Bangla Sahib
Gurudwara visit
By Shaweta Anand
The older Kids at Kilkari were so excited about the visit to
Bangla Sahib Gurudwaraon 20th May 2014. It was organised as a yet
another value-education and life-skill development initiative here. I am not
sure if children fully understood what exactly constituted ‘sewa’ (or selfless
service) at a Gurudwara until they got a chance to experience it for real and
reflect on it. Here is my diary entry from that day, as promised.
After a short metro-ride we reached Bangla Sahib and hurried
through the crowd to deposit our shoes and get hold of scarves to cover our
heads with. The summer sun was slowly heating the marbled floor, making it
difficult to walk barefoot. Soon enough, ‘sewadars’(volunteers) were seen
splashing water on the ‘tat-patti’ (jute-carpet strips) while chanting ‘wahe
Guru’ ‘wahe Guru’ (‘the wonderful Lord’) for the comfort and benefit of others.
And that was something Anubhav, CES representative and the main in-charge,
immediately made children take note of.
After taking a round of the ‘sarovar’ (holy pool) that had
enough orange and brown-black fish to fascinate the children, and after tasting
the ‘karahprasada’ (sweet sacred pudding), we finally went to the place designated
for people who want to offer sewa before distribution of ‘langar’ (free food to
all visitors). Some girls quickly washed hands and joined the group chopping
vegetables just outside the huge community kitchen. Others moved inside the
kitchen where men and women prepared meals together, and later served them
through a big common window that opened in the dining area.
Some people prepared the flour dough for making chappatis
(hundreds of them!), some made just the ‘pedas’ (flour balls), some rolled them
flat while others took turns to roast them on a huge gas stove. There were also
those who ran between counters passing on raw food material and bringing back
the cooked food stuff from there. Children blended in beautifully, doing
whatever was required from them at that spot.
Accompanied by most girls, I sat down to roll chapattis, one
after the other. The girls seemed very good at it. They were fast, efficient
and were even able to joke and giggle occasionally while rolling out nearly
perfectly-shaped circular chappatis. They performed the task without much impatience
or complaining. The united effort was beautiful, even felt surreal for a few
divine moments as the ‘shabadkirtan’ playing in the background filledour ears
with the sweet words of gratitude to the lord. Some girls even went a step
further by deciding to serve food to others first and eating later. That was
quite a sight as these were young children after all, who insisted on serving
others before they sat for their own lunch!
Langar food is tasty, period J.
There was kali daal (black gram), laukikisabji (bottleguard), chole (white
gram) and chappatis. Someone came along and served us cold water too. Gorging
on langar food has only one disadvantage: you tend to overeat and feel sleepy!
Anyway, after the meal got over, it was time to wrap up the trip and go back to
Kilkari, but not without spending some time introspecting and sharing of
experiences.
A memorable comment came from a differently-abled child
whose hand is seemingly not properly aligned with the arm. She said that while
serving at the Gurudwara, she felt absolutely comfortable in preparing chappatisand
didn’t feel shy or reserved about doing it at all. This opportunity had made
her very happy as she could contribute her bit. Another one said that she had
come here before, but only with an intention of eating food so this
behind-the-scene experience was a pleasant and a very meaningful eye-opener for
her. One girl also shared how she felt overwhelmed by the many ways in which
one could offer sewahere without feeling ‘less’ in any way. Another one was
overawed by the sheer number of people volunteering at the Gurdwara.
Anubhav probed the girls further to facilitate more introspection
among them. He questioned if anyone was treated un-equally, or differently at any
point in time at the Gurudwara? The answer was a unanimous ‘no’. He asked them
if they knew anything about who exactly made the food they ate during langar?
‘Was the food made by ‘Hindu’ hands or ‘Muslim’ hands, ‘Sikh’ hands or
‘Christian’ hands? And does it matter?’ He emphasised the importance of love,
gratitude and the belief in humanity over and above
divisive and undesirable categories of caste, class, religion, gender and
disability.
