Saturday 7 November 2009

A Stroll Around The Gurdwara Sahib

I'm in Leamington Spa at the moment and at lunctime today, with a hangover still spinning away in my head from last night's 'quiet drink', I went over to the town's new Gurdwara Sahib with Jas and Sang for a guided tour.

The temple opened at the end of October and cost almost £11 million. It was paid for by the local Sikhs and is indoubtedly impressive: it's obvious where the money was spent by the quality of everything inside. It is also the only gurdwara in the town - unlike other areas where there is a large Sikh population, there are not separate temples based on caste. The gurdwara is not, however, without controversy. Not everyone in Leamington's Sikh community thinks that so much money should have been spent on a building, as I have picked up in conversations over the last couple of months.

An alternative point of view, one that argues it is more important to "invest in people not cement" and to direct funds towards tackling social problems like alcoholism and domestic violence, is summed up in this comment to a otherwise rather adulatory article on SikhNet.

1 Comment:

HarpyMarx said...

Well, fresh air and exercise is a good cure for a hangover.

:)

The pic is great btw (like the light/shadow aspects) and it really reflects how impressive the building is.

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