Hello all! I promise I’m alive and well and that my internet absence is due to exciting events and travels and not a lack of desire to share my experiences with everyone. With that said,
I’m back at school for a full week after a brief but extremely memorable visit to Amritsar, the capital city of the Indian state of Punjab. While known for its incredibly rich (we’re talking BUTTER) and delicious cuisine, its main attraction is without doubt the Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple. The (literally) shining beacon of the Sikh (pronounced sick) faith serves not only as a place of daily worship for local followers but also as a pilgrimage site, a short-term home for wayward travelers and a communal kitchen capable of feeding the thousands of visitors the gurdwara (a place of worship for Sikh followers) receives daily. I usually find that visiting any site, religious or non, with such a vast and at times stormy history is an extremely emotional adventure for myself, and the same was certainly true for visiting the Harmandir Sahib.
In addition to visiting the Golden Temple our group was extremely privileged to be invited to Khalsa College to hear a lecture on the basic tenents of Sikkism. An aside, though one I feel particularly proud to share: our group of 14 students is quite diverse in terms of institutions represented (Ellie and I being the only pair of students from the same school) and during the introduction to our lecturer, a Khalsa college official welcomed the “dignitaries from various institutions in the United States including Skidmore and The College of William and Mary”. I nearly jumped out of my seat with a “Go Tribe!” exclamation. That being said, the lecture was informative and stressed the incredible openness which Sikkism holds as one of its most fundamental tenents. Without doubt, the highlight of our visit to the college came after the lecture, when we were led into their main hall and presented with two folk dances and a folk song, all performed by current students (read between the lines: BHANGRA!). Words in a blog post cannot describe the difficulty which I had in my attempts to stay respectfully seated during the dance. I had a perma-grin for the rest of the evening and somehow managed to contain myself from attempting to stage a bhangra dance party on the bus on our way out. Our evening ended with a visit to the Indo-Pakistan border in order to watch the changing of the guard. The predominately pomp filled fest was another reminder of the remants which you can find of British political culture in India and was at times quite silly, but an undertone of real national pride and identity certainly edged its way over the more antiquarian aspects.
Well I hope I’ve been brief yet descriptive enough. If my rambles aren’t clear please email! I would love to hear from people and get updates in turn! India is wonderful but my heart of course lies in Virginia (and Fla. and Rhode Island and Argentina and Ithaca, etc.) with all of you. Look forward to pictures soon! This week is going to be another busy one but luckily one with much to look forward to, including Bollywood dance classes and morning yoga!
Sending my love,
Anna
