted of handmade chapatti and some kind of soya bean masala -- it was delicious and not too spicy. I'm not exactly sure what "soya" beans are and how they differ from the Illinois soy beans I'm so used to, but when they're cooked up they resemble TVP. I like 'em.

Yesterday in class at Tibet Charity, I was joined by not only Gusti but Neil as well. He was so kind as to shoot some film for a project I'm involved in -- the students were very well-behaved and went about class as usual, not paying any particular attention to him. We spent most of the class time reviewing for the test we were to have today, which I just finished grading... in general they're alright. Most of my students are sitting around an 80% for their overall class grade, which I suppose isn't bad.

Neil offered to pass the video along to me if I swung by his room (downstairs from mine) later on that evening, so that's what I did. A few minutes later Brij joined us, and what I expected to be a five-minute visit turned into three hours. We played "guess where this song is from" -- according to Brij, most music originates in Mali -- ate ramen, and exchanged a whole bunch of music and movies. Neil offered some insight as to why Pause Dwelling has such a funny name -- it involves a thesaurus mishap (think "rest house") and he says it could have just as easily wound up being called "Interval Hovel." Ah, it's fun making new friends.

Oh, and I found my jump drive. Yay!

Just because I feel like this post needs something visual, here's a sketch that Gill did of me at one of HH's teachings.

Can you tell it's me? I think it's pretty darn good!

Spot Remover

My "spot situation" has improved markedly, thanks for asking. I went and visited a local medical clinic yesterday where the doctor seemed convinced that I had been bitten by either bed bugs or fleas. Prednisone and calamine lotion in hand (and one other drug I can't remember the name of... something starting with L), I returned to my room to wash all of my laundry and sheets in the hottest water I could get. This morning all of that, as well as my mattress, is out in the sun in an attempt to kill whatever may be lurking within.

More importantly, today is a very special day. If you haven't already, head on over here and wish my amazing mom a very happy birthday! No offense to any of you other moms, but she's pretty much the best there is. Happy birthday, Mom! <3

A proper send-off

Class Friday closed with a speech from one of my students, Phaivong, a Thai monk. He is heading back to Thailand and asked if he could say a few words before he went; in his speech he thanked, me, his classmates, and HH the Dalai Lama for his time in India and in English class. He has a tough time with listening (which I appreciate more now that I've got people speaking to me in Hindi and expecting answers), but when he reads he does pretty well. It was really sweet.

Gusti and me with my Elementary class.

Good luck, Phaivong! We'll miss you!

Before that happened, though -- before I left my room in the morning -- I noticed some bumps on my forearms. It wasn't so bad at first, just annoying, so I figured I'd keep an eye on it and go from there. By lunchtime it had spread a bit and I noticed some spots on the tops of my feet.

Wth?

I went down to the clinic at Tibet Charity where one of the nurses wiped me down with iodine and applied some Tibetan medicine; it itches a little but it's not so terrible. It looks worse than it feels. Today I think I'll hit up a clinic or one of the local hospitals and see if they can tell me what's going on. The theories I've gotten from my friends so far include: poison ivy, chickenpox, smallpox, cowpox, ringworm, allergic reaction, bed bugs, mosquito bites, spider bites, leprosy, fungal infection, and that flesh eating virus. It's definitely not mosquito bites or spider bites. All I had for breakfast yesterday was an orange and a cup of coffee (Starbucks Via > Nescafe... thanks, Mom and Dad!), so I thought maybe the acidity was messing with me... My other thought is maybe that Tibetan medicine isn't agreeing with me. I avoided accidents etc, but I didn't drink the saffron concoction... maybe this is what I get for not following directions?

Tibet Charity hosted a dinner for the volunteers yesterday evening at which we said goodbye to Gill and Verity, as they are both heading back to their respective homes this week. We also welcomed a couple of veterinarian volunteers and a couple of doctors from Denmark who will help out in the clinic. These dinners are a little more upscale than the average lunch we get at TC; we usually get rice, boiled potatoes with mutton (I don't eat that part) and herbs, cauliflower in garlic or something similar, and yogurt. Yummm... I do love potatoes. They're so simple but so delicious.

Dinner complete, a bunch of us headed up to McLeod Ganj to play table tennis. We wound up staying two hours and ordering some beers (I did not have any... it's not my thing), playing a whole lot of ping pong -- including a 4-person version that involved running laps around the table -- and afterward Brij, Verity, Kalden, Van, and I hit up one of the local Tibetan clubs. A few more drinks, some really hilarious photos I can't post here, a couple plates of French fries, and a bunch of dance music and sweet moves later (once we all started dancing everyone else joined us), we finally headed home, concluding what was easily my latest night out since I've been here (most places here close by 10). Brij and I rounded out the night with some sitting on the balcony eating sunflower seeds as we have taken to doing. In another few days we'll be on our way to Rajasthan and after that he's heading off to visit family and then out of India, so our nights on the balcony are limited; gotta enjoy it while we can.

The rest of today will consist of spending our last few hours we can with Verity before we see her off to the bus station this evening. After that I'll go study some Hindi, maybe get in an impromptu lesson with Kuldeep, and just chill. I've also been working on my end of a collaborative art project with my good friend Brandi, so I may do some brainstorming for that as well.

Adventure!

The way I tend to be

Last night as I made my way up the steps of Pause Dwelling, I heard a familiar "namaste, ma'am" from just above and to my left. It was promptly followed by a short string of Hindi, of which I was able to make out just enough to stumble through a response of "I'm going to my room" (मै मेरा कमरा जा रहीं हूँ ). ... Or at least that's what I said, it might not quite be right.

He said something else so I hopped up the last couple of steps and around onto the balcony where he was sitting, and I took the empty seat next to him. Long story short, by the time I actually made it to my room I had a basic understanding of how to write Hindi -- not just try to mimic the typewritten text in books -- and I had also been assigned homework:

Who gives "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today" as a first translation assignment??

I also installed a Hindi keyboard and a flashcard app on my phone so I can study when I don't have internet. Brij gave me a couple of movies in Hindi to watch, as well as some music. The language itself really is, I think, relatively easy... it's just the fact that I'm learning a new language at all that's tricky. The grammar seems to be pretty consistent and now that I can read the script, I'm finding that most words are phonetic.

As far as English class at Tibet Charity, today we were studying possessive pronouns and rhyming words. Naturally, the book suggested I give them songs as examples. The ones it provided were Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman and Every Breath You Take by The Police (Every breath you take/Every move you make... boom, rhyming words). I took the liberty of adding my own personal touch and gave them "I was her love, she was my queen/And now a thousand years between" and "Then I remember you/And the way you shine like truth in all you do"... I couldn't help myself. Hearing them read the lyrics off the board was a trip, too.

At the break, Gusti suggested I give them some nursery rhymes to further illustrate the point. Neither of us could recall much, but I did give them "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star." They really seemed to enjoy it, and they understood rhyming well enough by the end of it that I was able to leave "sky" blank and they figured it out (rhymes with high, judging from the meaning, etc).

Then the book had an activity for us that involved filling in missing words from song lyrics. The song it chose, due to its high content of possessive pronouns, was this. I felt like I was either at a wedding reception or a high school dance. Imagine me teaching this to a bunch of monks and nuns. Pretty hilarious, right? Now I've got it stuck in my head.

So it goes. There are worse things in the world.

Truly affordable healthcare

I took my first of the "precious pills" from the Tibetan Men-Tsee-Khang this morning. I even woke up, took it with warm water, and went back to sleep under some blankets, just like the instructions said! As luck would have it, I also managed to avoid eating putrid food, getting into an accident, and having sex. So far so good!

After some thought I decided that I'd be missing out if I spent four months here, in the center of the Tibetan nation-in-exile, and didn't actually go check out the Tibetan medical facilities. Everyone keeps telling me about how you go in there and they diagnose you based on what your pulse feels like.

I'm intrigued. The 40 rupee price tag makes it even more appealing.

So today after class I went to check it out. I was told to take a number and have a seat by room C3.

After a wait of maybe fifteen minutes (and a line-jumping old Tibetan man), it was my turn. I went in to see doctor, a youngish Tibetan man of maybe 40, who was very kind and soft-spoken. He asked me a few questions, took my pulse in both wrists, and told me he'd write me a script for a couple of different medicines. I have some that I am supposed to take before breakfast, after lunch, and before bed, and then a different one that I take once a week. He also instructed me to "not take too many sweets" and to keep warm, especially on my lower back, and especially in the evenings. 

That sounds easy enough, right? 

After I paid (a whopping 550 rupees for a month's supply of these 4 different medicines, plus the office visit... I might have to move here just for the healthcare) I went over to the "medicine counter" where the women behind the glass read the doctor's order and filled little bags from jars of what looked like malted milk balls.

It's worth a shot, I suppose.

Yesterday in class the book had us practicing the form "What do you think of                 ?" "I like (him/her/it)." In order to do this, we were asked to make lists of famous people. It wanted four each of famous actors, famous actresses, pop groups, and TV "programmes." I had a feeling this was an exercise in futility, so I told my students to change it to famous men, famous women, musicians, and we did leave the TV programs as it was.

Here's the list we came up with:

Gotta love that Tibetan worldview.

Oh, and I also just discovered Memrise. It's like DuoLingo but with about a zillion more lessons. The only potential drawback I can see so far is that the lessons are submitted by users, so I'm not sure how accurate or regulated they are -- it's kind of like a cross between DuoLingo and Coursera. Regardless, DuoLingo does not yet have a Hindi program, so I'm taking my chances here. I also installed the Hindi keyboard so I can accurately type all the new words; it's taking some getting used to.

Medicine "enriched with spiritual blessing"

Ever since a few days after I arrived here in Dharamsala, my right eye has been giving me problems in the  mornings. (No, not the one that had the crazy infection before I went to India.) I wake up and I feel like something's in it -- not so much an eyelash, but maybe dust. I figured it might clear up after a few days, and when it didn't, I thought perhaps after I moved to a different building the new environment would fix the issue. I thought that maybe the monsoon season and resultant mildewy cushions/sheets/everything was the culprit, and once the sun came out for more than a few hours at a time I'd feel better.

Well, long story short, none of that helped. I still wake up most mornings feeling like there's something irritating my eye and it waters constantly for a good half hour. It's obnoxious. Nothing I do seems to make a difference. I considered just riding it out until I got home, figuring maybe getting out of India would fix it.

The other day, Gusti mentioned that she was going to go to Men-Tsee-Khang, the local Tibetan medical establishment, so I asked if she'd find me some eye drops while she was there.

This is what they gave her to give to me (50 rupees, by the way.. a little under $1):

Apparently they instructed Gusti that I take them with warm water; however, the official instructions are a bit more involved. I've taken the liberty of typing up excerpts so you don't have to squint at the photo:

A night before taking the precious pill, take light decoction prepared from seven grains of yerma (prickly ash) to open up body channels. Soak the pill in a small amount of hot boiled water using an clean unbroken cup covering it with a lid and leave it to stand overnight. The pill should not be expose to bright light. Early the next morning before day breaks, crush and stir the content either with a spoon or with the ring finger and drink the whole mixture after adding little amount of hot water. Retire to bed with warm covering and sleep for about one hour in order to induce little perspiration. Following that take little amount of hot water infused with saffron to close body channels. This will help to retain the effect of medicine in the body. ... When taken for rejuvenation by a healthy person, it should be taken on an auspicious dates like eight, full moon, and new moon days of Tibetan lunar calendar to gain optimum result.

(All errors are in the original text. I copied it exactly.)

The "Cautions" section reads as follows:
For a period of three to seven days after taking the medicine, avoid fish, pork, egg, sour alcohols, onion, garlic, wild garlic, putrid food, hot spices, strenuous physical activities, accidents, daytime sleep, cold bath and sex.

Well damn.

A weekend in Amritsar

The guys at Pause Dwelling are on to me – they have all been speaking to me in Hindi the last few days. This would be great, except I still know so little that I am lucky if I understand even two or three words in each sentence. It's only making me more determined, though, and I'm planning to scour the local bookstores for a good English-Hindi dictionary and a phrasebook as well. If this guy can become fluent in a foreign language in just 3 months, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to hold at least a basic conversation by the end of two.

I didn't get a whole lot of time to practice my Hindi skillz this weekend, however, because Charlene, Verity, and I took a trip to Amritsar.

Look! There's snow on the mountain!

I practiced my reading along the way, but after we entered the state of Punjab, all the signs switched from Devanagari to Punjabi; at first I thought it was just a new font, but then I noticed a sign with both on it and realized that it was in fact a completely new script – and, I think, a new language as well.

The roads were much nicer in Punjab, and the weather got immediately warmer. We had come down off the mountain and onto the plains, and traveled a bit south besides.

Punjab looks more or less like Illinois.

I didn't see as many cows on the roads, but they were replaced by herds of water buffalo. Horses began to show up, both pulling carts and just hanging out. More and more men wore turbans – we had entered the land of the Sikhs; more of the drivers of motorbikes were women (there are very few female drivers in India from what I can tell, at least in Himachal). We passed a sign that said “Chicken Shop” and had a picture of a goat on it... I'm still not quite sure what to think of that one.

We drove for seven hours, during which time I tried to engage our driver, Suhil, in Hindi conversation. It never lasted long, though; I think he was more interested in practicing his English. He recommended we go straight to the border because they had moved the closing ceremony up an hour due to the sun going down sooner in the day.

The two big attractions in Amritsar are the closing of the border between India and Pakistan, and the Golden Temple inside the city. If we missed the border closing we'd have to stick around another day, which we didn't want to do. We got there just in time.

Luckily, none of the three of us looked Indian enough to require a passport check; we were able to go right through. Foreigners were ushered to one side while Indian citizens crowded the other side of the road. When the gate was opened, they ran – I mean they sprinted – to the next gate, everyone eager to get the best seats.

We got our seats in the relatively tiny “Foreigners Gallery” and watched the place fill up. I felt like I was at Medieval Times. There was much introduction with running of flags and dancing.

You see those bleachers behind me? That's Pakistan.

I totally photobombed this old guy. I don't think he noticed (yet).

The whole production, once it started, lasted a little over an hour. It involved campy displays of military might on both sides, literal flexing of muscles by the ornately-clad border guards, high kicks a la John Cleese, stomping, shouting, etc. It was fun but they could have cut the whole thing in half and I think it would have been even more effective. Longer is not always better.

In the end, they lowered the Indian and Pakistani flags simultaneously, and then the guards slammed their respective gates shut. The border patrol held the throng of Indians back to allow us foreigners and VIPs a chance to get out without being trampled, and we made our way back to Suhil and the taxi.

A Tibetan guy asked me along the way if I came from Dharamsala; cautiously I said yes and he told me he's seen me buying veggies at one of the produce stands. I guess it shouldn't have been too surprising; Amritsar is one of the local attractions. We eventually made it back to the taxi, but since it was Saturday evening, it was basically like we left a concert in the heart of Chicago, waiting until the last song has been sung and having to wait your turn to get out.

Event parking: you're doing it wrong.

We eventually got back onto what passes for a highway in India and into Amritsar.

I couldn't get many photos because it was late at night and we were tired, hungry, and determined to reach the temple so we could rest, but it reminded me a lot of Delhi: dirty, loud, and overcrowded.

Not remembering that a lot of the religious places around here require women to cover their hair, I left my scarf in the car and had to buy a cheap bandanna outside the temple. Apparently at Sikh temples, everyone has to cover their hair. Being a secularist, I find it a little silly, but at least it isn't sexist.

We also had to leave our shoes at a place outside the temple, kind of like when you rent skates at an ice or roller rink. Everybody plodded, barefoot, up the path to the temple where we had to walk through a shallow pool of water before entering the main area. “It's not so impressive,” my overtired self thought. Then we got inside and saw the actual golden temple. 

It was pretty cool.

From what I can gather, making a pilgrimage to the Golden Temple is for Sikhs more or less what making a pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Mecca is for Muslims. They queued up to go inside the temple itself where, I'm told, a very holy book is kept.

Music and chanting played the whole time we were there. There is also a free kitchen where anyone can go to eat anytime, day or night. First, though, we wanted to find the sleeping quarters so we could put our stuff down. After a few attempts at getting the guards to tell us where to go (and getting only vague answers), we finally found someone to take us to the special room reserved just for foreigners.

Everyone is welcome to spend the night at the temple, anytime they want... as long as they're willing to sleep on the ground outside. There is a residence hall but I'm not sure what you have to do to get one of the rooms outside the giant main room (it filled with people by the end of the night). Foreigners, however, get a special room off to the side with cots, lockers, and their own bathroom. There were a couple dozen beds altogether, but we had no trouble finding free ones.

The "inn" at the temple seemed to me how I imagine hostels. Verity said it was more like a prison.

There had to have been ten thousand people in the temple altogether. As Marie said when she got back earlier in the week, “This (Dharamsala) isn't India. That (Amritsar) is India.” It wasn't until we'd dropped off our things, washed our faces, and gone to get some free dal and chapatti that I pondered just how many people were there. It was pretty incredible.

The next morning we got up before dawn – not on purpose, it just kind of happened – which was just as well because I'd heard that the best time to view the temple was at dawn and at dusk. We went and found a spot to sit and waited for the sun to rise.

Aside from the couple of other westerners we saw in the sleeping quarters, I didn't see any other obvious foreigners there; this could explain why people looked at us with such interest. Three white women in the heart of Punjab – quite an oddity!

The longer we stayed on the temple grounds, the more I enjoyed it. I marveled at how clean the place was, and how relaxed everyone seemed to be. There were no fussy children, no raised voices... it was super chill. Everyone was nice. We had a few people come up and shake our hands, and this guy struck up a conversation in which he informed us that he's been married twice and has seventeen children, and that he's “strong like tiger!” 

 

I'm not sure if he's well known in those parts or it was just a good excuse for the rest of them to come up, but once he started talking to us a crowd formed around us three. Verity had a kid come up and say “Nice to meet you” as though he'd been practicing his English. It was cute.

We wandered around the temple for a bit and then out one of the gates where they were having what appeared to be the Sikh equivalent of a religious service. The mood here was very relaxed as well, with people spread out all over the room. One little guy ran up to us after we'd been there a few minutes and held out a pack of cookies. When we each took one he grinned and ran back to his family. He came back periodically, offering us various foodstuffs; we took some photos and he was thrilled to see himself on the little screen.

At 9 we packed up our things and headed back to collect our shoes and meet Suhil, and began the trek back home. I probably could have stayed one more day (in the temple, not in the city of Amritsar), but we've got Tibetans relying on us for English lessons, so here I am, back in McLeod Ganj. If you're ever near Punjab, I recommend checking out the Golden Temple and what the hell, go see the border thing too if you're in the mood for a show. 

A jujube tree!

I expected a priestess to come out and ask me to go retrieve Nettlebane....