A Beautiful Morning in Pachayara and A Beautiful Evening at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple

This morning we left at 4:30AM to drive to Rajesh’s (our group leader’s) family village, Pachayara, which is about a 45 minute drive from Delhi. We will spend most of our time in India in urban areas, so Rajesh thought our first full day here should begin in a rural setting so we could get a view of life beyond the cities. The 3+ hours we spent in Pachayara were special. Despite all of us operating on too few hours of sleep, we were all blown away by the hospitality of everyone we met in the village. In a few short hours I learned how to make chapati (or studied carefully how someone else made it), visited a local Hindu temple, dined on delicious snacks, sweets, and fresh milk steamed to perfection, and learned about how self sustaining many of the local farming methods are. Most memorable, though, were the truly wonderful people we met. As our leaders last night noted in our cultural introduction session, an important value in India is the concept that “guest is God”, or Atithi Devo Bhava in Sanskrit, and I think all of us can vouch for how much love we felt here. Our hosts were clearly experts at welcoming outsiders, and while I didn’t take literal notes at the time on how to improve my own hosting skills, upon reflection I can now offer up a list of takeaways as a result of being on the receiving end of this hospitality. The next time I host a group of strangers in my home, namely those from another country, I will be sure to: 1) offer food and drink frequently, and maybe don’t take no for an answer because I know my food is so good they’d be crazy not to try it, 2) introduce myself to everyone and ask questions to get to know them better even if I’m not 100% fluent in their language–making the effort is generous of spirit and time and helps people connect, even if it’s hard at first, 3) take lots of group selfies because it says to guests, “You’re special and this is fun, right?!”, 4) show off aspects of my home and life that I think my guests would be interested in and allow them to participate in activities that may be unfamiliar to them — it helps to encourage cross cultural and personal connections, and 5) make sure there are kids around because they are often the most fearless and fun, have the fewest inhibitions, and help to bring positive energy to the party.

This evening we had the honor of visiting a beautiful Sikh temple in Delhi. One of our first cultural site visits, we toured the worship space, visited the museum that detailed the history of the Sikh religion from its founding to today, and then helped make dinner and ate together in the Langar (the community kitchen in the temple). While I knew a bit about Sikhism, mainly in the context of India’s colonial history, I did not know a ton about its spiritual tenants or general beliefs about how the religion operates and is situated in society more broadly. I have a LOT more reading to do, but I was struck by the warm embrace Sikhism offers to all people (both to the temple and in general). What our guide, the museum literature, and the exhibits emphasized repeatedly was the deep seated Sikh belief in egalitarianism for all, regardless of societally-imposed divisions. Women AND men were expected to cover their heads upon entering sacred space, everyone worshiped together, and all visitors and worshipers who ate, did so together on the floor, regardless of class, caste, or other distinctions. Throughout Sikh history in the Indian subcontinent, you see Gurus who fought for the belief that all people, regardless of who or what they worship, are deserving of dignity and respect. The museum exhibits that highlight the lengths to which Gurus went to protect these rights not only for Sikh believers, but others as well, were particularly moving. It was striking to me the degree of selflessness in the pursuit of these values. I was humbled and moved by the whole experience here and look forward to thinking more about how to incorporate what I learned into my teaching of religion and religious literacy with my students.