On Thursday, June 25, 2015, I traveled to Chicago to attend Lalkaar 2015 – Midwest edition. I also had the privilege of being a facilitator for the conference focused on Guru Granth Sahib Ji. As soon as I landed, I was taken to the hotel to start facilitator training for the weekend. There, I met other facilitators where we bonded and starting connecting to Guru Sahib together. After training ended, we met the other participants through icebreakers, which lead to enjoying Rahraas Sahib together and of course, my first experience with the one and only, real, amazing Chicago Pizza from Giordano’s.
On Friday, June 26, 2015, the conference material officially started as we traveled to University of Chicago campus to have diwaan and start the workshops. The first workshop focused on the structure and format of Guru Granth Sahib Ji called “Know your Guru”. This was the participants’ first chance to interact with Gurbani’s structure as a group. After a yummy lunch, the participants had another workshop called Music of the Guru. The last workshop for Friday was called “Court of the Guru”, which took place in the diwaan hall in front of Guru Sahib. This was one of my favorite workshops because as a sangat, we discussed physical barriers to the Guru Granth Sahib Ji within our gurdwaras, our homes, our faith, etc. The workshop became more of a discussion with everyone speaking as the sadhsangat in front of Guru Sahib and to Guru Sahib. The night ended with a banquet for participants to dance, hang out and spend time with their new Midwest sangat.