In the morning before we left for Punjab, our women's group took us to their nearby temple. We climbed down the stairs to play in the river. Top to bottom: Madhu, Arti, Bandana, Rama, me, Inder, Aruna, Jitender, Nela and Pooja. Sometime there are more women, sometimes less.
The Golden Temple in Amistar. A most holy place for those of the Sikh religion. The temple has four doors. At the time it was built the caste system was an integral part of society. The temple has four door one through which each caste might enter. The Sikh belief is, however, that all are brothers and in the interior of the temple all are as one. Seeing the 'healing' waters of the lake, watching the people's devotion and reverence, and walking through the temple is awe inspiring
Wild monkey at Nurpur Fort. One grabbed Bonnie's Shalwar's. Today, Anil told us not to look them straight in the eye as they can be very fierce when they think we are challenging them.
And we often think we have a heavy load?? I saw one woman with a basket like those above completely full of freshly harvest grains of wheat.
When our two "tourist taxis" were stuck in the middle of the road surrounded for at least a mile frontwards and backwards with busses that parked in the road and let off the passengers for the rally, we were quite the amusement for those headed to the rally. We rolled down our windows, said Namaste, and smiled and were treated very nicely. "Fierce" looking people would melt into a smile when we smiled and said hello in Hindi. Well...of course, the smile wasn't in Hindi. Smiles are more universal.
Very mild traffic in Amritsar. Horse, carts, rikshaws, bicycles, motor bikes, tuk tuks, busses, trucks, van's, pedestrians all weave through and past each other. In the U.S. there would be road rage, here, acceptance and problem solving.
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