CHANDIGARH:
'Hello Langar, Goodbye World Hunger' is the slogan for the second
International Langar Week starting on Monday that aims at striking a
chord with scores of non-Sikhs in Europe, Canada and India. Even
though langars or Guru's community kitchens are organized in
gurdwaras daily, the concept is being taken to non-Sikhs from October
5 to 11 in California and New York as well.
Last year, Sikh
Press Association in the UK had mooted the idea to promote langar, an
institution started by Guru Nanak Dev over 500 years ago to break
down barriers and teach equality . This year, several Sikh
organizations across the globe have joined in to take it to the next
level.
Press director, Sikh Press Association in London,
Rupinder Kaur Virdee, told TOI, "The campaign is to tell the
world that langar can help tackle the problem of hunger. The response
from the British community in particular has been very
encouraging."
"There have been several heartwarming
stories from different communities. For instance, we have had a
visually impaired elderly man, a London local, who walked up to one
of our volunteers and handing over donation to him for the local
gurdwara. He said he had never heard any such community initiative
before," she recalled.
In UK, California and Canada,
Sikhs have been propagating the idea of langar in their own ways. For
instance, added Kaur, they have fixed days when they take lots of
food to office and share it with their colleagues.
Meanwhile,
back home, langars are being organized in slum areas of Delhi and at
Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh by 'Basics of
Sikhi' organization on Monday as part of the campaign. "We
approached corporates in the capital to hold langars on their
premises. Those who initially told us that they had a no-religion
policy were eventually convinced that the basic idea of langar is to
remove barriers between communities," said Opinder Preet Singh
of Basics of Sikhi.
Langar Week was set up to make the wider
non-Sikh community aware of the fact that gurdwaras are places to go
for free food for anyone, with no expectations or stigmas attached.
"Free food for all is a core principle of Sikh gurdwaras. We all
sit as equals to eat food prepared by volunteers," he said.
The
volunteers of various organizations have been asked to take non-Sikhs
to a langar, organizing their own langars or joining a group doing
street langar.
