TRAVELMAN INDIA: A Trip to The Gurudwara Bangla Sahib- The largest Sikh Temple in Delhi

This place was the coolest place I visited in Delhi. I even thought it was a better site to see than the Taj Mahal in Agra, not for the Architecture, but the overall experience.

I took the pic below this paragraph near the street in front of the entrance. The tall white facade in the back of the pic is where you go inside. I went with a group from the hostel. A really cool employee of the Madpackers Hostel, Raghu, took a group of us around town that day. I highly recommend the Madpackers Hostel if you ever visit Delhi. I also recommend getting the hell out of Delhi within 48 hrs- Much better places in India with cleaner air.

It was built in 1783 as a Sikh shrine.

In 1664, while Guru Har Krishan (the eighth Sikh guru) lived there, a small pox epidemic broke out. Har Krishan, or Harry as his friends called him (don’t quote me on that), helped the afflicted by providing them with clean water from the well on the property. Harry soon contracted smallpox himself and died the same year. Bummer

Here’s the entranceway I mentioned...

Visitors must cover their heads and remove their shoes before entering. The temple provides a room for foriegners with complimentary head scarves and a place to leave your shoes...

Raja Jai Singh constructed a tank over the well from where Guru “Harry” took the clean water. The water from it is now revered as having healing powers (didn’t seem to heal poor Harry). Sikhs come from all over the world to collect some of the water from the well.

Here we are a few feet beyond the entrance to the temple. The line to get in is to the right, under that awning...

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I’ll tell you what was in there because I like you. As you enter you see the embalmed carcass of the Abmonidable Snowman. Further in, beyond the real Mona Lisa, they have the UFO that crashed in Roswell. It’s next to the world’s oldest carton of milk (they keep it in the back of a cluttered refrigerator so you can’t see it unless you move around the leftover curry). If you take the milk out of the fridge you’re supposed to smell it, then ask the person next to you the following- “Smell this, does this smell bad to you.” Then you’ll go to heaven. You may want to hold back on repeating that to anyone.

What they have is a preacher speaking very loudly into a microphone. A bunch of Sikhs sit on the floor in front of him. It’s like a southern church service back home if you remove the pews and add turbans. They also have a sacred book of teachings in a room you’re not allowed to enter. You can look in at it and say a prayer if you want.

Then you walk outside to the pool. Also just like back home in the south but the pool is larger, in ground instead of above ground, and it doesn’t have beer bellied men drinking Budweisers while sitting in a floating lawn chair. And yes, people do get in the water...

And now looking back at the temple that houses the UFO wreckage (I swear)...

This random janitor wanted to get a picture with me. This happens to caucasians in Asia, strangers want a picture with the freakish white people. After he got his pic, I asked for one with him. The woman was in my group and standing nearby so I invited her into the pic...

After you walk around the pool and back toward the entrance, there are dudes handing out little globs of some really gross peanut butterish stuff. I couldn’t get myself to eat mine. I felt bad because they gave it to me, so I stealthily sauntered by a trash can and accidentally dropped it in the rubbish when no one but God was looking. God will forgive me. He’ll agree it was really gross, then offer me some homemade God peanut butter that will taste heavenly.

If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, or bored, you can zoom in on the pic of this poster and learn all about Sikh heritage. If you read it, tell me what it says because I’m not ambitious or bored enough yet to read it...

Raghu explained that the Sikh’s are all about learning and serving. They have a very large kitchen on the premises. Anyone who goes into the dining room will be served a free meal. Raghu asked if we wanted to spend an hour volunteering in the kitchen.

Heck Yeah! It was the most awesome part of the visit. The kitchen was giant! And I’ll share pics of that experience in my next post, so stay tuned for the next exciting episode of TRAVELMAN INDIA!

Travelman log, day 225 Today is our free day in Yoga Class, so I’m sitting in a cafe writing. !steemitworldmap 28.6285 lat 27.7095 long . A Trip to the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib- Largest Sikh Temple in Delhi, d3scr 396Followers and counting, 1.150.8 steam earned. Rep 59.3

Travel in, travel on...

Travelman out.