Langars serve up food security

Some two decades ago, my mother was living on the sixth floor of a building facing the sea in Mumbai. Whether it was pouring cats and dogs or the sun was streaming into the house, she strictly followed the tradition of cooking the morning meal, offering it to the gods and setting aside a portion of everything cooked for the birds. It was her way of sharing the day’s meal with others less privileged. At 12 noon the meal would be spread out on the window ledge. The hovering birds would swoop down and take whatever their beaks would hold. If there was a delay in setting out the food, there was a cacophony of birdcalls and the more aggressive crows would actually knock on the windows, demanding food.

Whether it was feeding birds, ants, cows or human beings, India has always had a rich tradition of sharing food. With food security becoming a big issue in the country these days, it would be good to go back to our roots and rekindle the spirit of sharing through community kitchens. Meera Dewan, the eminent documentary filmmaker who has won 21 national and international awards, has done just that. She has made a 52-minute documentary called Gur Prasad: the Grace of Food on the Indian tradition of community cooking and sharing, which needs to be widely screened for parliamentarians as well as panchayats and the community at large.

‘Gur Prasad’ is the expression used in the Sikh Gurbani for the sharing of offerings to gods. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, initiated the tradition of community feeding. Community kitchens have existed in various forms among all communities and religions across the country. For the documentary, Meera restricted herself to Punjab. She travelled through the rural hinterland of the ‘land of five rivers’ to document community participation in Guru Seva.

The gurudwaras through their free kitchens provide spiritual and physical sustenance. Seva is the Sikh word for voluntary service, without expecting compensation. Every day, tens of thousands of people visit Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which runs one of the world’s biggest free kitchens. Every visitor is welcome to dine here. The food is vegetarian and all expenses are covered by voluntary contributions from members of the congregation.

Volunteers take responsibility for all food preparation and the subsequent cleanup. They mix the dough and make rotis for about 60,000 people every day. Vast quantities of vegetables are chopped and cooked and food served to the worshippers, who dine seated side by side. The volunteers also wash thousands of steel plates and spoons, dispose the waste, and leave the kitchen and dining hall sparkling clean.

In Delhi, since 1936 the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib langar has been feeding the residents of the city. Day in and day out a factory of human hands churns out what has been described as “a day's peace of mind for hungry members of the community”. While in boardrooms and government offices malnutrition, hunger and food policies are debated in high decibels for countless hours, in the langars there is action with volunteers feeding thousands of hungry mouths without fuss or strings attached. While the wealthy in the community may contribute money on a regular basis, others pitch in with smaller contributions. Farmers contribute with carrots, peas and greens freshly cut from fields and others just cook, sweep, swab and serve. A common, shared belief is that a meal prepared and eaten together binds both the giver and receiver.

At Fazilka, 200 km south of Amritsar, efforts are on to revive the saanjha choolha , or traditional common oven, which has been a part of Punjabi tradition for ages. The Graduates Welfare Association, an NGO working to save the environment and strengthen community bonds, has installed six saanjha choolhas across Fazilka to enable poor housewives to come together to discuss their problems and cook meals twice a day.

In Meera’s film, several human stories are woven into the narrative. There is the story of the one-legged carpenter Badshah Singh, who does carpentry for a gurudwara as well as chops vegetables and does seva for the gathered sangat , or community. The camera captures the limping sevadar serving dal and roti first to the children and then the adults. “Never eat for free, it will not digest,” he says philosophically.

There is Dorothy Hudson, who comes from California every winter for the last nine years to cook and serve at the Golden Temple. On her first visit to the Temple she wrote a poem:

Eating a langar meal,

Cross legged on the floor

Has a simple appeal

Of humanity’s inner core.

The endless ritual langar

Simple, free love feast

Hatred will not mar

This bridge of Great and Least.

This bridge of West & East.

Meera says that through these living traditions, viewers will gain a deeper understanding of food sharing, which knits diverse people and communities, creating a sense of equality among people and helping alleviate widespread hunger. Community volunteers, travellers and the hungry who are satiated will testify that sitting together to bake and break bread brings about humility and gratitude, and creates harmony.

Cauldrons of comfort food

Inside the Dargah Sharif at Ajmer, two large historical pots are constantly on the boil, preparing food for tired pilgrims. While the first degh (cauldron) was presented by Mughal emperor Akbar, the second was given by his son Jahangir. They were installed for cooking Niaz , a purely vegetarian meal of rice, ghee, nuts, saffron and sugar. Since then, large quantities of different kinds of food are cooked in these cauldrons, generally at night, and distributed among the people after the morning prayers.

Thomas Coryat, a British traveller and writer, who visited Ajmer at the time of Jahangir, says that the Mughal emperor once ordered the preparation of khichri to be distributed among 5,000 people. He took the first serving on a platter with his own hands and then the ladies of the royal court helped themselves. Once, Shah Jahan mixed the meat of a nilgai he had shot into the food cooking in the degh .

In the second half of the 18th century, when Ajmer came under the control of the Marathas and Rajputs, Kesaria Bhaat (saffroned sweet rice) began to be cooked in these degh and that tradition continues to this day. While 2,400 kg of food can be cooked in the smaller degh , the larger one can hold up to 4,800 kg.

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