‘Sarson da saag’ and ‘jugaad rehri’: Dharmendra's wishes and Ludhiana village's plans for his 90th birthday

Serving ‘makki di roti’ with ‘sarson da saag’ and arranging a two-wheeler–driven ‘jugaad rehri’ are among the wishes of Dangon village residents, who hope to see them fulfilled on their hero Dharmendra’s landmark 90th birthday on December 8.

Though it may not be feasible to send the two-wheeler rehri to Mumbai, they are planning to send Punjab’s winter delicacy ‘sarson da saag’ to Deols for inclusion in the menu for the celebration day.

Paying gratitude to the Almighty for answering their prayers for recovery of Dharmendra, his fans, led by social activist Kulwinder Singh Dangon, said now they pray that the God should grant them opportunity to see Dharmendra taste his favorite Punjabi food.

“Having learnt that the Deol family is hoping to celebrate Dharmendra’s milestone 90^th birthday next month, we were reminded of the desire that he expressed years ago to enjoy sarson da saag and makki di roti while sitting near a traditional earthen oven (chulah), besides riding a ‘jugad rehri’ during our meeting at a hotel in Chandigarh,” said Kulwinder Dangon, appreciating that the veteran actor had invited them (Kulwinder and his associates) to Chandigarh when he visited Dangon in 2013.

Though Dharmendra had visited Dangon and surrounding localities two years later in April 2015 too, both his desires remained unfulfilled due to his preoccupied schedule.

Kulwinder further said that the sarson foliage would be be plucked from the fields now cultivated by families of Shingara and Manjit Singh, whom Dharmendra had gifted his parental agricultural land measuring around two acres on April 7, 2015. The said gift deed was signed by Dharmendra at Swami Ganga Giri Girls College, Raikot, and executed at the office of sub-registrar at Raikot.

Villagers appreciated that despite all his limitations, Dharmendra had remained emotionally attached with his native village where his father Kewal Krishan and grandfather Narain Dass were born and brought up. As crowds of fans coming from surrounding villages used to be unmanageable for locals, Dharmendra was known to have resorted to visits in disguise.

Besides being proud of their son’s stardom, villagers are appreciative of his humble nature, love for the soil of Dangon village and docile attitude towards them.

“Whenever we used to thank him for bringing laurels to the village and Deol clan, he used to respond that his success was due to blessings and best wishes of the villagers,” said his cousin Manjit Singh.