{"id":1773,"date":"2018-09-11T21:16:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T15:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2018-09-11T21:39:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T16:09:38","slug":"a-sikh-mans-urdu-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/a-sikh-mans-urdu-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sikh man’s Urdu prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY PRABHDEEP SINGH MATHARU<\/strong>
\nNew Delhi, India<\/em><\/p>\n

My grandfather, Mohan Singh Matharu knew Urdu, Arabic, Punjabi, Hindi and English. He was the only one in our locality for whom the local newspaper vendor brought the Urdu newspaper for several years. His routine included reading every single word in that newspaper, which made no sense to us apart from those black and white pictures in it. He loved reading the news in Urdu, but one day the newspaper vendor arrived at our home to inform him that the Urdu newspaper had closed down. From that day onwards, the vendor started delivering a Punjabi newspaper.<\/p>\n

Apart from his daily exercise of reading the news, my grandfather would read his prayers from an Urdu Gurbani Gutka. A Gutka is a small sized book containing chosen hymns or shabads (sacred verses) from Sri Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh scriptures. When the sun would set, he would wash his hands and feet and bring out the Urdu Gutka which was kept in a wooden cupboard in his room.<\/p>\n

\"Gutka
Gutka is a small book containing chosen hymns from Sri Guru Granth Sahib<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He would touch it to his forehead, carefully take the Gutka out of a protective cloth designed especially for it, and then finally uncover the handkerchief wrapping it. Sitting on his bed he would then recite the \u2018Rehraas Sahib<\/em>\u2019 (evening Sikh prayers). The Gutka you see in the photographs was bought by me in 2012 from a shop near the Golden Temple in Amritsar to replace the one my grandfather owned before that. His copy had become too old for him to use.<\/p>\n

I loved observing and listening to him as he would sit in a straight posture and recite the prayers in a melodious tone. He never missed the Rehraas Sahib. When he would be unwell, he would call upon me to recite Rehraas Sahib aloud so he could listen to it. Very politely he would request: \u201cKoi aan milaave mera preetam pyaara, hau’n tis peh aap vechaai\u201d<\/em>– If only someone would come and lead me to meet my darling beloved Lord; I would sell myself to him.<\/p>\n