An old joke in Punjab goes thus: a man put in an advertisement in a newspaper for a domestic help which said that there would be no salary but the worker would be provided with two meals every day. When a worker reached the person, the latter gave him a tiffin carrier and said, “Have your two meals at the gurdwara and fill the tiffin for me and bring it home!” Langar is a Punjabi word for vegetarian food served in gurdwaras for free. The food is cooked by volunteers and all people irrespective of caste, creed, religion or social status sit together and eat.
