It is an act of generosity that never ceases. For 365 days a year, rain or shine, morning and evening, a few good women and men travel from different parts of the Tricity, Punjab and now even Himachal Pradesh to outside the boundary wall of PGIMER, in their trucks, tempos, vehicles, Fully equipped with food, tea, and sweets. With love and generosity, these crusaders serve hundreds of patients and attendants who come to the institute from across the region and spend long hours sometimes even weeks for treatment.
Selfless in their act and service, a name that is still remembered for his work is Jagdish Lal Ahuja, a Padma Shri awardee, who passed on in November 2021. Popularly known as ‘Langar Baba’ for serving free food to patients every day for more Over two decades, Ahuja had become a familiar face for thousands of needy patients, their attendants, and the poor, serving them a langar of dal, chawal, roti, sabzi, halwa, and bananas. He had once said that it was his mission that no one should go hungry, for he had once experienced what hunger and starvation felt like.
The Langar Baba had recalled while passing through PGIMER, he saw a man distributing food to the poor. Encouraged by this act, on January 21, 2000, he began distributing free food to people outside PGIMER and later Government Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32 (GMCH-32). Many were inspired by this initiative, and the tribe has grown ever since, with the langars starting from 10 am and continuing till about 10 pm. As PGIMER witnesses an outpatient department (OPD) of about 10,000 patients a day, with attendants accompanying them, the queues for food and tea have become longer, with the area under pressure.
Sukhdev Singh, along with some members of his group from a village near Anandpur Sahib, including women, has been coming here since 2016. In a small trolley, and on this hot summer afternoon, he serves hot kadhi and roti and offers you the parsada , as the two women with him, tell a child to finish his food.
“We don’t know how many people we serve, we make rotis with about 50 kgs of flour, and then we decide either a dal, sabzi, or chawal. Today we are making kadhi. Today about 35 women made the langar in our village gurdwara. We get support from some of the village boys who have moved abroad, people from the village,” says Sukhdev.
“Our group has grown over the years, and strangely, we never fall short of funds. For us, it is a service of God, and while we don’t expect anything, except that many times, there is a shortage of clean drinking water and wish there was a provision for that. Also, if more dustbins could be provided, there won’t be a lot of litter here. During the summer months, the leftover food tends to spoil and smell, so if there were more dustbins, there could be segregation also.”
Manjit Kaur, started her day early to reach from Ropar, and is standing in queue for matar paneer and chawal. It is a long wait for Manjeet, a patient of diabetes, at the OPD. “It would be another hour for my turn to come. I have lunch here every time I come to PGIMER. I wonder what we would do if these people were not here. It would be good if more cleaners were here and although many people come here to donate water and there are two tankers, a regular supply would help people wash their hands. I also tell a lot of people not to throw food and plates around and put these in the dustbins, and I think we all need to work together to keep this initiative going,” she says.
Another langar service by Kirat Prasad from Himachal has been continuing for more than 15 years, seven days a week. It is a drive of almost two hours, but it is the collective effort of the community that has kept it going.
“The fact that we can help some eat a full meal, and make them feel a little better, despite their troubles and pains, has kept us going. There are many who have joined in, and people also contribute with all their heart. It is this spirit that sustains us, for we know that from here, no one will be turned away hungry. The numbers have increased over the last five years, but we never fall short of food,” says the server, who says his name is just the service he provides on behalf of his guru.
He also suggests clean water, more dustbins, and cleaners tidying the place a few more times would help them.
Another such langar at the institute’s disposal is Mobile Bhandara, organized by the Mansa Devi Trust, which gets food to PGIMER twice a day – 11.30 am and 5 pm. The trust also takes contributions from people to sponsor meals, with the services also offered in GMSH-16 and GMCH-32.
“We have experienced gratitude and satisfaction. It is all a circle of life as we continue our work. We need more arrangements for clean drinking water and that would streamline things more here,” says a trust member.
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