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Hola Mohalla celebrations
Devotion beats inflation
Megha Mann/TNS

Anandpur Sahib, March 19
It began with a modest serving of tea and food in 1978. Now, the elaborate ‘Neher Wala Langar’, organised as part of the six-day Hola Mohalla festival, even serves juice along with regular food items.

But, the most praiseworthy is the indomitable spirit of the villagers that has kept the annual community lunch going. Lakhs of pilgrims are served food here daily during the festival, the skyrocketing prices of vegetables, pulses and other ‘langar’ (community lunch) ingredients notwithstanding.

Organised beside Nangal Hydel Channel near Barapind village here, initially not many women were willing to cook, the venue being a forest area. So, men took over the job.

Today, besides people from Barapind, villagers of Beli and Falahi Kotla also serve ‘langar’ round the clock during Hola Mohalla. Inspite of the high prices of vegetables and pulses, more than 15 ‘langar’ organisers have been taking care of the food requirements of the lakhs of devotees en route from Ropar to Anandpur Sahib.

While ‘Neher Wala Langar’ is a joint venture of three villages, the one at Alipur village is run by the natives themselves. Here, even fresh sugarcane juice is served.

Sewa Singh, a villager, says the ‘langar’ gets around 60,000 devotees in six days. “Ours is a small village of 650 voters. All of us contribute either in money or kind. Most of us are farmers and we contribute all kinds of crops that we grow. Two years ago, we started serving sugarcane juice also to the pilgrims. Ever since, their count started growing,” he said.

Notably, the state advisory price (SAP) of sugarcane is Rs 215 per quintal for 2011 and about 60 quintal of sugarcane is crushed daily here. Apart from the contributed sugarcane, villagers also buy it from the open market to meet the demand.

The prices of other items used to prepare the ‘langar’, like cauliflower, cabbage, pulses, garlic, etc, too are sky-high nowadays. “The prices don’t matter during ‘sewa’ (service). We don’t know how, but God manages the entire funds and we serve the devotees. We have never audited our expenses for these six days, as we know our vessels will never go empty,” says Teja Singh, who has been part of the ‘langar’ near Panj Piara Park in Anandpur Sahib for the last over a decade.

Apart from the expensive food items, high cost and paucity of the cooking fuel is also a matter of concern. But the villagers either rope in fuel filling station owners or contribute from their spare quota of LPG cylinders. Even biomass fuel is now being used to prepare chapattis.

‘Guru ki fauj’ changes, but preserves traditions
Jangveer Singh/TNS

Baba Balbir Singh, Budha Dal chief

Anandpur Sahib, March 19
The ‘Guru ka bagh ‘cantonment’ of the most prominent Budha Dal clan of Nihangs, the warrior saints created by tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, still retains its part-nomadic lifestyle, horses and even huge containers of ‘thandai’, the traditional cooling drink laced with ‘bhang’.

However, the winds of change have caught up with Nihangs, who can no longer be classified as illiterate preachers alone. The martial clan is undergoing a change, with the Budha Dal now immersing itself in educational and social activities. The Dal, which has been successfully running a school in Patiala since some time, has now also opened schools in Samana and Zirakpur.

A visit to the headquarters of the present Dal head Baba Balbir Singh still reveals the old martial signs but automatic pistols and guns have replaced weapons of yore. The image one gets is of an organisation which is reinventing itself to fit in the modern world. “Our followers now come from all walks of life and many of them are even bank managers and teachers”, says Baba Balbir Singh, who apparently lays a lot of stress on education. “All children of our community are studying in English-medium schools with the Dal funding their education, books and uniforms”, he says. It is holistic education which is helping children from the Dal to spread the Guru’s word in other states as well as abroad.

The Dal is also increasingly speaking out against drugs. Followers say ‘thandai’ laced with ‘bhang’ is only given as a ‘parsad’ according to custom when the army used to partake it before going in for battle. The Dal has initiated an ‘amrit parchar’ (ritual baptism) programme which it says has already resulted in 350 Sikhs being baptised during the last two days.

Even as Nihangs change, they preserve the traditional dress which includes a free-flowing gown called a ‘domala’ and a tightly wound blue turban. Martial art skills, including horse riding, tent-pegging and ‘gatka’ are also being preserved by the Dal which has three big ‘cantonments’ spread over 70 to 200 acres each in Punjab. The skills of the “army” of Guru Gobind are displayed on the last day of the Hola Mohalla celebrations here tomorrow.