Salaam Baalak Trust city walk & volunteering at community kitchen (at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib)

A tour with a difference that appeals to your altruistic side. Visit a shelter home for street children & go on a two hour walk, conducted by one of the children, to witness & experience life on the streets. Later head to a Sikh shrine and partake in community service at a free kitchen in the Gurudwara complex. Includes return hotel transfers.

An Indian non-profit and non-governmental organization by the name of Salaam Baalak Trust provides a sensitive and caring environment to street and working children in Delhi. They help nurture their dreams and make them realize that their fate can be crafted by their own heart,
their own hands and a firm resolve. By opting for this walk to witness life on the streets, you are doing your bit for the children. Those who wish can give voluntary donation to the trust can do so directly either monetarily or by way of giving away any item for the children (eg. clothing, food items, stationery, electronic goods, etc.). Duration of the walk is approximately two hours. It includes a walk near the New Delhi railway station, the streets of Paharganj locality, and finally the children’s shelter run by the trust.

After this visit, you will be taken to the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara. Other than the shrine, this tour's main focus will be the free community kitchen – known as “langar”. People from any faith can have a meal (vegetarian only) at the Langar hall, which is served at various intervals throughout the daylight hours. After a brief visit to the temple complex, head to the Langar hall and assist in the meal preparation or serving, or partake in duties such as distribution or washing of utensils. Savour a meal at the free kitchen after all the labour. The entire kitchen runs with the help of donations from the devotees monetarily or in the form of food supplies. All the servicing is also done by the devotees only.

The concept of langar or “free kitchen” was propagated by the first guru of the Sikhs – Guru Nanak Dev ji. The idea of the free kitchen is to provide meals to anyone visiting the temple – the person can be from any caste or religion, rich or poor. During langar everyone is treated equally and sits on the same floor and eats the same food in similar utensils. Food or monetary donations are made by the devotees and the devotees only prepare and serve the meals and later wash the utensils as well for the next langar / meal service.

The eighth Sikh guru, Guru HarKrishan resided here during his stay in Delhi in 1664. During that time, there was a smallpox and cholera epidemic, and Guru HarKrishan helped the suffering by giving aid and fresh water from the well at this house. Soon he too contracted the illness and eventually passed away in March 1664. A small tank was later constructed by Raja Jai Singh over the well, its water is now revered as having healing properties.

At the conclusion of this tour, you will be dropped back off to your hotel.