Sikhs in Tooting

The Khalsa Centre

The Khalsa Centre, 95 Upper Tooting Road, opened in February 1984. Prior to that, the local Sikh community held a weekly meeting in a hired hall in Kellino Street and attended the gurdwara in Merton Road, Southfields. The lack of public transport links between Tooting and Southfields meant that the journey could be difficult, particularly for elderly people; so, when the opportunity arose, the community acquired the old Social Security office in Upper Tooting Road and established the Khalsa Centre.

The Khalsa Centre is very active and is involved with many other organisations. For example, it has good links with the local police, and advises them on matters involving members of the Sikh community. There is a Youth Group and a Medical Group (where people can get advice on health matters), and the Centre also raises money for charity.

The Khalsa Centre is run by a committee with the active support of all members of the community. The only paid staff are the cleaners - everything else is done by volunteers. For example, when the Centre was extended in 2003, the whole building project was carried out by members of the community who donated their time and expertise.

Inside the Gurdwara

A Sikh temple is known as a gurdwara (the door of the guru) because it houses the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib. Readings from the Guru Granth Sahib form the central part of Sikh worship.

Before entering the gurdwara, people remove their shoes and cover their heads. When they enter the hall, they bow before the Guru Granth Sahib and make an offering of money. They then sit on the floor. People may sit wherever they wish and there is no segregation of any kind, because all members of the congregation are equal - though women often choose to sit together. Following the worship, all members of the congregation eat a special sweet called karah parshad. There is then a communal meal. The sharing of food is important because it symbolises equality. Members of the congregation donate the food, and men and women play an equal role in preparing and serving the meal.

Sikhs do not have a specific holy day during the week. At the Khalsa Centre, the main congregational worship takes place on Saturday evenings and there are also meetings on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. The Khalsa Centre is open every day for private prayer. 250-300 people regularly attend the Saturday evening worship and 450-500 people attend for special events such as the Vaisaki festival.

The holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, is central to Sikh worship and is treated with the greatest respect. It is placed on a dais at the end of the gurdwara, which raises it above the level of the congregation. It is fanned with a chauri - a type of fan that looks like a fly switch - as a sign of respect. When it is not being read, it is covered with a silk cloth. At night, the Guru Granth Sahib is kept in a separate room. There is a ceremony in the evening when the book is "put to bed" and another in the morning when it is "dressed" in cloth and brought into the gurdwara.

At the Khalsa Centre, the structure over the dais is made of special wood and was carved in India. The cloths on the dais are changed every day.

Sikh Festivals

The major festival of the year is Vaisaki. This takes place on 14th April and marks the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh. Other important festivals celebrated at the Khalsa Centre are the birthdays of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, the Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur, and Diwali. An important feature of any Sikh festival is a continuous reading of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end. People take it in turns to read from the book for a period of two hours each, and the whole reading takes about 48 hours.