Faith, food, farmers at Nada Sahib during Gurpurb celebrations

Chandigarh, January 20

The pandemic failed to dampen Gurpurab celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh master, as crowd thronged city gurdwaras and makeshift community kitchens on Wednesday.

Harbhajan Singh, Akhand paathi, at Nada Sahib said, “The Prakash Utsav is being celebrated with prayers and hymns. We had eight ceremonies of Akahand Path bhog here.”

A devotee at gurdwara, Angad Singh, a farmer by profession, said, “I visit this gurdwara almost every Gurpurab. I am praying for the ‘sarbat da bhala’ and for my brother farmers at Singhu and Tikri borders.”

A splash of fireworks painted the dull grey winter sky and flags of farmer protests in green, white, saffron, yellow and red dotted roadside shops near gurdwara during gurpurab.

A kilometre away from the gurdwara, Jagwinder Singh, along with four of his friends organised a bread-pakora and tea langar in a tent. Flags dotted his makeshift tent too. “We host a langar every year on Guru Gobind Singh ji’s parkash utsav. This is the fourth year and I’ve put up flags in support of farmers this time. No farmers, no food,” he said. — TNS