I was in Amritsar recently because of work and was really looking forward to visiting the Golden Temple. Usually with expectations it is inverse ratio, I mean if you have huge expectations, what you really get or experience is never up to the mark. But in this case I went with a huge expectation, the feel there was supposed to calm a restless soul like me and it sure did.
The tranquility there is divine and is a starck contrast to the pandomonium there due to devotees doing their various types of pooja (prayers), the saints reciting from the holy book, other saint doing the rituals, throngs of tourists waiting in queue to get in, to get out, to explore, to have the langar (term used in the Sikh religion for free food at the Sikh temple).
I met this very nice elderly couple who very kindly showed me around the Golden Temple and narrated the glorious history behind it with many interesting anecdotes of the city and its people. They were kind and hospitable and invited me for breakfast at their place which I just could not refuse.
Being impersonal comes with staying in Bombay. This is not in a negative sense of the word. In Bombay, you learn to keep your distance with people, neither to get personal nor be brusque. I love this city and things it has taught me.
So I went to their house for tea and on my way back was really touched by their hospitality and had requested them to come home when they visit their daughter in Bombay.
When I told my parents about this, my father was very upset in the wake of things happening now adays.
That really brought me back with a jolt to reality, how true is it, we off late do not trust even people we know and yet I (a very "better be cautious than sorry" kind of person) went to an unknown house to an unknown family in an unknown city and yet felt completely safe as these thoughts not even once bothered me when I was with them.
On my way home bound, I left a city not that unknown, left people I knew a bit and carried with me the little peace I gathered at the Temple.
All is not lost thank god. Good people still are around, heart still can identify them and spirit that all will be well is not lost.
