“Athithi Devo Bavah”

I have always wondered if “Athithi Devo Bavah” has ever been followed. I guess it applies only to personal guests. Tourists in India have been looted many at times. I guess we Indians tend to miss out on the larger picture which translates into if you are nobody’s personal guest then you are nowhere. Let me get to the incident which drags me to state this.

Once I am settled in the hotel, this auto guy says he can take us to Wagah Border and back for Rs.500. I am told it should not cost more than Rs.400. Since we were in a hurry we decided to tag along. Also he claimed he would show us around the markets. While on our return trip, we realized that the “market” was a factory outlet! We proceeded with our journey. All of a sudden the auto driver asked us to take another auto claiming it to be that of his uncle. I was asked to pay Rs.50 to the other auto driver. So I took out Rs.450 and gave my driver which he refused. In other words he expected me to pay Rs.500 to him and an extra Rs.50 to his uncle. Wow! What an ingenious way to cheat!

I always wonder if my driver were to ever the Gurudwara uttering “Wahe Guru!”. An everytime he uttered it , I would like to remind him of the number of people he cheated this way!
Similarly in Haridwar, I was amused by the way Pooja was offered to the River Ganges. And to think I got fooled in my own land by my own people is a sad thing indeed. As I enter the temple I am told there is no separate temple or aarthi for the main deity. Just as we wonder why, we are asked to buy Pooja articles for Rs.20 (which is just some flowers and coconut and prob a betel leaf) . During the Pooja (I could not figure out a serious Sanskrit mantra) I am forced to give money to feed the Brahmins! Wow! Now feeding Brahmins is considered to be the most “punya” deed you could do in Hindu philosophy! So nobody actually refuses.

My friends and I were forced to part with Rs.50 to Rs.200 each so that we could get maximum “punya” ! What a way to gain it! The biggest joke was we were forced to part with the amount based on the fancy of the pujari. Our protests fell on deaf ears! The irony of the entire incident is he asks if I am giving the money whole heartedly. I thought it was Rs.50 and I said yes. When I part with my money he says it is Rs.100! Lol! Mind you ! And to top it all no Receipts!

My friends and I are then pulled into a temple supposedly of Mother Ganges! She is sweet no doubt decked in all her finery! The pujari holds my hand and demands money for Aarthi for the health of my family and he starts with Rs.500 upto some insane amount. I realized my pocket and my family would be much better off without it!

When these guys stand in front of the deity and close their eyes in contemplation would they ever feel the burden of these deeds? The bitterness they leave around them is far worse than the filth that Ganga is filled with!

The Golden Temple - Amritsar

Amritsar would always stay close to my heart as it was one of the first few trips outside Delhi. Having secured the companionship of a close friend, it was a like a dream come true. Here I am at the land of the Golden Temple!

The usual routine when you land in Amritsar (we took the Shan E Punjab) is to travel to Wagah Border. The Wagah Border reminds me of the 1947 Partition. I am sure it is the borders that would have bore witness to maximum bloodshed. I am reminded of the movie “Pinjar” where people are forced to leave their havelis for smaller pigeon holes in Delhi and vice versa. It is amazing that once brothers and sisters turned to become the worst enemies. I was discussing with a couple of friends how Pakistanis are actually very warm in reality. It is the politicians who have continued to reap benefits from the fantasy of hatred that they have imagined.

The retreat at the border also had a cultural program where everybody was called to come and dance. I had mixed reactions when I witnessed the program and the retreat together. At one end you had a cultural program which made the scene entirely informal, on the other hand the retreat made the scene entirely formal. I was looking forward to the latter and the former, I must say, disappointed me. It was fun nevertheless to watch people charged with patriotism.
The funny part is the patriotism is only for rest of the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if the soldiers on both sides share a cigarette and a quiet moment together after the retreat! Lol! I told you the Pakistanis were good guys!

Returning back to Amritsar, I entered the Harmandir Sahib. As I entered the Temple, I was slowly being exposed to the magnificent building and I was filled with awe and wonder. A temple in the middle of the pool with its top covered in gold! As we entered the sanctum sanctorum which housed the “Guru Granth Sahib” my ears were filled with bhajans! It was indeed a blissful moment. After offering my prayers , we moved towards the pool, towards the fishes. They were so cute.

The next interesting part was the Prasad. If I am not mistaken it was wheat halwa dipped in ghee! Punjabi food is indeed quite rich! Take a look at the picture of lassi that is posted. Do you think you could hold back yourself for such good food? Which explains my need to have more halwa which I did the next day! OK I didn’t visit the temple again for the Prasad! I tried my best to focus on the principles of Sikkism including the langar!

Alright alright! Yes the langar was an attraction and I couldn’t miss it for anything. Any person who enters the Gurudwara is offered food and everybody who leaves is enquired if they had food, just as any good host would do! I am defy impressed. The only downside was the cleanliness and I perfectly understand with the amount of people they handle on a daily basis.
The principles emphasized by Sikkism and Harmandir Sahib in particular are very similar to Hindu philosophy. The three main principles according to me are Prayer, Seva and Satsang. The number of volunteers that help the people who visit the building is breathtaking. There are volunteers who take of the footwear, clean the temple premises, offer water to pilgrims, serve food at the langar, wash the utensils, etc. The best part was a volunteer asked all pilgrims if they had taken food! I really think we just need to extend this feeling to our societies and communities . This could bring in harmony something that our society needs the most!

Speaking of harmony my last visit was to Jallianwalla Bagh. The atrocities committed during the British rule makes one wonder, how on earth did we tolerate all this. Could you believe all residents on a particular street had to crawl to traverse through that street..all because some guy misbehaved with an English princess? Did not Gen Dyer think of his own family when he killed innocent women and children? The bullet wounds, the well all remind of the gruesome incident which held the entire nation in complete shock and disbelief! It is good to know that Gen. Dyer was finally assassinated in London. I really wonder if he would have felt remorse as he lay dying from his bullet wound.

It is amazing that one place could hold both peace and pain together. It is the balance of these two that has made this place indeed holy!