A religious experience

Last weekend was a long one and never to miss such an opportunity, we (Gautam and yours truly) decided explore Himachal Pradesh. Now, the two of us are anything but religious but what started as a sightseeing road trip, somewhere transformed into a religious tour. If you have traveled in India, you would know that it is almost impossible to find a tourist place without some highly revered temples or shrines. Where else on earth one would spend one full day in a place like Goa visiting temples? Well I, for one, have done precisely that (I was accompanied by my parents and strangely, temples hold more charm for them than those boring beaches, populated by skimpily clad firangs). You may go to Alaska for your honeymoon but the first thing your better half would want to do there is to visit a temple. Whether I like it or not, I can’t run away from my religious bearings.
And this trip was no exception. At the end of our three day road trip, we had visited 2 temples, 1 Church and a Gurdwara (not counting what Nehru termed as the temples of modern India). This blog is an account of the temples visited.
Jwalamukhi Temple: The first visit to the almighty's abode was on our way to Dharmasala. It was about 6:45 pm, the sun had departed to the other side of the globe and we still had about 40 km to go. We did not want to be driving in hills at night but we did not have a choice. Still contemplating what was the best thing to do, we reached this town called Jwalamukhi, named after the famed temple it has. The temple is thus called because of an eternally burning flame caused by natural gas that issues from a hollow rock in the sanctum. It was brimming with pilgrims in bright yellow and red outfits (one can tell a pilgrim by her body language). Both of us (Gautam and yours truly) are ‘practical’ Hindus which means a visit to a temple will happen only if we are told to, by someone far more powerful than us (or in my case, if I am promised some Prasad). But something inspired us to visit this old temple and off we went. Bought some offering and promptly went inside. Call it perfect timing of our bad luck, the doors of the temple had just been closed for Aarti. We enquired with some policeman (a polite one at that!) and were informed that it would open at 8:00 pm. Faced with an imminent danger of having to sleep in our car if we don’t make it to Dharmasala in time, we offered our prayers from outside and gave our intended offerings to an old woman, to be offered to the goddess. As we walked backed to our car, I was secretly hoping that the goddess would understand our plight and would forgive us for running away like we did.
Bhagsunag Temple: The next religious outing was Bhagsunag temple. It has a very interesting story behind its origin but what we liked about this temple was the swimming pool. The temple is said to be older than 2000-2500 years. But when you go inside, you are left wondering about which part is that old. Everything is pilaster and cement and painted. Maybe inside the sanctum sanctorum, the original idol was that old. After the prayers, we walked towards the pool at the base of the temple. It’s a lovely swimming pool, filled with clear blue water from a natural spring (that was an integral part of the legend of Bhagsunag temple). Gautam wanted to drop his clothes (and all our plans) and jump straight into the pool and it was very difficult for me to convince him otherwise. But I could, somehow.
Buddhist Temple: The next on our agenda was the Buddhist monastery. Dharmasala is the seat for Dalai Lama and his exiled government of Tibet. The monastery was, as is expected, very peaceful. As it has happened with me before, something in monasteries leads me to introspection and this place was no exception. The great-Indian-middle-class tourists did their best to ensure that the place felt like a Bandra McDonald’s joint but, thankfully, never succeeded. Peace prevailed.
St. John’s Church (estb. 1850s). I am always fascinated by things that are old. A church as old as St. John’s is a must visit on my itinerary. I don’t know much about the architecture but the church was quite charming. This is also the place where Lord Elgin (then Viceroy of India) was buried. Being a Sunday, mass was in progress and we did not want to intrude so we never went inside. Outside, though, the graveyard kept us company for considerable time as we acquainted ourselves with people buried 150 years ago. Gautam wanted to sit there for more time but we were not mentally prepared to meet some of those old chaps out on their wordly trips, so we had to leave.
Anandpur Sahib: On the banks of Satluj, this place is one of most revered shrines in Sikh religion. This is the place that witnessed the birth of Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh Ji spent about 25 years of his life here and it is here that he gave birth to the fellowship of Khalsa. The shrine is snow-white and as one walks inside, the Shabad immediately puts one under a spell. A spell of peace. The shrine has an enchanting quality about it and it is difficult to leave without secretly promising to come back one day.
The temple of Modern India- Bhakra Nangal Dams: On our way back to Delhi, we passed through Nangal. The Nangal dam is quite small and we almost missed it. Soon we were on our way to the Bhakra dam. The road to Bhakra is very scenic. Lush green forest greets (infested with monkeys) you on either side as the serpentine road winds its way through the valley of the river Beas. Soon we reached the huge dam. On one side, Govind Sagar reservoir offers you a breathtaking view of massive water body. On the other side in the lovely valley, the light green Beas carries on to the lower regions. The landscaping of the whole area is beautiful and clearly a lot of effort has gone behind it. It was unfortunate that we weren’t allowed any cameras. The statistics in terms of the land irrigated through this dam are staggering. I guess, when Pt. Nehru called it the temple of modern India, he wasn’t exaggerating.

This, nutshell, gives the account of the five ‘temples’ that we visited on our journey. At the end of it, I am not any more religiously inclined than I was before the journey. But I have inhaled that cool mountain breeze, have felt tranquil in the calm atmosphere, have discussed the merit of the inclined structure of the dam, have had5 delicious Aloo/Gobhi Parantha with white butter and have touched the stones laid down about 150 years ago.

I have lived a little more.