I’ve got a cold

I’ve got a cold today. I’m feeling yucky. The good news is that the new IT network is up and running at the school and the power has been on all day; so I can catch up on my Blog.

I was going to stay at a Nivas this week so I could be close to the Golden Temple. The Nivas’s are guest houses in the Golden Temple compound. They are very inexpensive ($1 a day, donation for one of the newer ones), but not very fancy. The thought of taking an auto rickshaw at that time is just too much, plus, I could use a change of scenery. It’s very noisy at the Nivas, lots of coming and going, but when I’m feeling better, I still want to go.

My plan was to do the seva inside the Golden Temple for a week or so. It starts about midnight and ends about 3AM. I did it once on my last trip here. It was a very powerful experience for me. Not everyone is allowed to do it. It is very intensely focused, very devotional, lots of chanting, and lots of grey beards (women are not allowed - there is still lots of work to do around discriminations, even among the more egalitarian Sikhs). The last time I did it, I felt that I was in the beating heart at the center of the world. It was quite profound. I hope I am not disappointed this time.
It’s gotten very cold here at night. The fog has gone for now and the days are sunny and warm, but the air is cool, even during the day. At night (early AM) on the marble around the Golden Temple, it gets very cold, especially when you get wet from the cleaning. So, I’m going to wait until I feel better to go.