Abstract:
400 years ago during a time of distress when social and ethical issues challenged
the society, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first sikh guru, thought of a way to unite
people. He used FOOD as a binding factor by setting up a community kitchen.
The communal sharing of meals served as a tool to bring people together and
since then the concept of langar has been an undying practice among the sikh
community all around the world. The scope of langar is not only limited to Sikhs,
instead it is practice which invites people from all castes and religions to a
common ground to serve each other. The practice first began in the holy city of
Amritsar, in the Golden Temple campus itself.
To curb pollution around the Golden Temple and to facilitate thousands of
devotees visiting the holy shrine daily, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak
Committee (SGPC) has embarked on a project to modernize the kitchen facility of
Sri Guru Ramdas Langar Hall at the shrine complex. At present; there are two
langar halls with a capacity of serving 800 devotees each. These were constructed
by Baba Kharak Singh in 1971. Seeing the high amount of footfall managing crowd proves to be a great matter of
concern. During the time of festivals and holidays high risks of stampede and
vandalism may harm the sanctity of the place. Apart from these major
catastrophes some usual problems faced during managing crowds are related to
spatial planning, path controlling, misleading ends, atmospherics and non
cooperation by the crowds.
Along with managing crowd, mass production of food is a major concern with its
storage and processing. All these combine to form a mega kitchen and the
challenge lies in creating a space with several free flowing activities without any
intersecting paths in order to maintain the stature and value of langar itself.
