Norbulingka, Amritsar

So much to catch up on! The first place to tell you about is Norbulingka. It’s the Tibetan Art Institute. It’s secluded and tucked behind some Indian villages about 30 minutes from Dharamsala. It’s completely quiet and secluded, which almost seems like a novelty in India. We were given a tour of the art studio full of thangka paintings. No mess ups are allowed mind you, and they usually take at least a month to finish one painting. Next we saw the fabric thangkas that Buddhists hang from the walls. The work is done at different stations with groups of people working on individual pieces. Next was the woodwork shop. They draw detailed, intricate designs on the wood, then carve them out.

Last was the cooper molding/statues, some of which can take a year and half to do. As we walked through these different workshops, I realized it had never hit me just how much time it takes to make these beautiful objects. All of these projects are so time consuming, so intricate. I can never look at any of these objects the same again. Last we visited the Doll Museum. It shows the history, culture, traditions, of Tibetans all through these little puppets.

Two weeks ago we went to Amritsar, the famous Sikh site.

First, it was a huge shock to get back into Indian culture. For almost two months we’ve been around Tibetans. Loads of people, rickshaws, lots of noise and horns, people staring and gawking, and lots of pollution! Every Indian state is so different- in language, in looks, in behavior, etc. Punjabis for instance are exptrememly tall. Even some women are above six feet (vs. the south where not even the men are that tall). Punjabis are also much lighter in skin color- many look almost like a tanned Caucasion, while the southern Indians can be almost as dark as Africans. The Punjabis we found to be more friendly as well. They were always asking to shake our hands and introduce themselves, even if that was the only English they knew. They also loved to take pictures of us, and would ask if they could take pictures with us quite frequently.

But the big site there is the Golden Temple. It is the most beautiful building we’ve been to so far. As you walk into the square, you check your shoes in and walk barefoot all around the building. You walk through water on the way in to clean your feet as well because it is holy ground. You also have to have your head covered (as you can see from out pirate looking bandanas. The Golden Temple is in the center of a giant pool/lake. All around the square is tiled floor with a red carpet in the center.The big white buildings surround the square. The only way I can describe the feeling is by comparing it to what I think a big Muslim mosque would feel like. The loudspeakers around the square play prayers being read from their sacred book. Oh, and the kitchen there feeds anyone who comes through, which is an average of 30,000 people a day! I expected the food to be not so great, being made in the mass like that. But it was delicious! Especially the rice pudding… yum!

A little that I learned about the Sikhs, they are like a fusion of Hinduism and Islam. They have 5 symbols they wear on them at all times- a turban/head covering, a dagger, an under garment, a bracelet… and I forgot the last one. They have a long history of war and have been persecuted by many different groups. For those of you that are LDS, an LDS guy who studied Sikhs called them the “Mormons of the Middle East,” for a few of the reasons you can guess from above, but also because of their history being quite similar to the history in the Book of Mormon, particularly some of the war stories.

The Indo-Pakistan border is a little over an hour ride from Amritsar so we went to the changing of the guard ceremony. I have no idea what to say about it because I have no idea what I witnessed and what exactly happened. I’m sure it was full of symbols that were lost on me. But the guards had these amazing peacock looking hats. The march with huge arm swings and big high kicks. There was lots of yelling on both sides, lots of chanting and cheering. It was interesting to see the Sanskrit Indian language and the Arabic Pakistani language, one on each end. I also couldn’t help but realize that the land looked exactly the same on both sides of the fence. No rivers, no mountains, no land differences at all. The only thing that separated “India” from “Pakistan” was the fence and the soldiers.

We also experiences our first Bollywood movie in an Indian movie theatre. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the one I was hoping to see, from all the previews. We saw one called Fashion- which right away we knew probably wasn’t going to be a big it with any of us. But it was playing so we saw it. First I need to fill you in on a few things about Bollywood movies. There is always music, dancing, colorful clothes. There is also never any kissing on the lips- that is not appropriate in Indian culture, although the new trend is to show kissing on the neck, etc, there is still no kissing on the lips. Also, there has never been a movie about extramarital affairs- until last year when one came out. It was a huge controversy and many said such movies should not be made. But it was actually quite successful from what I understand. This new one had an affair in it- of course they don’t show anything in Indian movies, but you know its going on. There was also no dancing and no singing by the characters. It completely baffled us! This was not a normal Bollywood in any sense of the term. I think the only things that were traditional “Bollywood” were that that it was in Hindi (although quite a bit of it was in English), almost 4 hours long and the over dramatic acting. If it weren’t for those three things and for the power going out in the middle of the movie, we wouldn’t have realized it was a Bollywood movie.

The last part of our trip to mention is that I finally got sick! After almost three months of not having more than an occasional upset stomach or diahrria, I finally got sick like almost every student of India. And let me tell you, it was a great joy spending half the night by the toilet. At least it was a real toilet though, and not a sqatter like many places here in India.