So I finally had the chance to visit my native land. Punjab, the land of five rivers. To be honest, I am actually quite wary of true "Punjabis", typically I find their pompousness and exuberance scary at times. And Golden Temple sounded like the perfect example of the Punjabi psyche which would go something like - "Ofcourse marble is expensive but Gold is even more expensive, so while people make temples of marble lets make a temple where we put Gold over marble".
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Well, my personal interactions with the golden color though rather infrequent, have been enough to convince me of its paucity in making things prettier, especially when used in large amounts. In fact, my trip to the golden temple was triggered more by spiritual reasons and the fact that after a long time our family was on vacation together. But, golden temple or the darbar sahib as it is called by the locals, is one place where the sikh pompousness has payed off. The sight of the golden island swimming on the lake is stunning and the contrast of the golden colors encircled by white colored temples is the same as what would be between us mortals and the almighty. Thats all I have to say. Do go there when you can. If nothing else, just the sight of all the pilgrims would make you respect the holy Grantha Sahib, and suddenly you will confess to yourself what you never thought possible. Suddenly you'll feel, as I did, that somehow it makes more sense to respect and worship a book that preaches conduct, than a divine human being born in the times of our ancestors.
Think about it :)
