Recently,on a weekend, my family and I visited The Golden Temple after a gap of nearly 25 years. I had expected it to be a nice experience but nowhere near as mystical and magical as it turned out to be. We did go for a short darshan on Saturday evening, the day we arrived but planned to visit very early Sunday morning, so that we could experience the morning ‘Parkash’ which also entails the journey of the ‘Palki Sahib’ from the Akal Takth into the temple.

We were there at 3.30 am in the morning.

And there were about 5,000 people there before us.

At least, that’s the way it seemed!

There was a long queue before the Gurudwara, people standing four abreast, at three thirty in the morning mind you! That’s kind of early.

BUT…..

The experience was surreal. Community worship, community bathing, the sarovars sparkling, reflecting the lights of the Golden Temple. So brilliant, yet so muted. We sat at the side of the sarovar, savouring the cool morning air, taking in the smell of the fresh prasad being distributed, listening to the shabads being sung in the temple- gentle, pure music. And then there was the Ardas. Every person in the vicinity participated- every single person. There was the experience of community worship, of divinity in humanity; of the brotherhood of man, and the Fatherhood of God.

Humbling and uplifting. Just beautiful!

PS- This pic is not mine! Picked it from the net.Nice one, I thought!

This is a part of the article on the new genre of Zombie films in Bollywood that appeared in The Tribune. For the full article, here’s the link:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130428/spectrum/main5.htm

This is the glimpse on an article that is meaningful to me. For the detailed version, please click on:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130407/spectrum/main1.htm

The rest of the story is here…

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130303/spectrum/book2.htm

Rajiv made this fantastic poster for Women’s Day and I did the text. It’s our salute to all the wonderful women we know… More power to them!