A beautiful view of the Golden Temple on a cloudy Friday morning in Amritsar. Sameer Sehgal/HT
INDIA---I still remember that day. July 30, 1984. Golden Temple had been opened for the first time after Operation Blue Star. I, along with my brother, had queued up to enter. I hid a camera in my dupatta. Debris and more debris. That was the first thing I noticed inside. “Everything has been destroyed!” my brother said. When we reached near Sri Akal Takht Sahib, we were shattered to see that all specimens of Sikh and Hindu art had been lost for posterity with the destruction of the old building. The building had been opened only after the central government had hastily got repaired the building on contract. However, the Sikh community rejected the gesture. As soon as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was given charge, the Sangat started demolishing it. With that demolition, the murals, gold work, woodwork, mahrakashi, wall paintings, gach work, jaratkari and tukri work, calligraphy, were all lost to history. [link]
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