When we placed our legs inside the temple water came running through the holes of the water hose and washed our legs.
It was a marble floor were mom and nana did Namaste on seeing the golden dome surrounded by water. Followed by sach uncle and aunty. Mom asked me to do Namaste and follow them, saying that she left. Harp saw me we got the blessing together.
Since it was sunny the marble floor was very hot it was difficult to bear the heat. Harp noticed me hoping instead of walking. His eyes instructed mine to get down a step and walk in water for some time. Then he claimed when he saw the red carpet. I liked the way he understood me even though there was no exchange of words.
Nana, sach uncle and both our mom was drinking water in a bowl. His eye balls moved from left to right asking me to join them. The water was tasty and chill. Water???? Yes, the water was.
Mom and aunty asked me to move the other way in which the gender partition starts inside the temple. He closed his eyelids slowly saying go and come (like in Hindi serials).
Aunty (mami ji ;)) told many things about the Sikh religion and the temple is known as Harmandir sahib. We claimed few step inside the center golden dome were Guru Granth Sahib is housed under a canopy studded with precious jewels. Few water was spilled on the mid of the pathway, a women who has come to worship searched for a waste cloth and wiped off the water. People volunteer themselves and do few work for the temple and keep the place clean. Aunty interrupted and said people does all these small work as a part of punya.
We were getting down the steps eye balls searched for harp. I heard nana voice and turned towards him, there harp stood smiling at me.
Sach uncle said shall we have our lunch here. “Here in golden temple they serve almost 50k people to around 1 lakh people per day. They usually provide roti, daal, vegetable dish, and a dessert. People volunteer themselves in the food making process, serving and also cleaning. There is no caste difference nor color nor the status.”
It was really good to hear as this was something new to me. I liked their culture, the way they speak, the way they maintain and give importance to relationship and also harp ;).
We entered a Hall to have our lunch. We were given a plate and a bowl and a spoon with that we sat in the row were sach uncle sat next to me then he shifted next to nana obviously harp came and sat next to me. ;) First they were providing roti’s harp instructed me to get the roti by holding both the hands like asking for it. Followed by daal and dessert was provided in the bowl. Sach uncle said” Swathi get another roti, I said no uncle am full. While harp raised his eyebrows asking you don’t want any more my eyes nodded a no. once we are done with our lunch myself and harp collected others plates to leave it in the dish washing place.
“Swathi, there rotti making place” said harp. There were N number of people who came to worship the temple making rotties.
While washing hands I said “Thank you for guiding me from the beginning”.
He shook his head, smiled and said “I am thankful to you “I was shock and stood there .He continued “Nice day”. Let’s chalo
I understood he liked my presence with him. His sparkling eyes had a magnetic power made me look at him for so long while on the way back to the entrance.
Then we started to Wagah border. It took an hour to reach. Mom and aunty slept in car I occupied the window seat of the middle row in an Innova car whereas harp took the back seat. Sach uncle played few Hindi songs and asked you can connect your mobile and play Tamil songs if you want. I have seen couple of Hindi movie uncle so no problem. While the famous song from sultan jeg ghoomeya ran in background harp started to sing and maintained eye contact with me since I have seen the movie I was able to understand the feel of that song even though not the lyrics sang along with him.
Harp had a chocolate he passed it secretly to me. I took half of the dairy milk silk and passed the remaining to him through the hole in the headrest. J As said stolen mango tastes good this chocolate melted like a water fall between south (me) and north (him).
Around 3 in the evening we reached the wagah border. The gate opened around 4 and we had gender partitioned galleries.
Every evening parade takes place followed by the flag lowering ceremony happens at the India – Pakistan border. Normally people go crazy behind India- Pakistan match itself. Here we are seeing Pakistanis in the opposite podium. People seated in the viewer’s gallery started shouting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” as they hear slogans from opposite podium “Pakistan Zindabad”. It was a neat ceremony no violence took place other than raising slogans. The army officer who conducted the parade OMG….he made us crazy inspired us a lot to shout and raise voice against the Pakistan podium. Each minute was like will Dhoni hit the six on the last ball and will India win?