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Sikhs de France
Offering A Helping Hand

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Members of the Sikh-French community have opened their hearts and the doors of their gurdwaras to the people of Paris after the terrorist attacks in which more than 130 people were killed and 352 injured last weekend.

The following tweet from Rohan Singh Kalsi went viral, and was followed by a grateful response from Parisians:

“Anybody who’s stranded in Paris and needs shelter and somewhere safe, any Sikh Gurdwara will be happy to accommodate #PorteOuverte” 5:40 pm - 13 Nov 2015.

The Paris gurdwaras kept their doors open around the clock for those stranded after the attacks so that they could take shelter and were served langar (community kitchen).

As well, Sikh-Parisian cabbies dropped the stranded people to their homes free of cost.

Rajbir Singh Tung, General Secretary of The World Sikh Council, said: “The council held the meeting immediately after the attacks and decided to help the people in any way they could. The Gurdwaras were open throughout the night, and people came to take shelter. Besides, they were served langar as many of them were hungry.

"Also, Sikh cab drivers dropped the stranded passengers to their homes free of cost as the metro services came to a halt due to the attacks. People I know in our community gave shelter to many strangers in their houses as the latter had no means to reach their homes at night and they were stuck on the roads at night’.

Rajbir Singh added: “In addition, around a hundred volunteers from the community went to hospitals to donate blood but only around 20 of them could give as by that time the hospitals had sufficient blood. They have been told to return on Tuesday for blood donation, so they will again go to donate blood.’’

While Joginder Kumar Gera, who runs a restaurant in downtown Paris, said: “People were scared after the attacks as everything came to a standstill, so members of our community contacted each other and we decided to help the people, we dropped people at their places, served them food, we made sure everyone is safe. Also we made staying arrangements for people at gurdwaras  and they stayed for the night there.’’

Gurdial Singh, who has been living in Paris for the last 36 years and runs a construction firm, said: “We requested the French Police and authorities to send people to gurdwaras for any kind of help and the police made announcements and people from all walks of life came and had langar, and also stayed for the night.’’

Ranjit G Singh, Director of Public Affairs, Representative Council of Sikhs in France, said: “Eight gurdwaras in Paris were open day and night in order to help the needy.’’

In terror-struck Paris, Manjit Singh was one of the taxi drivers who came out to help the shell-shocked people. He said: “Our taxi drivers in Paris provided free travel to the stranded people to reach their homes safely .“

“It was an opportunity to serve people in crisis and we gladly helped them,“ added another taxi driver, Kuldeep Singh.


[Courtesy: New Indian Express. Edited for sikhchic.com]

November 17, 2015
 

Conversation about this article

1: Gurteg Singh (New York, USA), November 18, 2015, 1:35 PM.

Twitter had these comments on this humanitarian gesture of the Sikhs. "May God bless the Sikhs for your hospitality and kindness #PorteOuverte #Paris," tweeted Howard Roark. Tred tweeted: “Let us hope that Paris remembers this favour of the Sikhs and overturns the turban ban.” “Paris needs a hug. Sikhs are awesome,” said Liz Mitchell. “Sikhs are great people, opened the temples in Paris to house people to protect them from the monsters,” said Everton Moaner.

2: Rup Singh (Canada), November 18, 2015, 1:53 PM.

Nanak Naam Chardi Kalaa Tere Bhane Sarbat Da Bhalla. Perhaps the Sikhs of Paris should get consideration for Chic Sikhs of the year.

3: Sarbjit Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), November 20, 2015, 10:20 AM.

Sikhs everywhere have shown their presence and have the blessings of Almighty Akal Purakh and Guru Nanak. They will continue with the tradition of langars which Guru Nanak started with a mere twenty rupees.

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Offering A Helping Hand"









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