My recent 44th birthday was special! I was travelling with my partner David to India where we were invited for a traditional Punjab wedding ceremony in Chandigarh and Hoshiarpur. Thanks to our friends, with whom we celebrated their special time, we had a full immersion in their amazing culture.
We have started the adventure with the sounds of the streets of Chandigarh and found out that all what we called the noise, was a special local language. I can tell you that 5 languages I speak didn’t have any application in those circumstances. All vehicles, including, cars, buses, motos, bikes, and sometimes even horses, dogs and cows, going in a complete chaos right, left, and around, were using their own system of communication with one another. In some magic way that unusual orchestra of all cacophonic for us sounds, that probably only local people can fully embrace works and flows in its own rhythm. After a couple of days, one can get used to it and I must admit, I even missed it after coming back to a very calm Mainz ?
Let’s be honest, all sensorial experiences, for good and bad, were available but when you are open to explore and immerse into a completely different culture, you realise that it also makes an important part of the landscape, and you just surrender to what is. All our trip was for me a continuous dialogue between the rational mind and the full body and senses experience.
The wedding ceremony was just epic. Starting with the sound of drums in front of the groom’s house in Chandigarh, continuing in Hoshiarpur with the traditional rituals, the music, the colours of sarees, sherwanis and the flavours of a delicious food, amongst which dal and naan at the top of my personal list.
After the wedding ceremony, we continued the journey to Amritsar. And if it wasn’t for our great local driver and guide, we would have been completely lost. Our communication in half-English and with prevalence of the body language, was functioning perfectly. His kindness, a unique ability to navigate through the chaos and his flexibility of finding always great places where to try good Indian food or buy local products, made us enjoy our stay so much more. Sometimes we had to also accept the challenge, when, with his child-like smile, our guide was checking in how fully we want to immerse: Temple? = No shoes. Shoes? = No temple ?
Our curiosity of course took us to visit the golden temple, a jewel of the Sikh tradition. Here yet another rhythm, spiritual is the word that comes to my heart, silence combined with the chanting and prayers. All that atmosphere makes quite an impressive effect. Walking, obviously bare foot, with hundreds of other people immersed in their prayers and the sound of the prayers from the temple livestreamed via loudspeakers, is an unforgettable experience. The day after we continued discovering other temples and found out that the Hindu temple is less restrictive with regards to “no shoes policy” (socks were allowed). We were decorated by the Hindu priests with beautiful flowers necklaces which made me smile, as by a meaningful coincidence, it was the day of my birthday.
We ended the trip with a complete opposite rhythm, the Indian and Pakistan representative armies’ traditional handshake ceremony at the border between those two countries. A lot of special chanting and marching by both armies and applauses of people gathered to watch something in between a show and a parade, certainly impressive, yet another type of the rhythm that will stay in my memories. I wish one day the big border gate will open for all people crossing freely in both directions, and in the rhythm of trust and safety.
Coming back home made me reflect on many aspects of my life. After an intense week of an adventurous time in India, I stayed with an inquiry: how much do we allow the life circumstances to define our rhythms and how much can we shape it? Which rhythms are truly ours? My 44th year of exploration has just started, and I already look forward for the next travels to my inner-self and around the world to discover more answers.
I dedicate this article to all Friends from India, with the best wishes to find their own rhythms of life in harmony.
P.S. If you are curious to explore another perspective on our experience in India, you can read more reflections from my partner David in his blog here.