The Holiest of Holies - Sikh Style

After finally uprooting ourselves from three months of intensive self-study in Rishikesh, we arrived via overnight express in the city of Amritsar in the Punjab.

Amritsar lies less than thirty miles from the border of Pakistan and is the home of the holiest site in Sikhism, the Golden Temple.



The city's name is derived from the pool of nectar (water) surrounding the temple, the amrit samovar.

Given the close ties between Sikhism and the kundalini yoga style we often practice, a visit to the temple was high on our list and it did not disappoint.

Never before have we encountered any people like the Sikhs. For the most part, they were overly gracious, helpful and not-too-pushy to sell you something (a novel concept in India). The facilities around the temple were amazing while the temple itself was spectacular.

A prominent feature of Sikhism is the welcoming of all peoples, from all backgrounds and all religions. The kitchen in the temple complex is open twenty-four hours a day, everyday, and feeds between 50-80,000 people per day for FREE. Those numbers are not a joke.


It is a wild experience because you just follow the lines where you are handed an aluminum plate, bowl and silverware, funnelled into large halls with long runners to sit on with a thousand plus other people, and fed by men who dish out all-you-can-eat dal, beans, rice porridge and chapati from large stainless steel buckets and wicker baskets. Afterwards you can help clean up in long dish cleaning stations or even help in the massive kitchens. How they fund or man such enormous operations is mind-boggling, but profoundly beautiful.

As for the temple, if ever I could imagine a building housing the divine in my soul, the Golden Temple would be it. Maybe it's the supposed 750kg of gold glimmering on the top, but somehow I couldn't help but sit mesmerized by its visage. I'm positive that the countless amicable pilgrims walking around it and bathing in the sacred waters generated ample good vibes, but just sitting there gazing on the temple brought spontaneous smiles to our faces.
Being back in a bustling large city was both exciting and challenging. In addition to the copious amount of turbans available, both meat and alcohol were back on the menus. We found ourselves being very timid with the ordering of either but were pleased at finding some lovely coffee houses to take brief respites from hustle.

While the temple was the highlight, we were awfully cold and ended up cutting short our trip through Rajastan by catching a flight out of Delhi to the south into the former Portugese colony of Goa. That move made Amalia, my little California girl, very, very happy. :)

While in Goa we'll be meditating on the golden temples in our hearts as we warm up laying in the sun and soaking in the Arabian Sea. And since we have opted to rent a small apartment just off the beach for a month, we'll have ample time to do just that.

We know, it's a rough life but someone's got to live it. ;)

PS, click on the last picture to open in a bigger window & tell us what's happening in the shot.

Retired Elephants and Golden Buddhas

Down the coast of Karnataka we made our first stop in Mangalore, (nothing much to say about the place except for one impressive frescoed Catholic church painted by one man in 2.5 years) and then on to the hill town of Madikeri.

The first picture is of our chop job to our "guide" book, The Lonely Planet. A few things: a. the book weighs close to 3lbs, b. other than some basic how-to-get-there, orientation maps, and common tourist stops, the book is almost worthless, c. what was once a backpacker's bible, has turned into a "guide" for middle-of-the-road, generally unadventerous travelers looking for an overpriced "Indian experience," without too many challenges to their comfort zones. So we took a knife to ours and cut it down to only to bare necessities. :) Now back to our adventure....

From Mangalore to Madikeri we endured a 6+ hour bus saga over roads under major construction or in desparate need of some. Not the 3.5 hours we expected. Anywho, when we arrived in Madikeri we stayed a few days longer and planned our stay on a coffee plantation (post coming soon!).

From Madikeri we took an early bus to Kushalnagar to hang out with some elephants at Dubare Forest Reserve who had retired from their previous work in forestry. It was a lovely time and we really enjoyed getting up close to the pachyderms during their morning baths and feeding hour.

From there we hired our autorickshaw driver for most of the morning and visited a nearby Tibetan Buddhist enclave. At Namdroling Monestary they have three golden statues with the center Buddha reaching 60ft high. While there were plenty of tourist gawkers who detracted slightly from the solitude we wanted, we still found ourselves at peace meditating in such a wonderful place.

It had been a long time since we had been in a Buddhist temple but it was nice to be back in the spiritual realm once again. There is just something about Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhist monks that I feel calm and centered when in their presence. Although we didn't have time, it would undoubtedly be quite a treat to attend one of their ceremonies at the temple. Perhaps next time...

Leaving Kushalnagar, we caught some buses heading south for our stay at Honey Valley Estate's coffee plantation in the Kodagu hills. We were looking forward to some good fresh ground brew...