by SS Hari Kirn Kaur Khalsa, Los Angeles, California
2024 (Second Quarter)

As a young girl, I was dropped off at our church each Sunday to sit with my grandmother, who waited for me in the same place in the same pew. I sat quietly, wearing my white cotton gloves, waiting for the hymns so I could show my reading skills and sing loudly with the choir and congregation. I had no idea what the minister was talking about when he gave his sermon, but I left each week feeling somehow fulfilled. As I grew, I participated in additional programs like Sunday School, serving in the Fellowship Hall and becoming part of the choir. I loved all of it.

Fast forward to an introduction to Sikhism and Gurdwara services. I remember being so very happy that there was lots of music and singing! With an unused teaching degree, a lifelong love for dance and music in my heart, I found a use for all of it in the early ’90s through a children’s program in the Gurdwara at Guru Ram Das Ashram in Los Angeles, CA. Together with the creative and talented musician Siri Gopal Singh, I offered a class to children each Sunday so they could lead the Sangat in song and simple movements during the “children’s portion” of the program.

This went on for nearly three decades, along with Kirtan classes by Krishna Kaur, Guru Prasad Kaur and others along the way, and stories from McCauliff re-told by Gurujodha Singh. The stories were interpreted in artwork by the children and then presented in the Gurdwara program. The children had a chance to offer their singing and Kirtan talents each year in the Southern CA Baisakhi program along with over 20 children’s groups from around the area. I figured that if the children could enjoy being a part of something like performing, and learn something along the way, they just might want to return each week to the Gurdwara. It had worked for me.

Then in 2018, Siri Gopal Singh passed away, and in 2020 we closed the Gurdwara because of the coronavirus pandemic. When we opened again, so many things were different—not the least of which was the fact that current children had grown up and many people had moved. We were able to continue the tradition of the children carrying swords and escorting the Guru from the Gurdwara to the Guru’s Sukhasan room, but not the extended children’s singing and Kirtan program. So, with crayons and paper in stock from the past, I laid it out in our Langar Hall foyer on a table for the new group of young ones who came with their families. While the parents have a moment to themselves for Langar, the children draw and talk and laugh. They make paper airplanes and artwork for their moms. We post it on our walls. It’s a cozy scene for all ages, together at the table. The parents usually end up asking more than once for their children to finish drawing—smiling as they wait.

One Sunday after we re-opened, I passed out some lollipops to celebrate a holiday. It was not to be a one-time thing. Each week the lollipops came out and I was not allowed to forget. The children have their favorite flavors, and though I tried telling them all the lollipops taste the same, they assured me each one was different and insisted on their flavor. One small girl has her dad bring a lollipop home if she is not there. Another one takes one home each week for her aunt (sure!). One family moved to another state, and the mother told me that after they went to the Gurdwara near their new home, her daughter came home and asked – “where is my lollipop?”

Some day the children’s program will grow again, with song, Kirtan and maybe even the popular Punjabi classes. What I do know is that the children keep coming, and they are a joy to be with. With a little sweetness added to the blessing of being together as a Sangat, let’s see what happens.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SS Hari Kirn Kaur Khalsa lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, Waheguru Singh Khalsa, D.C. She attended a yoga class in Guru Ram Das Ashram in 1974, took a Teacher Training course there in 1975, and has served in the Los Angeles community and the Gurdwara ever since. Currently she serves as an Executive Councilor and is part of the Gurdwara planning team.