"A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood!"

It is the Sikh festival called Vaisahi and it happens every year a few blocks from my apartment. This year I found out that it actually happens all over the world, where ever there are Sikh communities. I just thought they all came here. After all it is New York. Anyway, as always, it was huge, it was a genuine piece of India and it was fun!

When I was in India a few years ago, I got to visit the Golden Temple, the holy center of the Sikh religion at Amritsar. Kinda like the Vatican or The Wailing Wall which the Isreali's still manage to foist off as being part of King Solomon's Temple, while everybody knows it really isan't.   But it is a great tourist attraction, so nobody wants to blow it.

Anyway, back at Amritsar: as it happened the day I was there also happened to be in the middle of another yet another festival. The crowds were equally huge, but what do you expect? I mean it was India, after all and huge crowds go with the territory.  The only requirements for entering the temple grounds were to cover my head and remove my shoes. And eat. Well, eating wasn't actually required, but the first question I was asked was “Have you eaten yet?” Seems one of the tenants of the religion is to feed visitors and they take that seriously. There were huge caldron's of rice and vegetarian foods being cooked up (they are strict vegetarians) and plates full passed to all.  It also happened to be Yom Kipper. Really. I figured it was OK to eat, since it seemed that not eating would have been offensive. But at the huge pool across from the Golden Temple (it really is gold),  I did say Kaddish.  One of my more memorable Yom Kippors.  Chalk up yet another amazing experience in India.

Meantime, back on Madison Avenue, in the park where the festival parade ended – this is a bit about this festival, here in New York, remember? - there were dozens of stands set up by various local temples handing plates of that same wonderful food, along with containers of sweetly spiced masala tea and mango lasi to wash it all down. Everyone was happy, the women were beautiful - especally that cute Indian cop - and in the immortal words of Mr. Rogers: 

“A beautiful day in the neighborhood. “