What describes an average road trip: sitting in a car for hours, paved roads, and a calm and peaceful view? Sometimes that doesn’t happen.

My parents, my grandparents, and I went on a trip to a temple (also known as a gurudwara) that was three to four hours away (one way). The journey seemed long but astoundingly it was only 60 miles away (55.5 to be exact). Thus it should only take about 1 hour and 34 minutes. As you can see it shouldn’t take that long. We only took one stop to fill up gas and eat lunch (the gas station was next to the restaurant) that took about 30 minutes. The reason that it took so long though was that many obstacles delayed our journey presumably because we were in India.
For this journey, initially, we set out in the morning at 7:00 am. My mom and grandma got up earlier (probably at 5:00) to do casual preparations for the trip like make breakfast, pack some snacks, and organize all the leisure materials in bags, so it is easy to carry. Our driver came at 6:30 so that we could put all the bags in the car and he could work out the details of the payment with my grandparents. So my family and I piled into the car and we set of towards the gurudwara. At first, the ride was pleasant as the roads were very well paved. After that we went to a rural area where they were so many potholes. We continued on that road for an hour. We got used to the motion after ten minutes but then when we got back on the smooth roads we felt like a bubble and we had an urge to blow grits. (Throw up) The potholes were pretty deep and the car was shaking. I wondered why the car didn’t turn over. There wasn’t just an “occasional pothole”. There was one every second. I was very obliged to the government for making such “terrific” roads. Well they aren’t all to blame, as it had rained very recently. The rain had pooled up in the puddles, making uneven bumps in the road and thus making it easier for cars to skid. The thing was that the rain disguised the potholes (the rain was muddy and it also contributed to the problem). This forced the driver to pass over the pothole as due to the “disguise” he couldn’t swerve around them. So avoiding the potholes was (Unfortunately) impossible.
So to get rid of the feeling of the potholes, my great–aunt started talking to my mom and my grandma. Then, my grandpa and my dad, having nothing else to do, started talking about the Indian sport of cricket (similar to baseball except there are only two bases, it is played in a circular field, and uses a different technique in batting as well as in hitting). I joined in this conversation, as I know a little bit about this sport myself (through my friend in Lawson). This helped kill the time a bit. Due to this exchange, I learned that my dad played professional cricket with his friends in the university called IIT, where he also did his engineering. This allowed my dad to talk very fluently to my grandparents about the different techniques of cricket. Specifically, he talked about the ways you can pitch the ball (some of these pitches include: off spin/off break, leg spin/leg break, and swing). Throughout this conversation, my grandpa was listening intently as he loved the sport (cricket) and hadn’t played it for a long time. I was pretty awestruck during this exchange.
Finally the temple/gurudwara came. Its name was called Nanak Matta Sahib. It is named after one of our prophets, (spiritual teachers) Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is in the state of Uttarakhand. This gurudwara is a historical Sikh shrine in North India. Our prophet visited this state in one of his pilgrimages to spread our religion. He noticed here that yogis (people who do yoga) were exploiting the poor people of the state. And thus, they were spreading profoundly untrue pieces of “wisdom” to these poor people who weren’t very well educated. The yogis scammed these poor people and extracted money which they used for their own purposes. Then our prophet Guru Nanak Dev Ji prevented the yogis from exploiting the poor people and taught the yogis the path of true salvation and meditation. I learned this folktale from my grandma, my mother, and my great aunt. They had visited this Gurudwara many times prior to me and had learned about the rich history of this gurudwara from their parents/other relatives. This gurudwara is really important to our religion and culture.
Another reason why this gurudwara is very special is due to the fact unlike other gurudwaras, it had two sacred pools: one even was converted to a sacred Sikh dam. The pool in the dam was pretty deep underground so it was a pretty gruesome task reaching it. It took 500 steps (approximately) to reach the bottom and another 500 to come back up. You have to be diligent in order to reach the bottom. My grandpa and I went ahead of the rest of my family. My parents had to stay behind to help my grandma and great aunt go down to the sacred spring. Also on the way down, my parents were praying. This also slowed them down. On the way down, my grandpa and I were talking about America. He had visited America the year before. He had made some acquaintances in Monta Vista Park during that visit and wondered how they were doing. I was shocked at the melancholy that he had. I guess he got lonely as he and my grandma were the only two people he was accustomed to. Feeling guilty, I anxiously changed the topic. Soon, we reached the bottom. There, we drank the sacred water (also known as Amrit, the ambrosial nectar of the gods). Then we began walking back up. (The steps test your determination) On the way back up I started saying a prayer. This was a simple prayer but it gave me the determination to go all the way up. Finally, I reached the top. Despite that I was famished and tired, I was proud of my achievement of reaching the bottom as it was a good challenge which I finished in about 15 minutes.
After this “trek” down to the sacred pool, we went back to the main gurudwara. We ate lunch here. Gurudwaras provide free food in a community kitchen. Every gurudwara has a langar where all people are welcome to a free meal regardless of their sex, color or religion. All the food is vegetarian so that no religion is offended or excluded. In the langar hall, everyone sits together even if the people next to you are total strangers. Your “rank” doesn’t really matter (i.e. even a king sits next to a poor peasant/beggar). This enables that everyone is equal. Everyone shares the tasks of preparation, cooking, serving and cleaning. This shows sewa - selfless service to the others in the congregation (community), the gurudwara, and the world outside. After lunch we took part in the sewa by helping clean dirty plates (mom, grandma, and great-aunt), serving foods (me and my grandpa), and helping clean the area with a motorized cleaner (me and my dad) (*I did two things). Then, after eating lunch, our family went to the Diwan hall where the prayer was going on. Here a very special prayer was going on: it was a celebration of someone’s life which happens usually in a funeral. We sat there quietly praying for the unfortunate that lost one of their members. Everyone was wearing white as a tradition of mourning. Then we left quietly leaving the congregation to their affairs of the funeral.
Next, we explored the main gurudwara. Just outside of the Diwan hall was a Pipal tree. This tree is an especially religious tree. This was where our guru/prophet used to meditate and lead congregations, before the gurudwara was built. Today it is a very spiritual place and it houses a sacred fire called a joth. After, participating in the prayer Sikhs come here to get spirituality. This tree has a long history. Guru Nanak Dev ji reached this place and sat for meditation under a dry Pipal tree, which became green due to the holy congregation of our prophet. The yogis were surprised to see him there as this place was quite inaccessible, especially during the winters. Then the yogis set the tree on fire and our prophet took the care of nurturing this tree again and restored it as Sikh shrine. From, this tree, yet again I gained the rich tradition of Sikh culture and I acquired this knowledge to pass on to my community. I took the joth and I continued on to the second sacred pool. This sacred pool was right outside of the gurudwara and was a place to do a ritual called Ishnan. More commonly known as hydrotherapy, this ritual cleans the body and mind of vices and sins. Unfortunately, I could not do the Ishnan as it started raining. Thus we had to move on.
Sadly we got on the road again. This time we left the gurudwara to a nearby gurudwara called Nanakpuri. This gurudwara, like the previous was named after the prophet Guru Nanak. This gurudwara was smaller than the previous one. It had a well and a mango tree. Luckily it had stopped raining so we could explore this gurudwara casually without worrying about rain pelting us. But it was still wet on the floor of the gurudwara though. Some of the mangoes of the tree had fallen due to the rain. My grandfather was daring enough to go to the tree and pluck off a mango (you were allowed to) even though the ground was slippery as ice due to the pools of water on the ground. Nevertheless he plucked 5 mangoes for the whole family to eat later. Next we went to the well of this gurudwara. Before our prophet came to this place, there were many slavers in this area. Our prophet came here and saw all of this children being kidnapped/caught and immediately put an end to this occurrence. The slavers became heavily ashamed and came under the wing of our prophet and learned the ways of god. This well has significance as it is the very spot our prophet put the end of the sins of the slavers. I was shocked at the fact that there were child slaves in India. Fortunately, I am glad that our religion (and probably most other religions) also did not permit slavery.
Our last stop of the day wasn’t religious at all. My mom was told by my grandma that her childhood friend lived in the vicinity. So we went over to my mom’s friend’s house so that my mom and her friend could have a reunion. When my mom’s friend opened the door, she was astonished and overjoyed to see my mom. They hadn’t seen each other for 10 years. My mom talked to her for a whole hour to catch up on events she had missed since she last met her. After this reunion we set the “sails” towards home. Despite the fact that it ride was bumpy and exhausting, I had an excellent day. I learned a lot about my religion and my family’s heritage. It was my best vacations ever and I will always treasure it as a memory of my grandparents.