Historical Gurdwaras of India and Pakistan Yatra Part 16: Going Home

Day 21 

The last day of our yatra. We woke up 3 am and went to Harmandir Sahib, which was very busy for a Gurgaddi Divas. It was a crowded line but we we really enjoyed getting a chance to sit and enjoy the kirtan once we were instead. I cried when it was time to leave Harmandir Sahib because my mind had finally found some much needed peace and I didn’t want to let that go. It took my whole life to come here. Growing up from watching Lahore Lahore Aay to now visiting these Gurdwaras was a dream come true. We had to coordinate schedules and just by God’s grace it all worked out and my sister was able to pay for our trip. I didn’t know when or if I would ever get an opportunity to come back because there’s no guarantee of tomorrow, so I stood there watching the reflection of the water. I know God isn’t found in outside places, but it did transform and shape so much for my understanding of where I come from. I am realizing how much lonelier and spread out our lives are here in Canada, separated not only by physical space from our extended families but also the individualism of our society. Add to that the winter darkness and living inside our artificially lighted workplaces, starved of the richness of our culture and spirituality is in stark contrast of the brightness of the sun shining on a farmer’s face after a physical day of hard work. Yet the landscape of that India has also changed, that one that my parents froze in time in their memories from their childhood is gone too. 

Next we went to Jallianwala Bagh (see my post on Jallianwala Bagh). We got some Indian style pizzas from Pizza Hut at the Amritsar Mall next to the Hyatt. Then we travelled to the airport and had a 38 hour trip home. We brought three instruments home: Sitar, Taus and Dilruba.

8 months later I realize that this was the experience of a lifetime. Our trip began with our luggage being left behind by Air Canada and we didn’t get it back until the second to last day. From our driver’s roadrage incident, to celebrating my sister’s birthday at Harmandir Sahib, and accidentally getting mixed up for a local person from Pakistan by our security team, the intensity of the experience is unforgettable. I came home to 95 whatsapp messages, 256 emails and 46 facebook notifications and realized that I need to disconnect more. In sangat I was no more or less than everyone else, standing in line at Harmandir Sahib wanting a vision of my Guru Ji and I liked that feeling. One of the wonderful things about being in India was there weren’t mirrors and no one cared how you looked anyways, and I really just enjoyed for three weeks not to have to keep thinking about how I look. 

When we went to Patna, the poverty was striking. There were shacks and naked children on the side of the road. It was heartbreaking to see the children begging, they would put their fingers in the car door so as not to let us close it. In the back of our minds we knew someone was using these children for money, but it was hard to look them in the eye. I remember talking to one mother and her young daughter elsewhere in India. She kept talking and talking and following us for our money. I tried to explain to her that she must put her daughter in school, not to begging. Educated girls break the cycle of poverty. She took in that thought and falsely assured me should would put her back in school, but she didn’t seem to really understand. I told her we are at the Gurdwara, our Guru Jis taught us to work hard to earn our money- kirat karni and she needed to pass that on to her daughter. Even the locals told us not to give any money, telling us the families could earn them. It was a stark difference to the lack of begging that we saw in Pakistan. 

The other striking factor was the ritualism. Everywhere we went, it seemed that our Guru Ji’s teachings were simply taken as “miracle events” and people didn’t understand the underlying messages. While singing the aarti, which teaches us literally that the whole world is an offering to God, we saw the aarti being done where there was a circling around of the jot in front of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The contradiction was shocking to us. At Gurdwara Gou Ghat they told us for example “if you hug the thumms, your wish will be fulfilled.” The actual sakhi tells us that Guru Ji told us that the sangat would finish the construction of the building with those thumms in the future, but actually now those thumms have been preserved as is, put up on a pedestal as something that is wish-fulfilling and magical. It was disappointing to see that people were not seeing the messages behind the stories of the lives of the Guru Jis. The historical Gurdwaras mostly have someone to do seva who sits and tells the sakhi of the location, and then collects donations. The phrasing was similar from place to place, as people told us to do ardas for getting sons for example. It was hard to hold back my inner commentary that this was wrong on so many levels and they should stop encouraging people to do ardas for material things nonetheless going against the equality of women and men that is engrained in our teachings.

Practicalities

Some things to keep in mind when travelling in India is firstly to buy some camper’s toilet paper (has no roll and is small) from amazon or elsewhere because there is none in India (...and for women tampons are non-existent so bring any feminine hygiene stuff with you). Also you have to get used to squatting toilets, not the ones we have in Canada. Take all essentials on the plane with you in case your luggage gets lost because most likely you wont find what you are looking for at the store. We were trying to buy deodorant, sunscreen, toilet paper and a lot of these things either don’t exist or exist in a completely different form. In fact, the “sunscreen” section was terrifyingly mostly skin bleaching agents and there was only one true sunscreen I could find. Try to take someone local with you because that’s how we got by and didn’t get cheated on things like car rentals and prices. We had a lot of difficulty with figuring out where to go for customs and immigration at the Delhi airport and its incredibly frustrating. There are special rules for travel in India, ex. if you miss your flight you cannot leave unless there is an agent from that airline working (and that may not be for another 24 hrs), so one needs incredible patience at the airport. I would say travel through Amritsar as much as possible, but I know flights are limited like those to Hazur Sahib and Patna were only through Delhi. I have been told that train travel is unsafe. The room in the flights to Patna and Hazur sahib is small so travel very light if you plan on taking a flight, and rules for travel within India are not very firm. Although we were travelling with the same items each time, security kept taking out different items each time at their own discretion. Expect a lot of security; there is police presence at the Takhts and big Gurdwara Sahibs. There is security in hotels and malls similar to the airport, where there are separate lines for males and females to be patted down. When travelling to Pakistan I definitely recommend travelling with those who are experienced in the area once again, we had a great time with Mohanjit Ji as they coordinated all of our security as well. With them were also able to ensure our donations were going directly to important causes like reconstructing Gurdwaras, as well as going to buy things that we were donating and bringing those items directly. In terms of living arrangements, sarans are hit and miss in terms of amenities- hot water for a shower, garbage cans, AC, toilet paper, blankets, towels, etc. can be all missing. We tried to people who were local to book them for us but that didn’t work out and the online booking process is also not the best, so we ended up just showing up and looking for places. Hotels are worth checking out, but sarans are also a unique experience and can be excellent. It can get very hot and tiresome to travel on the hot pavement. Even in March it was burning hot some places. Cotton clothing is a must and try to stay covered. We bought special water bottles that filter the water (although we didn’t use them consistently) and I definitely recommend that. I also failed to recognize how badly I would react to the mosquito bites in Pakistan. My face swelled up badly and stayed that way for over a week. I was really quite ill for a large part of the trip starting with the pneumonia and fever the night before the trip, to GI illness from contaminated food and water, an infected cut on my toe, hitting my head, and a big rash I got on my face from the 40 degree weather. Basically, travelling with the limited medications that we left in our backpacks and being vaccinated is what saved me from having to go to the hospital. Be sure to pack medications and electrolytes! (and of course get travel insurance). Lastly, to ensure you don't have your stuff stolen don't put anything in an outside zipper, and if you can avoid having a purse all the better. 

That brings us to the end of my blogging about this yatra. If I counted right I think we visited 109 Gurdwara Sahibs in three weeks! I have enough stories to tell for years. I have enjoyed going through the history as I've gone back to revisit the pictures and places we visited while writing these posts. I will post some videos up on my youtube channel from our trip when I get a chance and will update the blog here. I have excitedly added going to Patiala, Hemkunt Sahib, Dubai and England Gurdwaras to my list of places to go. If you know of some Gurdwaras around the world that must be visited, mention them below!