The Other Side

There it was. Floating on the water in all its majesty. Flocked by hundreds of worshipers and tourists. The Golden Temple of Amritsar city. Earlier in the day, I had crossed the border from Pakistan on foot and ended up in this small, congested Indian city. I was excited. Not even the warnings of my friends and relatives of the “supposed” dangers for a Pakistani traveling to India could dampen my spirits. What did dampen me were the surprise showers that drenched me as soon as I stepped inside India. Ironically, this got me even more excited. My driver Deepak was waiting for me at the other side of the border. “How far is the Golden Temple from here?” I asked slyly. One hour later, I was standing in the marketplace, tracing my way to the temple, amid the hustle of irritable passer-bys who were cowering from the rain. There it was. I saw the golden glimmer of a minaret from afar, towering above every other building in the area. I started sprinting towards it and the closer I got the bigger and more magnificent it became. Entering the temple was a challenge in its own; queuing up to keep your shoes in the lockers, walking barefoot an entire mile of alleyways and washing your feet in the small man-made puddle on the threshold. Just when I was about to finally proceed, a guard came out of nowhere and thrust an orange piece of cloth into my hands. 15 minutes and a strangely disfigured orange turban later, I proceed into the tunnels and emerged right into the belly of the building. And here I stood now, looking at the silhouette of the temple against the discolored sky. The Golden Temple stood afar in the middle of the lake, while the lake itself was bordered white verandas and corridors. Hundreds of worshipers were swarming into the temple through its four doors. These doors, according to the caretaker, represent the openness of Sikhs towards other religions and sure enough I could see a diverse range of worshipers visiting the temple. The temple is one of the most exquisite historical monuments constructed during 19th Century India, which represents the peak of the Sikh Empire in Punjab. In fact, some features of the architecture of the temple symbolize the world views of Sikhs. As I lined up to enter one of the doors, I couldn't help but marvel at the intricacy of its architecture and the detail of the design of the ceiling once I entered. The temple has that extraordinary charm that could easily overwhelm a first-time visitor.