Adjustments, Pomp, and Circumstance

Of course, now that Mike and I are leaving tomorrow my body finally feels 100% adjusted. Digestively I've never felt better, I've gotten used to the heat, I'm on a pretty regular sleeping schedule, my mind has gotten itself around to really taking in everything that's around me, and I'm picking up Hindi faster and faster (Get up, sit down, 10, 20, 50, how much, tissue). I feel like I could settle in for a long haul. I'm feeling happy and sad to leave, of course. I'm looking forward to: a big greasy cheesesteak, a ham and mustard sandwich, ice cubes, orderly traffic, a pedicure, and a good workout. I'm not looking forward to: well, everything else; work, responsibility, reality. I'll write a few posts once I'm back in the states, so you can all read about the reverse culture shock that I know is going to hit me hard.

Yesterday we took a 6ish hour train ride to Amritsar and then a car ride to the town of Attari, on the border of India and Pakistan. We came here specifically to see the changing of the guards ceremony. We waited with the crowd for a bit and when someone blew a whistle there was, of course, chaos and a mad disorderly rush to climb up the stairs to the bleachers. We got our seats and baked in the scorching sun for about 30 minutes and people kept pouring in and packing the stands. There was an MC, dressed in jeans and a button down, who seemed to run the show, I'm not sure who he was. One soldier blew a trumpet, one soldier said something into the microphone which sounded to me like "Go" except he held out the "o" for about a full minute to which the audience applauded. Then soldiers chose people from the audience to run carrying the India flag up the the gated border and back. Then there was some call and response cheering of the crowd. My impression was that once the crowd on the Pakistan side got loud, our job was to out-cheer them. So we did this call and response about 15 seperate times. At one point a spontaneous all-male dance party broke out on the road below, men and boys with their arms in the air, twisting imaginary light bulbs. I guess we won the cheer-off, because G told us that the MC said, "The victory ceremony is over". Hindustan!

That night just after dusk we arrived at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which is absolutely worth any trek that one needs to take in order to see it. This is the holiest Sikh site in the world. We took our shoes off at the gate, Mike and G got bandanas for their heads and I wore Praerna's dupatta on mine. To walk through the marble gate you first step through small pools of water. From the entrance way, all through the inside, Sikhs were bowing and touching their heads to the ground in prayer. The marble gate goes in a rectangular shape all around the periphery of a glistening pool of holy water, in the center of which is this sparkling island of the Golden Temple. We walked around the marble, watching the people young and old praying, sitting by the water, admiring the site. On the left side families were getting undressed so they could immerse in the water. We went inside the temple, covered in gold, marble, and beautiful mosaics, one Sikh sitting in the center in front of a massive holy book, and 3 Sikhs to his right, one playing the tablas, one the accordion, and one chanting prayers. This music never stops. It filled the night, along with the play of the light of the temple off the water, the whispers of voices, and the soft sounds of anklet bells. The sky was totally dark, except for a sliver of a crescent moon next to one, solitary bright star. I never would have imagined a night like that, so far from everything familiar to me. A dream I'll never forget.