Superstar in Amritsar
If you ever feel the urge to really know how it feels to be a movie star, just visit the city of Amritsar. Home to the magnificent Golden Temple, the holiest of shrines for the Sikh religion, this city is much more accustomed to receiving Indian pilgrims from the rural countryside than foreign visitors. As a result, once my friend and I had given our shoes to the shoe-keeper, covered our heads in cloth (a required rule for all visitors), washed our feet in the somewhat unpleasant basin, we instantly became the center of attention, somehow becoming a much bigger focus than the most impressive glittering gold temple itself.
Surrounding the golden temple, which sits in the center of a square lake, is a marble structure. Once inside the gates, the masses simply walk around and around the lake along a wide marble floor, stopping to rest, pray or bathe in the waters, with the temple always directly in front of them.
After only a few seconds of our entrance, the amount of time it took for the first person to gather enough courage to approach us, we were mobbed, the crowds around us growing rapidly. Each person tried to push their way to the front of the group, with the hopes of staring directly into my eyes as they shouted out their praise of my latest film. They wanted autographs and photographs, lining up just to ask ¨One photo please?¨, and then fighting amongst themselves for the chance to be the one standing directly next to me.
I shook hands, patted backs and yelled out phrases such as ¨I could never do it without your support!¨ and ¨I love you all!¨ My few minutes of fame had finally arrived.
And so, for the first 45 minutes of our visit, we were followed by our adoring fans – children, women and men, from 5 years old to 80 – who seemed to forget that they were standing inside the most revered religious sanctuary in their religion. Dressed in their beautifully colorful and traditional Punjabi clothes, these people had come to find a special closeness with god, but were instead choosing to share a moment of closeness with me. They wanted me to bless their babies, grandparents and families, hoping that I would bring them more success than their prayers.
During our stay from 6:30pm – 8:30pm we completed one circuit of the lake, a distance that ordinarily should take no more than ten minutes. And it was tiring indeed – so many smiles, so many photographs, so much small talk, so little peace and quiet. But when small children approached us and left beaming with joy from a simple hand shake and ´hello´, I was genuinely satisfied that my cinematic career had touched the lives of so many people.
Tags: India
dbaron
What a beautiful moment – to give joy out of simplicity.
Now, do tell about this cinematic career of yours.