What a great experience we had today. Santosh George, whom we met at Nagpur and was so helpful to us our first day in Delhi, arranged for us to go along on a tour of the Guru Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, the largest Sikh temple in Delhi. I had been there before, in 2007, but not for a formal tour. He was bringing a class of students from another part of India on the tour and invited us to come along. First we had to cover our heads. Grace and I had our dupattas, but we went to the visitors' center, where they gave Lois and Jimmy (and all of the students in the group) small orange kerchiefs to cover their heads with. We left our shoes in the visitors' center, then we went in the front entrance, walking through a pool of water to clean our feet. We looked at the ceremonial pool, where people are baptized into the Sikh faith, and our guide showed us the marks of a Sikh: small comb, steel bracelet, uncut hair, kirpan (small knife) and special underwear (which she only told us about).
Then we went inside to the room where the veneration of the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh holy book) and worship takes place. There are musicians playing on a harmonium and drums and someone singing. We sat there for awhile and then went upstairs to see the holy book. There are a number of different rooms where people can go to read the holy book or have it read to them. On our way out, we were given a blob of prasad, which is made of ghee, flour and sugar, and is taken somewhat like communion.
Our next stop was the dining hall and kitchen. After worship, everyone goes in to the dining hall to eat. They sit on long pieces of fabric that are stretched the length of the room. People come around with pails of rice, buckets of dal and big bowls full of chappati. When we first arrived, they were cleaning up between seatings and there was a man going up and down the rows with a thing that reminded me of a zamboni, cleaning the floor of things that spilled during the previous seating. We didn't stay to eat, but we did go into the kitchen and it was an incredible sight. There was a chappati-making machine, which spat out chappati at a great rate. There were vast cauldrons full of dal and buckets for serving it in. People were kneading and rolling out chappati and others were cooking it over a griddle. Rice was spooned into pails with a shovel. They feed 10,000-20,000 people every day and take in 3-4 million rupees every day in donations. Sikhs are very generous people and more than tithe.
Here we are in front of the Gurudwara with our headcoverings
Making chappati
A vat of dal
All the people eating
In the afternoon, we had tea with Alwan and Nina Masih, which was very nice. It was mostly chitchat, but it's nice to get to know them a little better.
Then Sushma Ramyswami, the communications director, took us to dinner. We went to Karim's, a famous restaurant in Old Delhi. We drove down crowded streets and then parked the car. Then we walked down an even more crowded street, turned into a little lane and there we were at Karim's. It's a Muslim restaurant (in a Muslim neighborhood, just near the Jama Masjid), so it was basically a meat-a-thon. We started out with seekh kababs (goat), pieces of some other meat and then had bread, chicken curry, paneer tikka and lamb something. I don't eat meat when I'm in India, so it was a little tough for me, but everything was very good. Then we had their special kheer (rice pudding) for dessert. We had a good time talking to Sushma, who filled us in on a lot of what has been going on in the CNI for the last few years. It was nice to visit with her and I'm sorry we didn't connect with her sooner.
Sushma
Karim's
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