Thousands of Sikhs have gathered in Pakistan to celebrate the 549th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji and at the same time the ground breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor also took place. The open corridor would give Sikh pilgrims easy access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, which is located in Kartarpur, Narowal. This name ‘Kartarpur’ is in news these days and I thought that readers must get an insight of this place and the Gurdawara located there, which is one of the most revered Gurdwaras for Sikhs all around the world. Narowal is a district in Punjab, Pakistan and during the British rule it was the town of Raya Khas Tehsil of Sialkot District. Kartarpur is located in Tehsil Shakargarh, Narowal District and is close to the Pak-India border. Kartarpur which means ‘The City of God,’ as per Sikh history and references, was established by Guru Nanak Dev Ji somewhere in 1522. Guru Nanak Dev Ji is a venerated personality as he is the founder of the Sikh religion and, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib is where he died, the first Gurdwara was also built there to commemorate the site where Guru Nanak settled after his missionary work and assembled a Sikh community and where he lived for 18 years until his death in 1539. This also makes Kartarpur the first headquarters of the Sikh religion and the reason why it holds so much importance for Sikhs. The age-old dispute of constructing a corridor to Kartarpur was resolved when PM Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor on 28th November The corridor will now connect Dehra Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, India, with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on River Ravi bank The Gurudwara is a spacious and stunning building. It can be seen from another Gurudwara located across the Indian border in the historical town of Dehra Baba Nanak. Dehra is derived from the word Deh or body and both sites are the holiest places in Sikhism. I came across an interesting story about this place while going through different Sikh references and accounts. It is said that the then governor of the area Duni Chand met Guru Nanak at Pakhoke and donated 100 acres of land to Guru Nanak. On the Guru’s acceptance of the land he decided to settle there and a small structure was constructed there and that was a beginning of the Sikh centre. There is a reference in the historical books that Guru formally laid the foundation of Kartarpur on Magh 13, 1572 Bikrmi year 1515 AD. It is also mentioned in some references that apart from Duni Chand, Guru’s disciple Doda also aided in laying the foundation. Guru Nanak began to cultivate the land around his new settlement and soon his family including his father, mother, wife and sons arrived at Kartarpur. Here Guru Nanak lived the life of a householder for 18 years. Sikh history is replete with pleasant stories connected with Guru Nanak’s pious deeds at Kartarpur where he started the tradition called Guru ka Langer (a communal kitchen). Till now you will see the concept of langar at all Sikh Gurdawaras. Soon with Sikhs moving to join the community a Sarai (rooms for pilgrims) was built along with a meeting room. These were the places where the Sangat (congregation or people attending worship) and Guru Nanak ‘s conversations took place. Another interesting thing is that at Guru ka Langar people sat and ate together irrespective of their caste, creed, colour of their skin or economic status. The food was grown, prepared and served by the worshipers or Sangat, who worked in turns as volunteers. It was in Kartarpur where Guru Nanak appointed Lehna his spiritual successor after others had failed some of his tests. Some seeking the Guruship were not even aware that the seemingly odd things or tasks that the Guru had asked of them were his way of testing their humbleness, modesty and selfless dedication to their fellow Sikhs. Lehna never felt any work or task below his esteem and thus Guru Nanak gave Lehna the name Angad on July 14, 1539 which meant born of or a piece of (Guru Nanak’s body). Guru Nanak also handed over a Pothi (booklet) of hymns to Angad. Guru Nanak Dev Ji was a generous, pious and a visionary person and according to references it is seen that he was against division of society on the lines of Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs. It is also found in historic references that the Muslims respected him like a peer and the Hindus honored him as the Guru. Let me tell you another spellbinding story about Guru Nanak. According to Sikh history when Guru Nanak, Hindus and Muslims disagreed upon how to perform his cremation. His Hindu followers wanted to cremate the remains as per Hindu tradition, while his Muslim followers wanted to bury the body as per Islamic tradition. A Samadhi (Hindu tradition) lies in the Gurudwara and a grave (according to Muslim traditions) lies on the premises. It is also mentioned in references that Guru Nanak recommended that each group could place a garland of flower besides his body, and the party whose garland would remain fresh after three days that party could dispose of his body according to their tradition of cremation. It is said that on the next morning when the parties raised the cloth under which Guru’s body was laid, they found that the only the flowers placed by his followers were there and thus the Hindus cremated their flowers whereas the Muslims buried theirs. As this Gurdawara can also be seen from the Indian side of border, therefore ndian Sikhs gather in large numbers for darshan from the Indian side, and binoculars are installed at Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak. Sikhs travel to Pakistan from India and many other parts of the world on Baishakhi, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the birthday of Guru Nanak. Sikh references also narrate that the original resting place founded by Guru Nanak was washed away by floods of Ravi River and the present Gurudwara was rebuilt in its place at a cost of Rs.1,35,600, from funds donated by Sardar Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala. It was repaired by the Government of Pakistan in 1995 incurring expenditures in millions of rupees. Recently the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has restored and renovated the Gurdawara for the upcoming 550th birth anniversary and trust me they have done an amazing work. Recently the age-old dispute of constructing a corridor to Kartarpur was resolved when Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor on 28th November. The corridor will now connect Dehra Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, India, with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of River Ravi. I hope this becomes a positive sign for the promotion of religious tourism as well and people of Pakistan other than Sikhs are also allowed to visit this beautiful place. Published in Daily Times, December 1st 2018.