One of the really great things about being a photographer is that it gets you places you wouldn’t otherwise go. So on Sunday I walked into the Gurdwara in the town I grew up up, and was welcomed as a guest and helped to photograph virtually everything that went on.
Rather different from when I used to walk along here to the pub at lunchtimes.
Sikhs are of course very generous people, and non-Sikhs are I think always welcomed. But the reception I got contrasted rather with the Catholic cathedral I’d entered earlier in the week to be greeted by notices stating ‘no photography‘ (and I’ve been escorted out of an Anglican cathedral for attempting to take pictures of an event there.)
Of course you have to behave with a certain sensitivity and follow the normal practice of removing your shoes and covering your head, and not to get in the way of the activities, but as with the Sikh wedding I photographed last year, you could otherwise photograph as you liked.
I was fortunate to meet when I arrived another photographer I knew who had also arrived to take pictures and already knew some of the people at the Gurdwara.
I’ve previously photographed Vaisakhi processions on half a dozen or so occassions in other places, including a few times in Southall, in Slough and at East Ham, so I had a good idea what to expect, although each of these places observes things with some differences. But this was the first time I’d photographed the events inside the Gurdwara before the procession around the town.
I stayed with the procession for several hours as it made its way around the town, which I’ve visited only infrequently since my father moved away in the early 1970s. It was a fascinating day, and like the other similar processions I’ve photographed, extremely interesting. One real bonus is the free food available at various points along the route, though it hurts to have to turn down all the delicious sweets on offer.
You can also see pictures from some of the Vaisakhi processions I’ve photographed in previous years on My London Diary. There are processions in various towns over the next few weekends.