Ananpur Sahib – Turban Tastic

This place is just a sub note in the guide book but decided to come here on a whim, and what a whim it turned out to be.  The town is one of the holiest sites for Sikhs and has loads of huge glistening white temples which give the place the feel of Diney’s Aladdin.  This is added to by all the men having huge beards and turbans, and every man woman and child carrying a large curved dagger at all times.  The Sikhs are very proud of their warring traditions so many also carry around large swords, axes or spears in a casual manner.  Despite all these things this is the friendliest place I have ever been to, everybody wants to talk to me and get me sweets and tea, I cannot pay for anything in this town no matter how much I insist.

Another good aspects, especially after the expense of Chandigarh is that each Gurdwara (Sikh temple) has an attached palatial guest house where all rooms are free and cavernous eating halls which can easily dish out free food to 1000 people at once.  Lines of people from all walks of life from beggars to lawyers sit on the floor and eat the lentils and chapattis which are dished out 24 hours a day.   You can volunteer to wash up or dish out food as part of your religious duty so I spent a few hours in a chain of people washing dishes which helped stop me feeling to guilty about all the free things being forced upon me.

On the second day I walked to a  Hindu temple 15 miles away up in the mountains with a guy visiting from Delhi called Frank. The temple had a surreal feel because as the heat haze of the day set in the plains below vanished giving the impression it was floating in mid air. The site is sacred because of a small cave where a goddess is supposed to have hidden from a ghost who was hunting here.  To get to it you crawl down a small fissure in the rock just big enough for a person which ends in a tiny cave where 10 devotees at a time cram in to offer worship before untangling themselves and crawling back out.  After a little rest and eating in the Hindu free kitchen it was just the small matter of a 15 mile walk back to town in the midday heat.

The next day I was adopted by some of the street vendors who invited me to their house for dinner.  Me and Frank set off on their bicycles to buy some chicken and whiskey, but had to head 5km out of town as meat and alcohol are banned within the town limits.  Despite only having a small stall on wheels selling lime soda their house was really nice, Frank is a chef in Delhi so he made an amazing chicken curry and all the whiskey was soon disposed of.  Slept on the concrete floor which seemed nice and soft at the time.  The best thing about meeting them was that they gave me a turban and taught me how to tie it myself!  Now my quest for knowledge is complete.

I also spent several days as a cloak room attendant in the biggest Gurdwara with a my Sikh Aunty, Pandit little brother, Christian uncle (Frank) and deaf Muslim mate.  Think we should start some kind of movement.  Was a difficult place to leave, but eventually managed to say my goodbyes and head for the holiest place in a long list of Sikh holy places, Amritsar.

Raghead-Morley