So yesterday on our village tour we were invited back to the village of Manakpur Sharif for the celebration of the 550th birthday of Guru Nanak. So Rachel and I headed back today to partake of the celebrations.
We were welcomed into the gurudwara sahib by the same young man that guided us yesterday.
We went and sat inside listening to the young children reciting passages from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book which is the collective teachings and writings of Guru Nanak and other gurus.
It was a very moving experience, the women on the left hand side created an amazing visual symphony of colour. The gentle murmur of quiet conversation added to the overall peaceful feeling. The men’s side was nowhere near as occupied but I believe that a lot were downstairs cooking for the hundreds of attendees. Was quite a sight watching three of them making rotis. A group were making something with milk and there was a curry as well. Huge pots and pans.
I was lucky in that my guide was giving me a running commentary on what was happening. After about 30 mins he invited us on a village tour. On the way he met up with a friend of his who spoke a little better English and gave us an amazing history tour of the village.
Way back when (around 1600), the Mughals settled this area, this can be observed in the old architecture and the size of the bricks used.
The inner portion of the village was the fort and you can still see original walls and houses making up the outer wall.
This was to protect the inhabitants from the warring neighbours. From this time there was a large Muslim population that lived in the village and surrounds. They arrived here as they were looking for land to cultivate as most of them came from an area of high forestation and rather than cut this down they moved to somewhere better.
On August 15th 1947 with the partition of British India into two independent states, India and Pakistan, the Muslims headed off to Pakistan and the Sikhs moved from Pakistan, essentially swooping villages. So although there are Muslim mosques in the village the majority of the villagers are Sikh.
So we wandered around looking at the little shops, haberdasheries, snack shops and other assorted places of retail selling goodness knows what.
We then arrived at the home of one of our guides and he showed us around. A typical Punjabi house complete with Neem tree outside. Useful for keeping insects away and the best toothbrush in the world. A small branch, chewed and used to brush the teeth. Best oral hygiene ever apparently. Been used for centuries and now after 60 years of toothpaste we are going back to the old natural ways.... go figure. As our tour guide said,’we all believed what the toothpaste companies said’.
Our young man is a very talented manja weaver.
This is the art of the woven bed. The one that we saw was a beautiful example that he had made.
He learnt from his mother and grandmother and is very talented.
From there we moved next door to ‘uncles’ place where we explored a very old building that gets used 3 times a year for movie sets. It still has the original paintings on the walls
and is a very good example of Moghul architecture. The domes are excellent for keeping cool and the thermal mass of solid brick help
both in winter and summer.
We also saw some old tools of the kitchen, including a grinding stone and a butter churn.
From there we headed up stairs to the rooftop, where we looked out over the Muslim mosque
and the rest of the town.
From there it was a wander around some more of the town and then an invitation back at any time and to feel free to enter into anyone’s home and we would be welcomed. It was so wonderful to have these two men taking time out of their day not only to show us around but to give us a very personal invite into their lives as well as the history surrounding the village. Just marvelous.
Earlier this morning the dogs were setting up a racket and hearing that it was the “we have something bailed up” bark I went to investigate. Sure enough they had something bailed up alright.
On the roof of the changing rooms for the swimming pool was a rather large Rhesus Macaque (pronounced makak).
He (definitely a he) was not a happy camper and was quite aggressive when I got closer to take his picture.
Some time later the tree pruning brigade came and told me that he was in the tree outside my room,
so more photos were taken as he left the property and headed into a bit of bush behind the farm.
Difficult for him due to the barbed wire and glass on the top of the wall but he managed.
Never a dull moment here at Aura Farm and Pottery.
We were welcomed into the gurudwara sahib by the same young man that guided us yesterday.
It was a very moving experience, the women on the left hand side created an amazing visual symphony of colour. The gentle murmur of quiet conversation added to the overall peaceful feeling. The men’s side was nowhere near as occupied but I believe that a lot were downstairs cooking for the hundreds of attendees. Was quite a sight watching three of them making rotis. A group were making something with milk and there was a curry as well. Huge pots and pans.
I was lucky in that my guide was giving me a running commentary on what was happening. After about 30 mins he invited us on a village tour. On the way he met up with a friend of his who spoke a little better English and gave us an amazing history tour of the village.
Way back when (around 1600), the Mughals settled this area, this can be observed in the old architecture and the size of the bricks used.
On August 15th 1947 with the partition of British India into two independent states, India and Pakistan, the Muslims headed off to Pakistan and the Sikhs moved from Pakistan, essentially swooping villages. So although there are Muslim mosques in the village the majority of the villagers are Sikh.
So we wandered around looking at the little shops, haberdasheries, snack shops and other assorted places of retail selling goodness knows what.
We then arrived at the home of one of our guides and he showed us around. A typical Punjabi house complete with Neem tree outside. Useful for keeping insects away and the best toothbrush in the world. A small branch, chewed and used to brush the teeth. Best oral hygiene ever apparently. Been used for centuries and now after 60 years of toothpaste we are going back to the old natural ways.... go figure. As our tour guide said,’we all believed what the toothpaste companies said’.
Our young man is a very talented manja weaver.
From there we moved next door to ‘uncles’ place where we explored a very old building that gets used 3 times a year for movie sets. It still has the original paintings on the walls
We also saw some old tools of the kitchen, including a grinding stone and a butter churn.
From there we headed up stairs to the rooftop, where we looked out over the Muslim mosque
From there it was a wander around some more of the town and then an invitation back at any time and to feel free to enter into anyone’s home and we would be welcomed. It was so wonderful to have these two men taking time out of their day not only to show us around but to give us a very personal invite into their lives as well as the history surrounding the village. Just marvelous.
Earlier this morning the dogs were setting up a racket and hearing that it was the “we have something bailed up” bark I went to investigate. Sure enough they had something bailed up alright.
Some time later the tree pruning brigade came and told me that he was in the tree outside my room,
Never a dull moment here at Aura Farm and Pottery.
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