Our last stop for the day on our whistle stop tour of Delhi Day 2, was the famous Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, which (according to Wikipedia) is the most prominent Sikh gurdwara, or Sikh house of worship, in Delhi. The pond inside its complex, known as the "Sarovar", whose water is considered holy by Sikhs. It was built by Sikh General, Sardar Bhagel Singh in 1783, who supervised the construction of nine Sikh shrines in Delhi in the same year, during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.
We arrived right about sunset, which made the white and gold exterior sparkle in the hazy pink light. We were shepherded (by a large man who had a very large knife in his pocket) to the "Foreign Tourist" office, which we had seen earlier and decided we were too cool to enter. But, turns out two big white people cannot go undetected in the Gurudwara grounds and we followed instructions (once again, big and toting a semi-concealed weapon- we were clearly in no position to argue), went to the tourist office, dropped off our shoes, got instructions on head covering and also a really nice brief introduction to the Sikh religion. I knew very little about the religion prior to our trip to the tourist office and found the Sikh 101 to be very interesting and also the people giving the introduction class were very warm, friendly and open. We also learned that the knife-toting is part of the religion and not directly mean to scare tourists in to polite submission. Good to know.
One must cover their head to enter the temple, and I was thankfully prepared with a pashmina. Dave however was given one of these little cheerfully covered head wraps.
If it hasn't become clear so far in my blog postings, I have an unhealthy fear of germs and the transmission thereof via barefeet. You can add using communal hair wraps to the list of things that make me uncomfortable, so I was thrilled that my pashmina-over-the-head job was considered sufficient and I was given a pass on the "using a head covering previously used by a perfect stranger who could potentially have dubious hygiene practices" experience. Just to be clear, I would be equally as unhappy about walking barefoot or sharing clothing with strangers in the U.S.- maybe more so. And yes, I know I am germ paranoid- Dave (who likes to touch the subway and them threaten to touch me) reminds me of this attribute all the time, just in case I forget. I blame my mother and a childhood full of wet wipes and lectures on the perils of touching dirty things.
Oh well, David was a champ about the headcovering, and looked quite fetching in orange.
The temple was exquisite. I loved all the detailed carving and how amazing it looked at dusk.
The best part was this enormous reflecting pool.
Which by the way, was stocked with some very healthy fish.
Enjoying a very peaceful stroll around the pool. Its amazing that in the midst of the utter chaos of Delhi, you can find a place like this with its magical quietness and serenity.
Yup. I am barefoot. Again.
And as far as I know (knocking on wood) I did not contract any diseases during my prolonged periods of naked-foot-ness in India.
So we are not entirely sure what this is about, but our guess is that women who don't want to bathe (or are not allowed?) in the communal pool can use this little building instead? Should have taken them up on that offer of a tour guide back at the Foreign Tourist office and I would have better details for you.
This (again, we are guessing here) is the instructions for appropriate use of the pool. Again, that tour guide would have been useful as my Hindi (could be Hindi, or something else) is not so good these days so we were left to hope we were in fact following all posted rules. Given the size and quantity of fish in the pool, there was little shot of me feeling compelled to jump in (which I am fairly sure is prohibited) so I felt confident that there were not too many rules at risk of being broken.
Humour and my germ-issues aside, this was really one of the most lovely places of worship I have had the pleasure of visiting. I really appreciated that they were so welcoming to foriegn tourists, because I can imagine it would get tiresome to always have a bunch of foreigners tromping around your sacred places- taking pictures and asking questions- but they were very kind hosts. We loved the serenity of the beautiful temple- the delicate winter sunset and the cold marble beneath barefeet made for a near magical experience. It was also nice to experience and learn about a new religion. We were able to walk through the worship hall inside the temple while services were being held which was very interesting. All-in-all it was a great way to end a very busy and nearly exhausting Day 2 in Delhi. We decided to be daring (and by "we" I mainly mean David) and, armed only with our tour guide map, walk home to the hotel. Despite a large family of blisters that popped up all over my feet after a day of walking around Delhi in rather adorable ballet flats- we arrived at the Le Meridian in on piece and ready for some room service and an early bedtime.
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