The lone Gurudwara Sahib in Trinidad and Tobago will have a distinguished visitor when Gursharan Kaur, the wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visits the place on Friday, along with her daughter.
The President of the Gurudwara Sahib, Sardar Devendra Duggal, is keenly looking
forward to the visit of Gursharan Kaur along with the ten families of Sikhs in the country.
Located in the Tunapuna area, in the middle of the island country, the Gurudwara is 80 year old, and is regularly visited by the Sikh and Hindu communities based nearby.
The Gurudwara used to be an old house where the Granth Sahib was placed. Recently it was renovated and according to Duggal, who retired as a permanent secretary of the Trinidad Government, the two-storied new building is air-conditioned.
Like Hindu temples and mosques in this island country of 1.3. million people, of whom 41 percent are of Indian origin, descendants of plantation labour from India, the Sikhs have no permanent 'religious teachers', or Granthis.
The Gurudwara has a Sunday service. Sikh families and their neighbors visit it during this period and read portions of the Granth Sahib and share their lunch.