They serve devotees with a smile in freezing cold

Hundreds of volunteers from different parts of the country are gearing up for their annual service. Most would cringe at the thought of the serving devotees coming to the annual Amarnath Yatra in cold conditions for nearly 50 days. They are gearing up mentally and physically to serve over three lakh devotees who are expected to throng the Amarnath cave shrine from across the country in July and August.

They work tirelessly and silently and make supreme sacrifice braving harsh conditions with the sole aim of serving  pilgrims coming for Amarnath Yatra from different parts of the country.

They serve Amarnath Yatris with piping hot food—ranging from south Indian idli and dosa to paranthas and various mouth-watering dishes in temporary structures. They brave extreme cold conditions as temperature dips to around 5 degree celsius, sometimes even below in the morning.

But they are on their feet to serve pilgrims from morning till late in the night.
They have smile on their faces throughout and welcome pilgrims and urge upon them to partake food.

Announcements regularly blare across the camps with thousands of temporary tents, urging pilgrims to come and eat in their langars. They also impress upon pilgrims not to waste food. They have a point as transporting food articles is a challenging job.

Tents spread over some 3,000 square feet are effectively used for cooking and serving food. Neatly washed plates are given to pilgrims for eating food. It is very systematic as the plates have to be left in a particular place for volunteers to pick them, clean and keep ready for other pilgrims. The system mostly works on the lines of langars in Gurudwaras.

It is because of people like Guruswamys and Mahenders that thousands of pilgrims feel comfortable and complete the arduous journey either by foot or doli or horseback and feel a sense of fulfilment.
Langar is a free kitchen concept of Sikhs followed in Gurudwaras where food is served to people irrespective of caste and creed.

With no hotel around in Baltal base camp, pilgrims have to rely on langars. Nearly 30 langars are set up every year. Free food is a pleasant surprise for pilgrims, who will have to shell out anywhere between Rs 30 and 50 for a bucket of hot water.

Langars fill the void and pilgrims really have a choice to feast on. As most of the pilgrims stay for at least a couple of days to complete the pilgrimage, they generally visit at least half a dozen langars. With no other eatery around, they would literally indulge themselves in tickling their taste buds with a variety of food. It could range from three or four types of sweets to variety of rice and dessert in the form of kheer or badam milk. Even purified water is served to pilgrims free of charge.

Guruswamy, a priest from Hyderabad, has been doing it for some years now and he finds satisfaction serving people. He is a livewire personality and always on the move. Keeping tabs on cooking in the kitchen to welcoming pilgrims with a smile and folded hands. Last year, Andhra langar as it was called shared space with Jalandhar kitchen as they had to shell out a good amount to Shri Amarnathji Yatra Board to serve the people.

“We buy materials from Andhra Pradesh and transport them in trucks to this place. We also bring our own cooks to ensure that devotees get authentic food,”he said.

Mahender from Punjab, who was also present, shared similar sentiments. They are happy that people contribute liberally for the cause and that has made their task that much easier.The same views were shared by a couple of others from Punjab who also had langars.

They are unhappy that they had to rent the space to serve the people and forcing a few of them to share the space.

“It is nice to get such a good and tasty food for free. We have the choice of selecting the place. All of them are clean and neat,” Rajesh, a government employee from Bengaluru, said.

“We had not expected the facilities to be so good. We were worried about how to manage food,” Anupama, a senior citizen from Hyderabad, who had come as part of a package tour, observed. Several groups in different parts of the country depend on contributions in kind to set up langars (free kitchens) for pilgrims for the Amarnath  Yatra.

Even those coming out of Baba Amarnath Mandir after darshan will be pleasantly surprised as they are served with hot rice and dal. It is amazing that materials are carried on the backs of horses and they travel a distance—a treacherous road—of 14 km one way.

The logistics are mind-boggling as thousands of people are fed every day. It is even hard to imagine how the system works. Ask anyone serving in the langar and they show their hand towards the cave shrine where stalagmite linga exists and say everything happens by the grace of god.
Here, one litre of bottled water is sold at Rs 50 and langars serve unlimited food without collecting a single penny.

Even on the way to Amarnath from Jammu, scores of langars on the roadside are busy preparing food and serving it to pilgrims during the yatra time. At important places, three or four langars are set up offering variety of food. What makes them to do it, the standard reply is that they feel it is like serving  god.