When applause became an awkward silence

I spent over 15 years in Yamunanagar, a city buzzing with life and industry — home to paper mills, sugar mills, a distillery, and the famous Jamna Auto, where I worked before joining a Central Government post in Patiala. One of the city's spiritual institutions is the Sant Pura Gurdwara, Model Town, built in memory of its namesake in Pakistan that was tragically destroyed during Partition.

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Once, during Gurpurab celebrations at the gurdwara, a group of spirited youngsters donated a large sack of fresh cauliflowers for the langar. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and the management praised them for the donation in front of the whole congregation next morning.

But by afternoon, the truth behind the ‘generous’ act came out. The vegetables, it turned out, had been stolen the night before from a nearby farm, leaving devotees to wonder whether the real intention behind this donation was generosity or something else. Whether the act was meant to earn blessings or not, but it certainly became a cautionary tale. Years later, the applause that turned into an awkward silence, still rings in my ears.

GP Singh Sandhu, Mohali