YA LEUM.25 — My first time overnight in a Sikh temple
Cameron Highlands does not stop us to surprise. Get ready for one more story “must not ever forget”.
The day before, we had a cozy time at Fatima’s house. She hosted us like family, and we could feel the love in every single moment we spent with her.
We had such a good time; we woke up late and relaxed. Cameron Highlands were a magnet to us, something always dragged us there.
So, we decided to spend the day in the city so we could enjoy some relaxing time and take the bus at night to Kuala Lumpur. The plan sounded simply perfect. However, when we got to the bus station they told us no more bus would leave that day.
“What, are you serious?!”. Again, we needed to stay one more night and apparently, there was always something keeping us here…
Nevertheless, we decided to get around the village. Besides walking around, and doing window-shopping, we also found a small local food market where we ended up having dinner.
After dinner, the town was lively, so it seemed a good excuse to have a beer and later look for a place for the tent. At this point, we were quite acquainted with the town, let us not forget we have spent already in total about 7 days in a village where people spend utmost half a day. We planned to wake up early, so no point to pay for an accommodation if we could pitch the tent easily outside of the village and be ready early to either take the bus or hitchhike.
Around 8.30 pm, we stopped at a convenience store to buy snacks and drinks. Mathieu was waiting outside eating an ice cream, when an Indian-looking cheerful man commented something to Mathieu. Mathieu is the easiest person to engage in a conversation, so the moment I came outside they were already in a lively dialogue. Moments later, the two friends joined the conversation and the five of us shared introductions.
They explained they lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur, but they had a religion celebration that weekend, so they took the opportunity to visit Cameron Highlands.
Neither them, nor us had a strict plan, so why not have a drink together?
That is what we did!
The three friends were from the Punjab district in India, border with Pakistan. Although they were living and working in Malaysia for a few years already, they still left their families in India. One of them, Sam, showed us the lovely picture of his wife and a daughter. We also talked about our trip and our lives before that.
They were fun and there was always something to say!
It was getting late and we were not still sure about the place to pitch the tent, even though we checked briefly some places before dinner.
As we shared with them our adventure, they got surprised and somehow shocked we would still look for a place for the tent at that time of the night.
So, they suggested “You can come to sleep in our temple. In our religion, we never leave anyone outside, so there’s always a place to sleep in the temple”.
They were Sikhs, and the religion is called Sikhism. Sikhism is classified as an Indian religion, along with Buddhism and Hinduism. Sikhism is mostly present in the north region of Indian, Punjab. Among the Sikh men, it is common to use a turban, but naturally there are men that choose not to wear it. Also, women can use a scarf to cover their head.
The time to go to the temple arrived.
I am addicted to new cultural experiences, so I was so anxious to find out another piece of reality…
How many times do I have the opportunity to overnight in a Sikh temple (traditionally called Gurdwara)?
I did not even see a Sikh temple from far ever in my life, so I had no idea what to expect.
We arrived late, so there was barely no one around. Binda, one of the three friends, informed someone we were there.
While Binda was finding the place to sleep, Sam brought us to the canteen and said :
“We always have available food for everyone. You can take whatever you want, do not be shy. It is for free, we make sure everyone eats.”
My mind was blown away!
I could not believe in such kindness in this world.
I repeated to myself, again and again,”the Europe I know is not like that”. Every single day, I witnessed love and humanity in Asian lands. I do not call it acts of kindness because it was not only the acts that were kind, but also their hearts, minds and soul.
That is who they are, not only in deeds, but also in their whole being.
I grabbed the naan bread, the curry and vegetables and sat silently to try to be the most discreet that I could.
Somehow, I felt uncomfortable to receive such generosity. In my western mind, maybe “I should give something and do something”. Instead of only accepting generosity and love in its pure form: food and shelter.
Once we finished eating, they took us to the upper floor and told us to get in a big room.
In that precise moment, I was transported to an unexpected magical universe
It was 3am, in a spacious room, with a soft enormous carpet, a man was seated on platform echoing meditative chanting to a half occupied room. Some people were with their eyes closed, crossed legs, following the readings and chanting of the Guru; the other half was resting peacefully on top of a mattress.
My eyes glittered of so much beauty and my heart admired such tranquility.
They indicated us to remove our shoes and pointed to other direction to grab a mattress and a blanket.
Silently, we followed the instructions and found a discreet place to leave our belongings.
Mathieu and I lied down in the mattresses facing each other, smiling with gratitude about what The Universe presented us that evening.
We woke up early to avoid disturbing anyone. Our new friends met us in the morning to say hello and invite us for tea. Later, they introduced us the temple Guru, so we could say thank you for the hospitality and kindness.
We said goodbye to these loving and fun friends and got ready to come back to the road.
Mathieu and I felt refreshed and positive. The morning was soft and the sun was already out. We felt the luckiest on earth, for the opportunity to meet such people, to learn about a new reality and to have been hosted in such safe hands.
We talked nonstop about everything, we were so excited for what we had witnessed… but quickly we realized these experiences are best when lived within us, and inner change is a process that cannot be described but only felt by the heart.
Thirty minutes later, a car stopped by the road and asked “where are you guys planning to go?”
“Kuala Lumpur”, we said.
“Come on in, I travel until Singapore for work. You can give me some company”.
September 2017,
Patricia Assis
