Prayers, processions, feasts and service mark Guru Purab in Delhi
NEW DELHI : The area outside the Rakab Ganj Sahib Gurdwara, situated in the vicinity of Parliament, resembled a sea of colours as thousands gathered there on Tuesday to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
Among the visitors was Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejrwal, who arrived there around 3pm amid heavy security presence, and greeted people from a stage in the premise of the gurudwara founded in the late 18th century.
“Guru Nanak Dev Ji has shown us a way of peace, tolerance and brotherhood. Let us try our best to walk on that path,” said Kejriwal, after he told the crowd about his government recently adding the Kartarpur corridor in a pilgrimage scheme for the elderly residents of the city.
The Kartarpur corridor is a 4.5 km stretch which connects the shrine of Baba Dera Nanak Sahib in Punjab with the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. On October 9, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Pakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the concerned portions (in their respective countries) of the corridor.
As the crowd in Rakab Ganj Sahib cheered, Inmeet Kaur, a 33-year-old lawyer, and her family joined a queue outside a makeshift tent in which a group of devotees were distributing bread, sweets and rice pudding among other devotees.
“Next year, we will definitely try going to Kartarpur,” said Kaur, who recalled being a regular visitor to the Rakab Ganj Gurudwara since her childhood days in west Delhi. The family, she said, continues with the tradition even after several members moved to a gated society in Faridabad around eight years ago.
In a similar fashion, the areas outside other popular gurudwaras in the city which include Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib resembled a carnival on the occasion of Guru Purab.
Devotees in hundreds participated in grand processions taken out across the city. On the way, several others offered food, water, sweets and other services to the people. Several arterial roads leading to these gurudwaras were blocked by the police as part of traffic and security arrangements.
Gurdwara Sis Ganj in Chandni Chowk was decorated with bright lights. Special flowers were brought to adorn the main shrine where Guru Granth Sahib is placed on a takht (platform).
Yashpreet Kaur, a visitor from south-west Delhi’s Dwarka, said, “My family had been living in old Delhi for a 100 years almost, we had a haveli here. But as the joint family split and most of the brothers settled in Canada, we decided to sell the haveli and shift to a flat in Dwarka. But, I have fond memories of coming to Sis Ganj Gurdwara with my father as a child, and now I come here with my husband and children every year.”
Manjot Pahwa, a 22-year-old software professional, who helped people keep their footwear safe outside the gurdwara on Tuesday said, “Even on ordinary days, at least 8,000 devotees visit this gurdwara, but on Guru Purab, the number goes up to 30,000. On such days, the management needs a lot of hands to just manage the footwear of visitors.”