Annual Gurmat Parchaar Samelan - some of my memories

Some of us wait the entire year for this week - it is so worth it, too. Today I would like to share with you some memories, some lessons, and some experiences from samelans past.

I have this one memory of Sentul Jatha. Can't remember the year, which samelan it was, but I remember how the darbaar looked like vividly. Picture the morning IPS, which has just started. They start the shabad : 

Madho Hum Aise Too Aisa , 

O Lord, this is what we are, and this is what You are. 

And poof! The electricity is out - something must have shorted. The jatha is left with no mikes, and the sangat remains. What happens next, has become one of my favourite memories. The jatha continues singing this line, Madho Hum Aise Too Aisa, and the sangat - imagine main darbar, with all those participants and sewadars, sing along. I don't know how long this went on, I don't remember what else they sang, I don't remember what they spoke about. But I remember this, this harmonious singing, this chanting of the shabad in tune, happening. The technical veerjis are frantically moving around trying to fix the problem, but the rest of us, we are singing. I smile now. Goosebumps. That is the vibration you get in samelan, in the sangat. Eventually, the problem was solved, I think - but from that day onwards, Sentul Jatha held a special place in my heart. 

As I was speaking to a dear penji in samelan last year, she said these words to me, "26 years and counting, it's an addiction". That is my age, people, that is how many years she has been attending this, this, "camp" doesn't seem to describe it. 

I think last year, we got me a t shirt made : Top 10 Reasons I love Samelan. There are many - and my top 10 may differ from yours, but all will agree that it is something like no other. 

I remember a couple that had attended, some years back - from the UK, they were. They said they could not stop crying - for everything was so beautiful. It is not always, you get to see 1000 people gathered and everything falling into place, where there is so much singing and laughter and sewa and learning and fun and adventure and.. this will go on. 

I attended a kirtan program a few days ago. My friend, M (not the M that got married) was there, and as we sat (right in front, thankyouverymuch) together (plus her sister and mine - I must add, people sometimes confuse her sister as mine and my sister as hers) and sang loudly, I was taken back to the good old days. The days when we were participants, and we used to sit together and sing loudly, and enjoy the IPS. She is the girl with whom I (and two other friends of ours) had a slumber party with at samelan - of course, other people joined, and coincidentally that was the samelan at Bentong, 5 years ago. *Much feels* We very nicely asked the security penjis and auntyjis, and they said yes - and we shared our loot; chips and nuts and other junk - we talked, and at some point, we (well, M mostly) had to shoo away a cat. That doesn't leave you, that memory. I remember what I was wearing, I remember how we were spread on the mattress, and I remember it being so much fun - although I was falling asleep at the end of it. And two out of the three people that were there came to London with me two years ago - and we relived it, and we relived it good. It is not for fun that people say if you are a samelan kid, you can sleep and bathe almost everywhere. And I am so glad that along the way I found these mad, mad girls, and many other people. 

I remember someone saying "Samelan starts when you go home" and the speakers challenging us during the LM to learn more and prove it the next year. 

I remember vividly, getting up and heading to the darbar to hear the deep voice of Uncle Sukhindarpal leading the nitnem and the feeling when nitnem is ongoing, and I remember a penji saying - look at the meaning during Jaap Sahib. 

While I was at samelan this year, I returned to the dorms to find a jatha doing their utility sewa - and I said "Washing toilets is aaaaaa...... ?" to be faced with non-comprende looks - they were too young to know it, methinks. 

The story here is Veerji Khushwant and Utility Sewa (cerita bukan dongeng). Back in the day, jatha competition used to be taken VERY, VERY seriously. And the most important part? Utility sewa. It was the biggest competition to see which jatha would win the coveted perfect 10 from veerji. And it was hard, man. He would grade based on .. well I am guessing enthusiasm, dedication, and probably how clean stuff actually was afterwards (LOL). But that was the time people would be singing at the top of their voices, and actually be enjoying just being together, getting wet, and without realising it doing their sewa. I have heard such amazing stories of people going down on all fours to clean, of extracting lodged items, and such. And yes, I clearly remember doing one night utility rotation (The BEST, night one), the utility team standing together, and us participants raring to go.
Veerji bellows, "Washing toilets is A" to which we reply "DREAM JOB!" And then he gestures to his sidekick, who hands him "our best friend" - the toilet cleaner liquid bottle (I forget the brand). And armed with brushes, detergent, toilet cleaner, and what have you - we march off. People who like me are not so young, are you grinning yet?

But I did hear last year that someone my age tried it with their jatha - keeping it going, yo.

And I remember that every samelan, the first and last day feeling remains the same. The first, an extreme, inexplicable happiness as the dewan becomes a darbaar, when the 5 Pyare lead Guru Granth Sahib in, and suddenly the entire mood, feel, atmosphere changes. And the last, a sombre, inexplicable sadness and melancholy as they now lead the way out, and with the Guru leaving, the dewan returns. I don't think that feeling is ever different.

And I don't think there can be a different feeling to the immense excitement every year, to meet old friends, and to make new ones.

I remember one year when I was elected by the jatha to present at the LM everyday. (I loved it, me nerd me)

I remember one year ending up in the same jatha as R and J - and we had SUCH a good time. We slept on two top bunks and every night some shenanigan or other was happening - and that was the year R and I became sisters. I remember J and I pulling her up by her cute, cute pajamas - and rolling on the bed laughing uncontrollably after.

There is one memory I have of samelans past when my mother's friends recognised me as I was growing - apparently due to the photocopy/xerox/ditto looks I have inherited from her. It is funny, this memory - because most of the time they have a look of much amusement and awe at the similarity.

And then there is the memory of that afternoon session when uncle Senjay made everyone feel something. Some of us remember it very well.

There is one IPS that comes to mind, in recent years, when Giani Mahinder Singh Khalsa (Khalsaji) attended - I remember him speaking in Malay, and telling a good story, and I remember the IPS being something lots of people were looking forward to. A few years later, he passed on. I don't think he had come for another samelan after that.

I have much more to write, but I will have to continue some other time. I had to write this today, the year has only yet begun and I want you to share these memories I have, and perhaps tell me of some of the memories you have.

As always, love and inspiration to you.