“Jingle Bell”

Jingle Bell jingled today. The exercises and prayers had just about got over when, much to everybody’s surprise, he launched off on a wordy spiel about self realization, service to fellow beings and spiritual fulfillment. Quoting from the Guru Granth Sahib, he enjoined us to enshrine the Lord’s name in our heart. A much-absorbed Srichand Arora and Ved Prakash Grover (in pic) hailed the Lord, “Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa…” at the end of the sermon.
The name, “Jingle Bell” was given by Nafisa Syed to this wizened, old Sikh who has been visiting us at the Garden for the past fortnight. Dressed in white pajama-kurta with beard left open, he used to sit quietly at a distance on a bench, observing us as we exercised. At times he would chuckle to himself at our jokes, looking every bit a bemused Santa Claus.
Then one day, his appearance changed. He turned up in grey track suit, his beard knotted under his chin and with an orange patka on his head. Grover surmised that he must be the “sardar’s brother”. Only when he joined us in the circle to exercise, did we recognize him to be the same old man. Since that day, he has been showing up in different attire, regularly taking part in the exercises, but largely keeping to himself.
This morning he broke his silence. His sermon comes a couple of days ahead of Guru Nanak Jayanti (November 10). Who knows, there could be a deeper significance to all this... Seriously, why should a holy man want to have anything to do with us?
Renu Babani:
Obviously because we have a magnetic pull on people. Our carefree, happy-go-lucky attitude has a positive effect on everyone. Aren't we lucky to have one another and be able to make others laugh? What an amazing group!