Farmers Movement Archive

Cooking up something good

Tribune News ServiceJalandhar, January 5Around 4.30 am, when everyone’s still fast asleep at the Singhu border, a 60-year-old farmer wakes up daily to prepare the first meal of the day for nearly 4,000 fellowmen. By the time, the first cup of tea is ready, it’s 5.15 am.Surinder Singh Bains, a Nawanshahr-based farmer, says, he has been preparing the langar for the protesters from the first day of the ‘Delhi Chalo Andolan’. “While the young squad kept us protected from harsh weather and the water cannons, we made sure that they were not empty stomach. I along with 30-40 other middle-aged farmers work in shifts to prepare three-square meals for the protesters. Every day, we begin our day with tea and snacks langar, followed by breakfast, lunch and dinner,” added Bains.District president of the Kirti Kisan Union, Nawanshahr, Bains has named his makeshift kitchen as ‘Nawanshahriyan da langar hall’ (langar hall of the people from Nawanshahr). He and his friends have got huge cauldrons from their villages to cook huge quantities of foods. The cooking fuel keeps on burning throughout the day making sure no one returns starved.While cooking dal in a large cauldron, Bains says, “This is our sewa for all the other farmers spending days and nights here. It’s not the first time we are preparing langar, as a part of a farm union I have been serving food from past 40 years. The concept of sewa is in our blood and community food is the foremost Punjabi tradition that we are known for. No matter where we are, we never forget to feed. Besides our villages, we get fresh vegetables daily from the fields of our brothers in Haryana and also accept produce donated by well-wishers.” Over 50 kg of potato and cauliflower is peeled and kept aside for dinner. Apart from various vegetables and other raw materials, one quintal wheat flour is used to feed the protesters at our kitchen set up near Kisan Sanmyukta Morcha stage. “While a major chunk of NRIs from our district support us financially, good Samaritans came here to donate groceries, milk packets, pulses and other items.”His accomplices return home after every five days and return with ghee, vegetables, cooking oil and fruits. To give the farmers a homely atmosphere, there is lot of shuffling of menu at their kitchen. From kheer, puri-chole and gajrela to kada prashad, rajma-chawal, everything is cooked.“We are fighting this fight against these new farm laws that will finish off the future of our next generation. We want the government to rescind them. The farmers insist they won’t settle down for anything less than the withdrawal of the contentious legislation. We want MSP on our crops,” Bains and his team demanded.

The Tribune

2021-01-06