Service rules on Guru Nanaks birthday

Coloured turbans and dupattas dotted the Nath Pai road in Ghatkopar (E) where Sri Guru Singh Sabha of Dadar held their annual Guru Nanak Jayanti. On November 6, the city's Sikh community gathered at Hegdevar ground where more than 80,000 people participated to celebrate the birthday of the founder of Sikh religion. The sabha began in early 1900s in Dadar and has been holding their festival at the ground for the last 22 years.

The event had the Gatka performance where Sikh martial artists portrayed their skills and the traditional community kitchen called 'langar' had been organised. There were prayers, performances and even poets to grace the event. "We have also organized health check-ups and sale of Sikh literature, traditional paintings and photos. Another segment of our organisation has put up waste for wealth where they collect old items and sell them," said Manmohan Singh, general secretary of the sabha. Politicians were also felicitated at the event.

The community kitchen made 2,000kgs of Malpua and 700kgs of rice apart from other delicacies for the ever growing crowd. Gurmukh Singh works for the steel industry but has been a cook for the Sabha festivals for the last 16 years. He had been cooking since 7am till 6pm when the event ended. "I finished cooking at 1.30am last night (Nov 6) and I'm here again. The recipe has been the same for generations but when I try to make it at home its a failure. There's something about the taste of the langar. My aim is to see that no one leaves this place hungry," he said.

A driver by profession, Anthony Daniel was eating at the Langar with his bosses and had come to the celebration for the first time. "In our church, we do it the same way for Jesus, where people gather, pray, listen to the priest and sing. Here, there is food and other activities and I enjoyed it a lot. I have never seen anything like this and they are very welcoming," he said.