Southall, a borough of London

We had a day trip to Southall, an Indian borough of London. First we went to the Sikh temple - awesome! We covered our heads, took off our shoes and then headed off to pay our respects to their holy book. We sat there and I contemplated the DOZENS of questions that was coming to mind. As we were leaving the hall that held the Holy Book an old Indian woman dropped a hand full of this mushy mixture in my hand. I tried it and it was quite delicious (flour, butter, sugar, water mixture). From there we went to the mess hall were we were given a free meal - everyone is given food regardless of religious affiliation, what an amazing service. Melissa and I attempted to strike up conversation with the sikhs that we were sitting next to but unfortunately they did not speak English. Since we were done with our food first we decided to volunteer to wash dishes. They excited look on the old Indian women was worth it all. We were given a lot of non-verbal instructions as to the method that the dishes were to be washed but the translation was not complete and a few times we were corrected. As we did the dishes we discovered that this free meal was open to the public three meals a day seven days a week and these women that did the dishes volunteered at the temple every single day, day in and day out! After dishes we went to a Question and Answer session with a Sikh who answered all my questions. I was surprised to learn how similar the Sikh religion is with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Just goes to show you that you could find truth in all places.

Next we went to a small Hindu temple and paid our respects to the second most prominent religion of Southall. It was interesting to see the multiple gods in the different representations. Despite the Hindu temple being a smaller and more intimate setting I felt more comfortable in the Sikh temple - I do not know if it was the welcoming attitude of the members or the religious similarities. I wish that I could remember more about what I studied concerning the Hindu faith back in the beginning of High School and in Middle School but it was just out of my memory. As we were leaving I took some sugar water from the priest and was given a pomegranate.

After the Hindu temple we walked around and enjoyed seeing the town. I was struck on how similar the smells and sights were to the Palestinian side of the Old City of Jerusalem. As we walked around we decided to get henna and in the salon we were able to talk to some of the townspeople. Everyone was super friendly and it was interesting to note some of the differences between the older and younger generations. You could definitely see the modern European influence on the younger generations.

After walking away and making our way to the larger Hindu temple in the town we went to an Indian restaurant and given a sample of many dishes. Oh man how I love Indian food. I wish that I could have just ordered my usual favourite dishes but still I loved the naan and masala dishes. Yummy day full of rich, interesting experiences - definitely a lot to reflect on.