Citizen staff
Bright colours and delicious treats mingled along Ospika and outside of CN Centre as Prince George and the Guru Nanak Darbar Society celebrated Vaisakhi Saturday.
The event, one of the most important on the Sikh calendar commemorating the birth of the collective faith in 1699, saw hundreds participate in the annual Nagar Kirtan - Vaisakhi Parade, which started from the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara on Davis Road in the morning and made its way to CN Centre.
There long lines formed in front of tents for snacks and sweets ranging from fresh fruit, freezies and popsicles to laddoo and aloo tiki.
"Gol means round, gappa means fill your hand with something," Lakhwinder Bhathal in the Prince George Taxi tent as Ravi Padda offered the gol gappa, a bite-sized, crisp shell with a type of bean, spices in the bottom. "You need to put the whole thing in your mouth."
"Wait... " Padda filled the shell with a spiced water. "This is good in the very hot weather, to keep cool.
"If you're walking in any market in India, some people will be selling this on the street."
The gol gappa and other treats was provided by the drivers of Prince George Taxi, who bustled around their tent gol gappas in groups of four on paper plates.
Nearby, at the Jon M. Duncan Law Corp. tent, two Sonias - Bains and Manhas - gave away ladoo, a "happy-occasion" dessert as Bains put it.
"It's a sweet, gluten free dessert made out of corn flour, sesame seeds and... cloves, too," said Manhas.
"And butter oil," said Bains.
A few line-ups down, at the Nortech and Lally Contracting tent, Bal Chatta took a moment to explain aloo (potato) tikki (cutlet), small, fried fritters with topped with a tamarind sauce and accompanied by a slice of onion.
"It served during weddings, special occasions, if you have a guest in the home - just like a samosa or a pakora, this is the third part of it," she said just as the potato morsel delivered a kick of heat.
The pace in the Dana Mandi was even more frantic.
Manreet Nijjer helped lend some insight as four people rolled out flat discs of flour that was then deep fried in a large pan for chole bhature and another cooked up red strings of flour and sugar syrup known as jalebi.
"It's a lunch and breakfast type of thing," said Nijjer about the bhature.
