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2 Work in progress at the construction site where some old structures were unearthed while digging on the periphery of the Harmandir Sahib complex. Photo: PTI
Roopinder Singh
One of the enduring images in my mind is of people from Amritsar and beyond performing kar sewa at Harmandir Sahib in 1973. Many were dressed up in their finery for the occasion and would patiently wait for the fellow sewadars to put in the mud from the sarovar and carry it away, often by placing the tasla, the shallow iron container, on their heads.
The desilting was an affirmation of the inclusive tradition of sewa, in which all who took part felt honoured to have done so. There was no hurry. It was participative and involved people at large. Mechanical means were eschewed for the privilege of performing physical sewa, even by those whose socio-economic status virtually ensured that this was the only time they would be doing such work personally. Indeed, there are pictures of bejewelled maharajas
Published date: 28 January 2021 10:32 UTC | Last update: 1 month 2 weeks ago
About 30km southwest of London, the commuter town of Woking happens to be home to western Europe s largest cemetery. Its size isn t its only accolade; Brookwood cemetery has also been the resting place of some of the world s prominent thinkers, creators, activists and royalty.
They include Edward the Martyr, who briefly ruled the country in the 10th century and whose remains were moved to Brookwood in 1984; John Singer Sargent, the American portrait artist who painted several US presidents; and, for a time, Dodi El-Fayed, the entrepreneur who died in a car crash alongside Princess Diana.