Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Southall!!!

hat a great day! I feel like in my life I haven’t had the opportunity to really immerse myself in other cultures. Of course there is the occasional vacation outside of the country but I don’t really think that counts.  Today we had the chance to go to Southall. This basically the area of London where all of the Indians live.  When we first arrived we got off of the train and walked to a Sikh Temple called the Gurdwara.  Dave Shuler gave us a short little run down of what the Sikh religion was and I found it fascinating.  He said that the Sikh have spiritual leaders that they call Gurus. There are no Gurus left today so they live their lives by following there book of scripture and following the 5 Ks, I will describe these later.  When we first walked in the temple we had to take out shoes off and cover our hair with our scarves.  We then proceed up the stairs into this big room where the book was sitting.  We walked up this big isle and to show respect you bow to the ground and touch your forehead to the book. We just walked up and touched the floor and then went to sit on the left side of the room with all the other ladies.  To show respect to the book you aren’t supposed to turn your back to it or point your feet to it. We had to sit cross legged on the  floor and walk sort of diagonally, it was a little tricky.  We took time to just meditate and all of these questions just started coming into my head.  It was a amazing the things you wonder about when you take time to just sit and think.  I wanted to know what the lady on the loud speaker was saying, and why there was a man fanning the book with a big white fan. I had my questions answered later that day in a little question and answer session we had in the library.  When we left the big room there was little lady sitting on the floor who handed us a lump of this warm gooey stuff which was made out of butter, flour, and sugar which was just a thank you for coming to worship.  Then we headed to the kitchen to try some indian food. The food is free and is always there for anyone that wishes to come and eat.  During the question and Answer session we were able to talk to a real practicing Sikh.  He said he had become active about 13 years ago. He told us about the religion but he said they don’t really call it a religion they call it a way of life.  There philosophy is that they don’t need to convert people to their religion because there goal is to just praise God and encourage others to praise God the best they can. He also described the 5 K’s. The turban- worn at all times to show respect to god, the comb- symbol of cleanliness comb it twice a day, Hair- never cutting tit because it is something God gave them, the knife- worn at all times to show they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of mankind, and the bangles- to remind them to do the work of god.  I thought it was amazing how many similarities there were between out religion and theirs when the cultural differences are so big.  We both pay tithing, we both take or shoes off in our temples to show respect, we both focus on a personal conversion to God, both acknowledge the power of mothers and their part in teaching and nurturing children, and many other things. He also told us that they don’t keep copies of the scripture in their house unless they chose to follow a strict set of rules, that is why they are encourage to go the temple twice a day.

After that we were able to go and sit in 2 more muslim temples. They were much different.  They worship many Gods and they are represented by these big ornate dolls set up all along their temples. They were all about the sparkle and the lights.  It almost felt like we were in Disneyland and not a real place of worship.  I was kind of bummed that we didn’t get to talk with anyone because I had a lot of questions about this religion as well.  After those temples we had a couple hours of free time to just explore the town.  We bought bangles and got henna.  It was fun to see these people just out and about their daily routine. We ended our excursion at this Pakistani Restaurant for dinner.  It was really great.  It was my first time having indian food and I really enjoyed trying everything.  It was a great finish to a great day.


The Gudwara...

The sweet dough...
The free food...
The statues in the muslim temple...

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