Wagle enjoying the delicious Langur, the community food served in the Gurudwara.Pic by Bikas Rauniar
After the Carter press conference, I went to a Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) located near the Thapathali bridge with Bikas Rauniar. Shikhs were celebrating the birth anniversary Guru Nanak and Bikas wanted to take photos of the celebrations. Since I was in his car, he asked me to come along with him for possible stories. Yes there was a story. I talked to a Sardar, original and from Punjab, India, as he was taking part in the musical celebrations. That was a pleasant conversation which I have included in a story about him and the celebrations that appeared in today’s Kantipur. Then there was a surprise for me: They serve food (the Prasad). Shikh devotees sit cross legged on the floor in several lines- male and female have separate lines- and eat the food that is cooked by the volunteers (which I found delicious and well served.) That was my first experience with the Gurudwara food.
Dinesh Wagle on Nepali Society 
7 responses to “Langar: The Gurudwara Community Lunch”
I read now and then and I feel hungry each time. My mouth comes full of water but didnt understand Feta thing? Is is your own costume? Or provided my those Panjabi?
I alys read ur posts, it seems u ve an advtange, but this post could have been better without pics other than these, expecting more nice works on days to come.
They don’t let anyone inside without covering the hair. That’s the standard practice with Shikhs worldwide. See their heads, they are almost always covered. They cover their heads all the time and expect the visitors of the Gurudwara do the same. They provide scarves to visitors, who don’t have one, at the shoe house located at the gate of the main building.
And yes food was really good and so were Sardars. But I guess not all Sardars are happy with me after the story about them appeared in the paper.
Ekendra,
I didn’t get what you mean by “advantage”. And about the pics, the most important thing is I like them! And, with all respect to your views, it really doesn’t matter to me what others feel about them for this is the platform solely created for me! 🙂 Thanks for your comment though!
It was quite bemusing to read that you were “surprised” when they served prasad. LANGAR (NOT Langur – that would be a sub-species of old world monkeys) is normally served twice a day in any Gurdwara. It is always vegetarian, and people of any faith or religion are welcome to share. Nobody is ever turned away. The head covering is to show respect and humbleness. For sikhs, the turban also symbolizes covering the “kesh” and to guard the “Dasam Dwaar”, a spiritual opening at the top of the head (Symbolic, of course).
I too do not understand what Ekendra means by “advantage”. As a member of the Fourth Estate, you will certainly have better access to places and people than a non-journalist. More power to freedom of the press and free information!
Thank you Amrit Gurung. I have corrected that to Langar. Pushkar Shah, the world cyclist, had in fact told me in an interview about his experience with Gurudwara food in some parts of the world and I always wondered what that would be like. I got the opportunity to eat the food this time.
Journalism is such a wonderful profession that it provides reporters opportunities to experience new things and meet new people. Journalism is not for those who want to make money because it pays less compared to may other jobs but the freedom that you get in this profession can hardly be compared with any other professions (at least I think so and others might not necessarily agree with me!). Plus, journalism is also a process of learning (from how to spell Langar to what the food actually is!)
But then you don’t have to be a journalist to write. Every person has something to share, a story to tell and millions of non-journalist people across the web are doing the same. Anyone can harness the power of the web in today’s world and the only question is: are you doing that in a way considered better by many? There are certain norms that you must follow regardless of your right to express.
Even after visiting a gurudwara and being a journalist, you cant write the exact word for Sikhs. It is SIKH or SIKHS not Shikh/Shikhs.
I am sorry to say that being jounalist, what you write has to be written in a correct form.
[…] I reached at the Golden Temple in the evening and the receptionist-cum-security guard at the international dorm said no beds were available. As I was about to move out, he said: “Will you sleep on the floor?” After a few seconds of hesitation, I said “yes”. He put a bedding on the floor as I could see all beds were occupied by colorful people assembled there from different parts of the world. As evening passed by I started talking to some of them. By the time everyone slept, there appeared to have one empty bed. I quietly jumped over that in the darkness and occupied that for the next two nights. It was a pleasant stay in the Golden Temple compound. Food, the Langar, was free. So was the dorm. But you can’t eat that food daily, you want something different to taste in Punjab. So I tired some other varieties in restaurants in the market not very far from the temple. Clicking on a photo will bring descriptions in some cases. [Related post: Langar: The Gurudwara Community Lunch […]