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Villagers work overnight in gurdwaras to prepare food for flood-hit valley people KAPURTHALA/NAWANSHAHR: Devotees worked overnight in gurdwara kitchens to send fresh langar (food) for flood victims in Jammu & Kashmir. It was a rather odd time for the call to prepare langar, but the response by devotees and volunteers at gurdwaras and deras to prepare food was also unusual. Womenfolk left their homes around 2am to reach gurdwaras and deras of their villages to ensure that langar was ready at the break of the dawn. Villagers had finished their dinner when Kapurthala district administration approached some local Sikh holy men and gurdwaras on Friday night requesting them to prepare langar for the flood-hit people of the Valley. "We requested them in night, but by 6am on Saturday, everything was ready and two pickup vans left for Amritsar airport with 50 bags of packed paranthas/chapatis, vegetables and pickle, from where it was airlifted to flood-hit areas," said Kapurthala deputy commissioner (DC) D S Mangat. Gurwinder Singha, volunteer working with environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seecehwal, said, "We immediately started working like boiling chana (Bengal gram) and potatoes. Messages were sent to women that they would be picked up around 2am to reach deras/gurdwaras to prepare paranthas. Seechewal was first approached by the administration around 8.30pm on Friday for preparing langar. Apart from Seechewal, Sant Daya Singh of Gurdwara Tahli Sahib in Balerkhanpur village, Sant Leader Singh at Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahi in Saiflabad village and Sant Amrik Singh in Khukhrain village also started working and summoned their devotees late in the night to prepare food. "We came here around 2am and ensured that langar was ready before 6am," said Gurdev Kaur, who was among 30 women working at Nirmal Kuttiya of Baba Seechewal at Sultanpur Lodhi. In Talwnadi Madho village, 50 women started working past midnight along with some men. In Amarjitpur, some women prepared paranthas at their homes and took these to Sultanur Lodhi by 3am. "We made paranthas as these would remain in good condition even if these can't be distributed immediately," said Sant Daya Singh and Baba Seechewal. Nawanshahr DC Anindita Mitra said at Gurdwara Tibba Sahib, around 10,000 paranthas were prepared overnight and these were sent to Chandigarh airport at 7am. "After looking at the response from people to prepare langar at gurdwaras, we will send freshly-cooked food every morning," said Mitra. In the historical Gurdwara Sukhchainana Sahib in Phagwara, chapatis were prepared throughout the night and these were sent to Amritsar in the morning. Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Villagers-work-overnight-in-gurdwaras-to-prepare-food-for-flood-hit-valley-people/articleshow/42403699.cms?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=digest_section