CANTERBURY ANTIQUITY, BEAUTY, UNIVERSITY

Monday, 4 August 2014

CANTERBURY  ANTIQUITY,  BEAUTY,  UNIVERSITY

ENGLISHMAN'S PILGRIMAGE CENTRE

B.S.Goraya

 

Canterbury is an historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour.

I feel it is one of the most beautiful cities of UK. For ages it has remained an educational centre.While on road I clicked some photos of the Canterbury University. Of coarse the cathedral here is a most magnificent architecture

Please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury

In about 500 photographs

ਕੈਂਟਬਰੀ ਅੰਗਰੇਜਾਂ ਦਾ ਇੰਗਲੈਂਡ ਵਿਚ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਹਰਮਨਪਿਆਰਾ ਤੀਰਥ ਸਥਾਨ ਹੈ। ਇਥੋਂ ਦੇ ਕਥੀਡਰਲ (ਗਿਰਜਾ ਘਰ) ਦੀ ਵਿਸ਼ਾਲ ਇਮਾਰਤ ਕੋਈ 1000 ਸਾਲ ਪੁਰਾਣੀ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਅੱਜ ਵੀ ਵਰਤੋਂ ਵਿਚ ਹੈ। ਇਹ ਚਰਚ ਹੀ ਕੈਂਟਬਰੀ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਦੀ ਜਾਨ ਹੈ। ਇਥੇ ਲੰਮਾ ਸਮਾ 'ਕੈਂਟ' ਨਾਂ ਦੀ ਅਜਾਦ ਰਿਆਸਤ ਵੀ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ। ਸਿਰਫ ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਹੀ ਨਹੀ ਕੈਂਟਬਰੀ ਸਿਖਿਆ ਦਾ ਵੀ ਮਹਾਨ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਹੈ। ਅੱਜ ਇਥੇ ਤਿੰਨ ਚਾਰ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀਆਂ ਵੀ ਹਨ। ਸੜਕ ਤੋਂ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਅਸੀ ਕੈਂਟ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ ਥਾਂਣੀ ਨਿਕਲੇ ਤੇ ਕੁਝ ਫੋਟੋ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਗੱਡੀ ਵਿਚੋਂ ਹੀ ਖਿਚੀਆਂ ਹਨ ਉਹ ਵੀ ਦਿਤੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਮੁੱਖ ਬਜਾਰ ਦੀਆਂ ਕੁਝ ਫੋਟੋਆਂ ਹਨ ਤੇ ਸਹਿਰ ਦਾ ਹਲਕਾ ਜਿਹਾ ਗੇੜਾ ਕੱਢਿਆ ਹੈ ਕੁਝ ਉਹ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ ਵੀ ਹਨ। ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਦੇ ਵਿਚੋਂ ਦੀ ਇਕ ਛੋਟਾ ਜਿਹਾ ਨਾਲਾ ਨਿਕਲਦਾ ਹੈ ਜਿੰਨੂ ਇਹ 'ਸਟੌਰ ਦਰਿਆ' ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਦੀ ਆਬੋ-ਹਵਾ ਖੂਬਸੂਰਤ ਤਾਂ ਹੈ ਹੀ ਪਰ ਇਥੋਂ ਦੀ ਕੌਸਲ ਨੇ ਇਨੂੰ ਸਵਾਰਨ ਵਿਚ ਕੋਈ ਕਸਰ ਨਹੀ ਛੱਡੀ। ਸਾਨੂੰ ਤਾਂ ਇਕ ਕੋਈ ਪਰੀਆਂ ਦਾ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਲਗਿਆ।
ਸਾਰੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਅਸਾਂ ਕੋਈ 500 ਫੋਟੋਆਂ ਦੇ ਰਾਂਹੀ ਦਸਣ ਦੀ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ। ਫੋਟੋਆਂ ਦਾ ਅਕਾਰ ਵੀ ਛੋਟਾ ਕਰ ਦਿਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਕਿ ਖੁੱਲਣ ਵਿਚ ਅਸਾਨੀ ਰਹੇ। ਜੇ ਤੁਸੀ ਚਹੁੰਦੇ ਹੋ ਕਿ ਭਵਿਖ ਵਿਚ ਤਸਵੀਰਾ ਦਾ ਨਾਪ ਥੋੜਾ ਵੱਡਾ ਹੋਵੇ ਤਾਂ ਅੰਤ ਵਿਚ ਦਿਤੇ ਬਾਕਸ ਵਿਚ ਦੋ ਲਾਈਨਾ ਲਿਖ ਦੇਣਾ ਜੀ।

KENT UNIVERSITY

CITY

MEDIEVAL CASTLE WALL

STOUR RIVER

STOUR RIVER BEAUTY

Author (photographer) B.S.Goraya 

 In the main Bazar

 No gondvey laddoo these r minced meat cookies

19th century building converted to museum has some artifacts from India

 The Museum Madam

Again in the main Bazar

and THE CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

MOST MAGNIFICENT BUILDING i have ever seen

 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL - SOUL OF CANTERBURY

This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain and is the oldest church in England still in use.

St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. It is said that Gregory had been struck by the beauty of Angle slaves he saw for sale in the city market and despatched Augustine and some monks to convert them to Christianity.Augustine was given a church at Canterbury (St Martin’s, after St Martin of Tours, still standing today) by the local King, Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, a French Princess, was already a Christian. This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain and is the oldest church in England still in use.Augustine had been consecrated a bishop in France and was later made an archbishop by the Pope. He established his seat within the Roman city walls (the word cathedral is derived from the the Latin word for a chair ‘cathedra’, which is itself taken from the Greek ‘kathedra’ meaning seat.) and built the first cathedral there, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Since that time, there has been a community around the Cathedral offering daily prayer to God; this community is arguably the oldest organisation in the English speaking world. The present Archbishop, The Most Revd Justin Welby, is 105th in the line of succession from Augustine.

Until the 10th century the Cathedral community lived as the household of the Archbishop. During the 10th century, it became a formal community of Benedictine monks, which continued until the monastery was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1540.

Augustine’s original building lies beneath the floor of the nave– it was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the Cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. There have been many additions to the building over the last nine hundred years, but parts of the quire and some of the windows and their stained glass date from the 12th century.

By 1077, Archbishop Lanfranc had rebuilt it as a Norman church, described as “nearly perfect”. A staircase and parts of the North Wall – in the area of the North West transept also called the Martyrdom – remain from that building.

Cathedral from sky (Google Earth)

Cathedral Photo from 2.5 kms

Back in the city. Its very air is religious. Old churches every where

 AND OF COURSE ITS PEOPLE

DO U WANT SLIGHTLY  LARGE PHOTOS? PLEASE SAY SO IN THE BOX GIVEN BELOW.

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GOD LIVES IN UK, REALLY

Thursday, 24 July 2014

 GOD LIVES IN UK, REALLY

ਇੰਗਲੈਂਡ ਵਿਚ ਸੱਚ ਮੁੱਚ ਰੱਬ ਵਸਦਾ

by B.S.Goraya

·    Our Master Guru Nanak advised us that almighty God is not away from us. He is close to us but there is a curtain of ego between us and Him. Here in England I feel the people are comparatively less egoistic.

·       While on way, these English people say hi hallo to strangers. They give way to others but in turn expect that other should say thanks. Yesterday I was with my host that on a turn we found another vehicle was coming towards us. But when the other saw us he took his vehicle back. We could pass. My host was busy talking to me. My host forgot say the other motorist 'thanks'. At this the motorist cried, "you owe me a thanks." My host felt very much ashamed. 

Scene of a nursery class

Scene of a nursery class

When I requested the teacher to that I want a shot of your students. She politely refused. However Mrs. Fernie Linda allowed me to photograph her along with my child

Mrs. Fernie Linda

Another parent allowed me to take snap of her daughter.

·       Employees of the public service be it teachers, hospital staff or police they volunteer to help you. While in our India if you ask something from a nurse she would feel a big burden on her in replying. As far the police is concerned we all know how much they help you. These white people are very humble in public dealings.

·       Religion advises us to live in present and don't worry much about the future. But our character is on the contrary. We always ignore our present worrying about the future. We always try to save something for the 'uncertain future.' Here in UK that way people are poor. They get weekly salaries and they finish money by Sunday. They don't save. Their Govt takes their care. Education is free here and so is health services. Every  old person gets pension and so do the pregnant ladies. Parents get children allowance.

·       Because here the people are less egoistic as a result of which there are fewer quarrels and fights. Yes the whites go mad when they drink in the pubs. That is why the pubs here have wrestler type of persons engaged to handle mad. In the morning often the drunkards find themselves in the police lock ups. 

in punjabi -PLEASE ALSO SEE 'ENGLAND DI JANANI' THE WOMAN OF UK

·      The population density of England is more than Punjab, yet the Govt here promotes child birth. They have realised that necessity is the mother of invention and if there are more mouths to eat ways will be invented to find more food. Unfortunately our egoistic and hypocrite scholars think themselves wiser than Guru Nanak who said, "God creates food before a child is born."  Recently when the Akal Takhat Jathedar ordered every Sikh couple to have 4 babies our so called scholars hurled choices abuses on him.

·         I had apprehensions that the English people misunderstand the Sikhs as Muslims but I felt every Englishman is aware of the separate identity of Sikhs. Yes I do feel those Sikhs who trim beards are misunderstood as Muslims.

·         Here the roads have duly separate tracks for pedestrians and cyclists. It is my month now in England I am yet to see a broken road here. Here the things are moving automatically with a well defined rule that is why they don't need police. The people here are not in hurry. While in India even the religion says that, "Hurry is the character of evil" yet every body in India is in hurry. Think of the roads and building corners in India. Every body spitting Paan every where. But here you can spit on the road what to talk of urinating along the road side. You can't through a piece of paper on the road. The man on your back will be prompt to complaint against you.

·        Slap a child is a distant thing you can't even scold him. Well you are at liberty to love him as much as you can.  In nursery schools they have toys for the babies to play and bed as well.

·       Here in the schools the feelings and intelligence of a child is not suppressed rather it is given time to find expression. Whereas we want that child should live according to our wishes. We never endeavour to explore the child's mind. Here the child need not take big bags to school. I have not seen any school bus here. Many children here use skates type wheeler they call scooter.

·        Sometimes back in Delhi,  I found a slogan written on the bus, "Ask for milk and we give it with sweets. Ask for Kashmir and we cut you in pieces."     

   on the other hand here a discussion on TVs, radios  and newspapers is going on whether Scotland which is a province of UK should be free from it or not. So much so there is going to be referendum on Sept. 18 and people will vote whether Scotland should be free or remain with UK. You can imagine how the British are tolerant to discuss it all. But can we really discuss such a thing.

 In fact Indians have born slavery for thousand years and with the neo freedom the Hindu has become egoistic and jealous. He wants every body under his thumb; be it a Kashmiri, a Naga, a Sikh or a Mezo. He is ready to do so at the cost of keeping his people poor and uneducated. Friends you should create some quality so that people voluntarily remain with you instead you suppress others to accept your hegemony.

 I feel sorry when I think how in Kashmir thousands of people have been murdered simply because they want plebiscite conducted whether they want to remain with India or not for which even a prime minister of India promised in UNO some 60 years ago.

 May God bestow common sense to Indian people so that they fight poverty, unemployment and corruption rather than suppressing their fellow beings. I know it is only possible if the India can attain transparent administration.

Remember your stick will not help you for ever means with Atom Bombs  you can't keep others under your thumb.  Had it been possible USSR would not have collapsed. Have fear of God in your mind. Don't teach chauvinism to the students. Remember even your own constitution talks about democracy.

Guru Nanak's  God lives there where there is no ego.

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PLEASE ALSO SEE 'ENGLAND DI JANANI' THE WOMAN OF UK

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