Farmers Movement Archive

A surprising outcome at Singhu: Farmers pick up cooking skills

Before joining the ongoing farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s Singhu border on November 27, Hardeep Singh, a farmer from Salana village in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district, did not know any cooking. Today, the 32-year-old is a part of a 20-member team cooking meals twice a day for hundreds at the spot.“My uncle has some experience because of the langars (community kitchens) we organise back home. We follow his lead here. In three weeks, I have learnt how to make vegetable curries and dal (lentils) of different kinds,” he said. “Back home, it was the women in our family who cooked, while we worked the fields. They could not join us here due to inadequate facilities. So we had to make our own meals.”Singh doesn’t claim to have mastered the art though.“Our focus is not on ensuring taste. We are here to fight for our rights and are happy eating whatever we make,” he said.Singh’s langar is among the many small ones that have come up at the site. The groups source ingredients from their villages and as such they exist only till their stock lasts after which they’d go back home to return with more. They usually serve around 100 people at a time.The cooks’ day begins at 6 am when the air is still very chilly. The morning meal is usually various Indian breads with chickpea curry; for lunch they’ll have rice with dal and seasonal vegetables; dinner will likely see rotis accompanied by what was made for lunch with yet another batch of freshly-cooked curries. There are also larger langars organised by various trusts and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which serve over 1,000 people round the clock. On why they didn’t eat from these langars instead, 23-year-old Karnal farmer Manpreet Singh, who is part of another small langar group, said: “Many underprivileged people also eat at those langars. If we too join them, maybe they won’t have enough food. Isn’t it then better to cook multiple langars?”Manpreet, however, hasn’t told his family what he has been doing, which, at the moment, was kneading dough for more than 300 rotis. “If I tell them, they might ask me to do it for them back at home as well,” he said, sheepishly. “I am still learning how to make proper dough.”Gurpal Singh, 47, a farmer from Bhandal Bet village in Punjab’s Kapurthala district, whose group cooks for around 70 people, said, “Whenever we video call our family while preparing the meals, they get excited. My wife is happy that I have learnt how to cook. Now I can help out when she is sick or has to spend some time at our relatives’ place.”Gurpal said that many farmers among them called their wives and mothers for recipes or observed other groups preparing the meals. “Initially, we messed up the rotis. But with practice, we have gotten good at it. Now we make all kinds of stuffed parathas (fried flatbreads) including potato, cauliflower, fenugreek leaves, and other vegetables.” His friend Jaspal Singh, 38, said, “My nine-year-old daughter is most excited about it and wants me to make them for her when I return.”Kuldeep Singh, a 35-year-old farmer from Usmanpur in Punjab’s SBS Nagar district, said that some of the farmers also had a practice of cooking during the agitation that had been going on in Punjab since the three farm laws were passed in September.“We have a team of about 50 people who make food throughout the day. We have divided the roles according to the capabilities that we have managed to gauge in these past few months. Almost 90% of these farmers did not know how to cook before the agitation and have only picked it up now,” said Singh, a member of Kirti Kisaan Union, which feeds more than 1,000 people every day at their langar.

Hindustan Times

23-12-2020

Delhi