It's mid-afternoon on our second day in Amritsar, the main city in the state of Punjab, and home of the Golden Temple, the most holy site for Sikhs (most people in the Punjab are Sikhs).
B and I have just left the Golden Temple, after our second visit there (K is enjoying a restful afternoon at our hotel). Sikhs are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, so it was no surprise to find that Amritsar generally is a busy city, with the streets immediately around the temple downright frenetic, especially for foreigners. So many people offering postcards, rickshaw rides, etc! We were glad to make our way up a stairway to this relatively peaceful Internet cafe (the street din is coming through the open windows loud and clear, though).

We first visited the temple yesterday, which was cool and overcast. Because it was a weekday, there were many fewer people inside the temple grounds than are there now (Saturday afternoon).

Entering the temple grounds, we did what everyone else did: leave our shoes with the shoe-minders (who are typical at holy sites in India), cover our heads, wash our feet, and then walk down a marble staircase to the enormous inner courtyard that surrounds a holy lake. The Golden Temple itself (which is covered with gold and shines marvelously in the sunlight) sits in the middle of the lake, with a marble walkway out to it for believers who wish to visit the temple itself. Anyone can quietly follow the beautiful wide marble courtyard around the lake, and we all did that. A full circumnavigation must be at least a quarter of a mile,. As you circumnavigate the lake, you see stunning views at every step. Beautiful marble buildings topped by airy marble towers surround the courtyard, and the temple and lake are lovely from each angle. I had seen photos, but this is one of those sites that exceeds expectations.

Most lovely, though, is the stream of believers of all ages (and visitors of other faiths or no faith; all are welcome to the temple grounds): from weary toddlers slung over their mothers' shoulders, to restless teenagers, to aged pilgrims supporting themselves with walking sticks as the make their way around the lake. I never got tired of just covertly watching families and groups of friends enjoying their day at the holy site. With my dupatta--a long, wide scarf traditionally worn by Indian women--covering my head and shading my face, it was easy to be covert. But because we were among the rare foreigners inside the temple grounds, many more people were watching us covertly than we them. Yesterday was a calmer day overall, with nearly everyone meditatively walking around the lake or bathing in its holy water. Today, being a sunny Saturday, had more of a weekend feel, and quite a few people came up to introduce themselves to us, ask where we are from ("America" always gets a surprised expression and especially delighted response--I think we have President Obama and his recent visit to thank for that), and ask for snaps (photos). At this point in our trip, we have posed for dozens of snapshots, usually surrounded by teenagers but sometimes by whole families.

Today, B and I lunched in the enormous dining hall inside the temple grounds--all are welcome and encouraged to have a meal there, in the Sikh spirit of including and honoring all other religions. The procedures for feeding the thousands of diners who arrive each day would inspire even the most active church back home. The meal is cooked in a kitchen filled with enormous steel cauldrons managed by a squadron of male cooks. You as a diner join a long line of other hungry people who shuffle towards the dining hall, being offered first a metal tray, then a spoon, and then a water cup. As soon as space allows, you're ushered into the hall where a Sikh elder points you to an empty space in one of the long rows of diners sitting cross-legged on coir mats on the concrete floor. Men come past at intervals with big pots, offering ladle-fulls of delicious soup, dal, and rice, along with chapatis and drinking water. Refills are offered from time to time throughout the meal. As soon as you leave, a new diner is ushered to your place as you make your way out the door, other volunteers take your used tray and utensils, and you pass by a hand-washing station before returning to the marble courtyard around the lake.

There is a station where you can make a donation to the feeding program, and we happily donated. As we travel in India, we are often asked for money by beggars. I've never felt that I've hit on the perfect response, I've often felt very uncomfortable and confused about what best to do, and we've encountered many warnings against donating to beggars. So I felt very grateful for the opportunity to give to people who seem especially able to help the hungry.

Yesterday before visiting the Temple grounds, we visited the Jallianwala Bagh memorial. At this site in 1919, hundreds of Amritsar residents had gathered to protest the recently passed Rowlett Act, which forbade political gatherings and public protests. An English officer marched his troops into the courtyard and ordered them to fire on the crowd. Many people were killed. This massacre was depicted chillingly in the movie Gandhi, and it became an inspiration to India's freedom movement.

You enter the memorial through the same narrow brick lane through which the officer led his troops, but nowadays you then enter a beautiful garden setting. An eternal flame burns on a platform surrounded by lawns, walkways, and gardens. As you make your way around the grounds, you encounter reminders of the massacre: bullet holes in the brick walls and a well into which many desperate people jumped and then drowned. There's an indoor area where you can view displays and learn more about the incident and its aftermath. But the overall effect is more heartening than sad, because along with these solemn reminders, you also see dozens of ordinary Indians--now citizens of their own country--enjoying the beautiful grounds and photographing each other in front of the eternal flame.

Tomorrow we return by train to New Delhi where we'll stay for two nights. After that, B and K fly home to Seattle and I head east by train to visit Sarnath, the location where the Buddha gave his first teachings after his enlightenment, and then Bodhgaya, the site of his enlightenment. I'll spend a few days in each place before heading northwestward towards Dharamasala, where I'll be volunteering as an English teacher for the three months after that.