The Sikh’s Principles Of Equality – Feeding Tens Of Thousands Daily ‘Free Of Charge’

Photographer Valerio Berdini is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this social documentary photography. These images are from his project ‘Golden Kitchen‘. To see Valerio’s stories click on any image.

A series of iron pans are used and cleaned continuously to be ready for the next cycle.

A dessert made of rice, milk, sugar and spices waits to be served to the people dining in the hall in the background.

A man had to get into the saucepan to clean it well. He uses a red brick, water and a lot of energy.

Amritsar is a city in the state of Punjab in Northwest India, close to Pakistan borders. It is popular among Sikhs and tourists for the spectacular Harmandir Sahib, the Sikh most important shrine, the “Golden Temple”.

As spectacular, but far less known, is the Guru-Ka-Langar. An epic kitchen service sited within the temple area. A human chain process organized to cook and offer tens of thousands of free, hot, vegetarian meals daily.
To cope with these numbers the size relationship between man and cookware inverts.
Incredibly large pans, fires and utensils are used to convert 5 tons of wheat, 2 of dal, 1.4 of rice and 7 more tons of milk every day.
300 staff and thousands of volunteers (sewadars) work round the clock to guarantee free hot meals.

Following the Sikh’s principles of equality, sharing and community everyone, regardless of religion, caste, colour, age, gender, nationality or social status is welcomed to sit on the floor and dine in one of the large halls.

The Guru-Ka-Langar is a majestic example of Sikh’s benevolence.