550th Parkash Purab celebrations conclude in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—The Sikhs residing in South Africa concluded the four month long celebrations of Guru Nanak Sahib’s 550^th Parkash Purab with three days of festivities over the weekend. Notably, the celebrations for 550^th Parkash Purab had started in July with the distribution of blankets to the needy in Johannesburg and continued with the food parcel distribution and other community activities.

Balwinder Singh Kalra, the vice president Johannesburg’s Gurdwara Sahib, said that they spread out the message of Sikhism to other communities in South Africa by helping them to fulfill their needs and they well received it. “Many locals regularly visit the Gurdwara to assist in seva work such as cleaning and preparing langar,” Kalra said.

Balwinder Singh Kalra further said that the projects initiated to celebrate 550 years of Guru Nanak Sahib would continue at the Gurdwara. 

India’s High Commissioner to South Africa Jaideep Sarkar also attended the conclusion ceremony of these celebrations.

Jaideep Sarkar highly hailed the Sikhs for their role in the development society wherever they went to live in the world. “It is a matter of pride that they had constructed such a beautiful Gurdwara right in the heart of South Africa’s commercial hub of Sandton in Johannesburg,” he added.

“It is hardly surprising also that the Green Revolution in India, started in the fields of Punjab before it went elsewhere in India. It is the blood, sweat and tears of Punjabi farmers who gave India food security,” he said.