The two-year old son of my host, Avi Raj.
A dinner out with my friends from the neighborhood. At center are the ubiquitous chapatis (flatbread), then you have cheese naan, paneer tikka masala, and dal makhni, a Punjabi regional pride.
View over the River Beas from the Goindwal Gurdwara, founded by the third Guru, Amar Das.
Pre-wedding procession through the streets (groom's party) led by a marching band.
The famed well at the Goindwal gurdwara. Also dug by Guru Amar Das as an anti-caste symbol - forcing all the local Hindus and Sikhs of different castes to draw water from (and bathe in) a common well without discrimination. There are 84 steps down into this deep well. The common observance is to pause on each step, read through the Jup Ji Sahib (prayer), then go down to the well and dip in the Holy Water. A full recitation takes about one full day.Golden Temple at Dusk.
Sitting with a dilruba played by one of the Hazuri (in-house) ragis at the Golden Temple. This is a fretted and bowed instrument, that has a very voice-like tone. Unfortunately, in the actual performance in the temple, it always takes a backseat to the droning harmoniums and miked voices of the ragis.
With "baba", a gentleman who comes once a month down the street banging his drum to ask for food or money handouts. This was on the first of the month of Basant, and you could hear his drum from several houses away. I came down and gave him a 100-rupee note, which he then went to the neighbors asking if it was real!...apparently the typical donation is 5-10 rupees, of which I was not aware. Plus, the 100-rupee note has Gandhi's face on it, for goodness' sake, so how could I not give it to this guy?
2 comments:
shaboomThe photos are wonderful. Especially the food. I know you've told us the food is really a highlight of your Indian experience so far.
Kurt - both postings were fascinating but the picture of you and Baba was the highlight - especially when I clicked on the picture and it enlarged. Baba's face is itself a novel. It reminds me of the picture of you from several years ago with the girl from Malaysia (or somewhere) with her hand draped around your shoulder. A picture is truly worth a thousand words.
Your introspections are worthwhile and telling. If India teaches you nothing else, let it teach you to "be" rather than to "do" - perhaps you are simply called to walk further into your own interior and this cannot be measured or achieved by accomplishing anything, but simply by opening to the "sweetness" as your ragi would say. Our culture puts such a premium on capitalizing on time and stacking up things we have done - and it is hard to resist using that yardstick as a measure of productivity or our own worth. Hell, I am from the 60's and back then, if we had a chance to get off the fast track and just hang around Northern India for awhile, that was Nirvana back then. Why shouldn't it be for you, too? A subtle but profound Osmosis is the subtext of your daily life there - so just let it happen. Also, I share your sense that escaping to an Ashram could pose its own set of challenges and questions.
There will be years ahead of things to do and get done. Pretend you are a hippie.
Love, Dad
Post a Comment