The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: On the Passing of Naren Gupta (Part 6)

Naren was very close to his brother. They used to speak everyday. Sometimes several times a day.

I always found it beautiful to hear him talk about his brother and how much he meant to him. How they went to Madagascar, just the two of them. One of their most recent trips was to go see polar bears in Canada. Just the two of them.

My father was repeatedly swindled by his brothers.

Naren’s relationship offered a counterpoint for me not to become jaded.

Naren’s daughter Anneka sent me these photographs. She wrote, “It brings me joy to relive the memories by looking through pictures. Because of him we have thousands and thousands of them.”

One trip that Naren spoke of a few times was Amritsar and the Golden Temple. This gurudwara feeds 100,000 people a day from a community kitchen. He was deeply moved by the Sikh philosophy of Gurudwaras feeding the poor. He was also blown away by the immense logistical excellence of the Golden Temple operation. He and Vinita went behind the scenes to look at how this extraordinary feat was achieved.

Every year, thousands of tourists line up to see the Taj Mahal in India, which is the most popular tourist destination in the country. In Amritsar, India, a Golden Temple serves 100,000 meals to the hungry every day, which is more people than the Taj Mahal attracts in a day.

The Sikhs believe the langar is a symbol of equality and not just a place for people to come eat for free. The kitchen needs an extensive number of ingredients each day, including 12,000 kilos of flour and 13,000 kilos of lentils. Most of the food is paid for up to two years in advance through donations

At the langar, everyone gets a free hot meal regardless of their socioeconomic status or their religion. There are 450 people running the kitchen with the help of hundreds of volunteers. Over 300,000 plates, spoons and bowls are washed each day.

“There are only three things in our religion,” says a Sikh volunteer from California. “Chant the name of God, sing religious hymns and volunteer. I work as long as my legs allow me to stand.”

When Covid and Amphan started playing havoc with the lives of people, when poverty and hunger returned to our world with vengeance setting back decades of progress, we discussed Amritsar again.

Some of you reading this, perhaps, are looking for ways to honor Naren. You may consider giving to a Gurudwara in his name. I believe that would make him smile. And nod.

This segment is part 6 in the series : The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: On the Passing of Naren Gupta
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9