Delhi: Visit to a Sikh Temple

Entering the temple

 After spending 3 months in India it was finally time to take a trip up to the north. First stop: New Delhi, the Capital of India.

Delhi. What can I say about this place. It certainly did not feel like India. The people were fairer, the streets were cleaner, and the traffic was less congested and there was barely any honking. Were we still in India? It felt more like Washington D.C. to me, but once we moved out of New Delhi to the old city of Delhi that's when I snapped right back to the reality of this being India.

Serving lunch

Rolling out rotis

Our first stop in Delhi was to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, a very famous Sikh temple. The temple was built in 1783 and is associated with the eighth guru of the Sikhs. Within the Sikh religion you are not allowed to cut any of your hair and must cover your head for God. While in the temple we had to cover our heads and take off our shoes as a sign of respect. While visiting this place I learned so much about the Sikh religion. The Sikhs strongly believe in selfless service and equality. This was apparent by the fact that this temple opens its doors to anyone, regardless of race and religion, to eat a meal. This place serves 100,000 people a day and purely works on food donations and volunteers in the kitchen. The kitchen runs 20 hours a day! We had a chance to see the hall where people eat and take a look at the kitchen was being run. Volunteers were rolling out rotis to be eaten for lunch so we joined in on the action. It was quite the experience making these things being surrounded by other volunteers of all different ages, race, gender, and caste. The little boy next to me was a pro! I was definitely getting into the groove of rolling these puppies out, it was rather meditative and I was sad when it was time to go.

Holy water

When exiting the temple we got to see the holy water in which people were splashing on their faces, dipping their feet into, and one man was even bathing! There were soo many fish in it I don't know how people were comfortable with getting in there. Before this point I had only seen Hindu temples and Muslim mosques so I was happy to open my mind to a new religion and a new place of worship. If you are in Delhi I definitely recommend checking this place out!

xoxo,
Becca