Diwali at The Golden Temple

A photo story by Vishal Das

The journey was a unique one for me as this was the first time I went solo despite all the unfavorable conditions. Packed my camera, charged my devices, grabbed the headphones and hopped on a train and set off!

Here's a photo from the train, this kid had been the center of attraction for quite sometime now. I was ready to click a moment that depicted a whole story in itself!

In the next slide you'll find a beautiful relationship between a Mother and her child that I captured while on the train

A Mom and her child

If you haven't been to Harminder Sahib, it's almost like a small city surrounded by 2 very popular historic spots, The Golden Temple and the Jallianwla Bagh.

The place is almost never empty due to the immense love of people for The Golden Temple and an amazing tourist spot.

In the next slide you'll find a day and night picture of a small market in near the place. People even have their homes here and do their daily living here.

The market near The Golden Temple

The Golden Temple is itself a beauty of late Indain and Mughal Architecture. The piece is covered with a thing foil of Gold that reflects light all over the rest of the temple and is surrounded by a sacred pool.

The Golden Temple.

The beauty of this place isn't the Temple itself, rather the service it provides to it's visitors. Everyday it serves free food to thousands of people who come from all over the world. This food is prepared by volunteers who work for free to serve each other. I was a student and was carrying a noticeably big bag which contained my gear, which is why I was afraid that I might not be allowed inside! Solution? I lived the day as a reporter who was covering the occasion for his college newspaper :)

Inside World's largest free food kitchen.

Inside World's largest free food kitchen.

Inside World's largest free food kitchen.

Inside World's largest free food kitchen.

When serving to a mass that big, clean vessels are very important!

Which is why cleaning is taken very seriously and can go through 1 to 3 steps to a clean vessel!
Check next slide!

All hands on Deck! Help at cleaning!

All hands on Deck! Help at cleaning!

When is was built in 1851, the Sikhs used protected the temple from Islamiq rulers with their mighty weapons! Although today the scenario has changed, but the spark of Sikhs to protect from the negative influences, still remains the same till date.

The Sikhs who protect the religion and the temple.

However, that isn't today's major attraction! Diwali celebration is. Every year during Diwali, thousands of people gather to celebrate the festival of light and happiness. The same reason, why I chose to come here! The evening firework show fills up everyone with joy while keeping it minimal to take care of the environment!

Don't forget, I am still a reporter :)

People celebrating Diwali at the Golden Temple

People celebrating Diwali at the Golden Temple

The Golden Temple

And I decided to call it a day! It's been an amazing journey and experience to have covered this auspicious event. Learnt a lot of things from this, one of them is that, you almost never take good pictures, you take a lot of bad ones and then choose the less bad ones to show! What makes the spark is the story it tells!

Thank you!