15 Feb
On Tuesday we went to Southall. Southall is a part of London that is like Chinatown, but Indian. So, like Indiatown. As soon as we stepped off the train I could smell Indian food. The Train Station signs were in both English and Sanskrit. A ten minute train ride had somehow dropped us in the middle of India!
We had an assignment to visit a Sikkh temple called a Gurdwara. It was a large temple that looked sort of like a mosque. Men and women entered separate doors at the front of the building. The door led us into a room filled with shoe racks, and a handwashing sink and mirror on the side. I stuck my tennis shoes in a hole, donned a head scarf I had brought, and washed my hands before walking into the main corridor. The interior was simple, but elegant. There were marble floors and a grand staircase leading up to the main Hall where they have their worship services. I walked in and sat cross-legged on the left hand side of the room where I saw the other women sitting. The room was about as big as… I’m trying to think of an analogy… about half of the Wilkinson Center Ballroom at BYU. The floors were all covered with huge white sheets of fabric and there weren’t any chairs in the room. At the front center was their holy book, the guru granth, sitting on a type of altar underneath a large canopy. Off to the side were three men sitting on a platform playing some simple instruments and singing a set of hymns called the kirtan. When the sikkhs walked in, they would walk down a carpet in the middle of the room, drop an offering in a box in front of the altar, and then kneel and bow in front of the guru granth so their head touched their floor. Then they would go and sit on one side or another (cross-legged out of respect) and listen to the kirtan. When I was done listening, there was a man sitting right outside the door with a bowl of Prasad, a kind of dough made of wheat, sugar and butter. There is an equal amount of wheat and sugar to symbolize the equality of men and women (I liked that part). He gave me a little ball and I accepted with both my hands forming a bowl. It actually tasted really good. Anyway, the Prasad is kind of like the LDS Sacrament or the Catholic Communion. At the bottom of the stairs is a community kitchen where we got a free light vegetarian meal. I’m honestly not sure what it was… some sort of whole wheat flat bread, rice pudding, and two spicy green soup-ish dishes that were pretty good. I dipped my bread in the green stuff. Lol. I actually really liked it. It felt really healthy.
We also went shopping in little stalls, bought indian candy and jewellery, and visited an awesome restaurant called Gifto's. It was just a really fun day :)
We also went shopping in little stalls, bought indian candy and jewellery, and visited an awesome restaurant called Gifto's. It was just a really fun day :)
