Ummeed

I wish blogger would publish in Hindi, wait, better still, that I knew how to write as fast in Hindi… Seemingly, the older we get, the farther we run from the basics. I had an opportunity to visit Punjab via Chandigarh…… The highlights of our trip were a whirlwind tour of rural Punjab and a visit to Anandpur Sahib, a big Gurudwara. Having never been to one before, I realized how little I knew about the Sikh religion. They are a very brave clan and the place of women in their rhetoric is commendable. Something in my heart just went on a trip.. not very different from being on a bike ride in a new country, without health insurance to cover a high-speed crash.

I was travelling with two other South Indians and so, we had to make our mandatory stop at an awesome restaurant to lay our hands on some super-expensive dosas (65 bucks a pop!) and lassi.

The green fields completely blew me away, I was reminded of my travels to my dad’s hometown in Mannargudi which rests literally between nowhere and never-again.

The road-signs seemed to point in the right direction, capitalism ahoy! Maaza aa gaya..

The visit to the Gurudwara was the highlight of my trip with my new friend Harpreet giving us a detailed tour of the place and his encyclopedic knowledge of his religion blew me away.

Unlike most temples, the place was very clean and everyone had covered their head.. me included…….

For some reason, I kept thinking of Rajbir Gujjar, from a book I read, an athlete turned policeman who suffers “the universal affliction of all athletes: struggling to level with the infinitely more complex rules of life outside the playing arena.“

And onwards we go..