[pope benedict XVI & guru nanak dev]
the pope arrived this morning at the south street heliport which is obscenely close to my office. it's the pad where the president launches when he's town. launches, not lunches. when i arrived at work, a big-gish group of people were waiting for a glimpse of divinity at the courtyard in front of my building. there was coast guard, NYPD & helicoptors crawling around everywhere. quite a spectacle. i joined the pope-watchers and saw someone descend from the helicopter. it could have been anyone from my vantage point. a decoy pope? the helicopter pilot? vatican officials?
will the pope heart new york? i hope so. a lot of new yorkers seem to heart him.
it sort of reminds me of when i was living in toronto and pope john paul II came to town for catholic world youth day. a be-jillion catholic youth were in town, easily identified by their world youth backpacks. clogging up subways and what not, standing around outside zanzibar (exotic dance locale) on yonge street, maybe praying for the souls of those inside that den of iniquity. i went to the huge papal mass that took place at downsview park during that visit. in the pissing rain.
the rain put a damper (haha) on the event to some extent & getting to downsview park is a schlep even on the best of days, but it did get me thinking. is there anyone in the sikh community i would go to see? short of guru nanak arising from the dead, no. in a word. i suppose the closest figure to the pope in the sikh religion is is the jathedar of the akal takht. the akal takht is the seat of the supreme religious clergy of the sikhs. the jathedar of the akal takht (there are 5 takhts) is one of the ordained leaders of the faith. the jathedar of the akal takht is currently sardar joginder singh vedanti.
i have been to the akal takht. it's part of the golden temple complex in amritsar, punjab. it was part of my self-discovery / mother-daughter bonding trip to punjab & delhi.
anyway, that's a huge digression on the main topic: the pope is in town!!
p.s. this picture of guru nanak is similar to the one we had prominently displayed in our family room. watching over us, one might say. it's also the picture i would tell everyone [okay, every whiter person] was of my grandfather. until we got a family picture with my grandfather at the portrait studio. the ruse was up.
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