The sweet fragrance of gur or jaggery fills the air infields across Punjab these days with wood-fired stills continuously working tomake it 'immunity' booster for protesting farmers who have set up vast campsfor over a week to mark their protest at the borders of the national capitalagainst new farm laws they say will destroy livelihoods.
Besides jaggery, scores of women and children, preferred to stayback in Punjab, are adding sweetness to the protest by their brethren bitterover the farm laws.
Every early morning they are assembling voluntarily ingurdwaras and community places for making a traditional Punjabi sumptuoussweet, 'desi ghee pinnis', for the farmers braving chilly nights on the border.
Even the aid is pouring from across the sea. Two US-basedNRIs, popularly known as Tut brothers, have sent 30 quintals of almonds forthem.
"We have so far dispatched five tonnes of 'gur'especially made for the protesting farmers stationed on the Delhi border,"local farmer Lal Singh, who sets up a still in his fields on the outskirts ofJalandhar town, told IANS.
He said he's getting gallons of sugarcane juice dailycollected from nearby villages and they are making it extra nutritious byadding a lot of nuts and dried fruits like almonds and species.
"The sugarcane, dried fruits, species and fuel wood arecontributed voluntarily by the villagers," Singh said.
"By profession we are farmers, not 'gur' sellers. Ourbrothers and sisters have been stationed on the border to fight a battle tosave our livelihoods. Back home, it is our duty to take care of them,"another farmer Rajbir Singh said.
He said a tractor-trailer loaded with 'gur' is sent to Delhiborders once in two days through village young volunteers.
Like this special one, scores of 'gur'-making units, run byvolunteers, have come up across Punjab.
Likewise, a group of local women and children assemble in agurdwara at Nauli village of Jalandhar to roll sumptuous 'pinnis' for theprotesting farmers.
"Our village young men have been tasked to maintain thesupply line with the protesting farmers. These 'pinnis' are not only for the farmersbut also served to the security men stationed there," remarkedoctogenarian Sarbajit Kaur.
She said all ingredients are voluntarily offered by thelocal villagers.
Added Nachattar Singh: "We have another team of men andwomen stationed along with our protesting brothers and sisters to cook andserve 'kheer' daily along with the 'langar'. For the 'kheer', the milk is beingprovided free by our brothers and sisters from Haryana."
A group of volunteers have been serving almonds among thefarmers along the Singhu border.
"We came with five quintals of almonds and 10 quintalsof 'gur' yesterday. After distributing this lot, another lot will be dispatchedaccordingly," Paramvir Singh said.
While serving a palm full of almonds and a cake of 'gur' toa Rapid Action Force (RAF) man, he told IANS these almonds have been sent byCalifornia-based Tut brothers through their cousins based in Jalandhar.
"Jaggery is one of the best natural cleansing agentsfor our body. In this polluted Delhi, it efficiently cleans our respiratorytract, lungs and the stomach," remarked Ajmer Singh, a protesting farmerfrom Ropar district.
(Source: IANS)