The Invisible Army
When hundreds of thousands of devotees arrive at Nakodar for the Annual Mela, they experience the darbaar at its most extraordinary. What they may not fully see is the invisible army that makes all of it possible: the volunteers — sevadaars — who have been preparing for weeks and who work without rest for the duration of the mela in an act of complete and joyful service.
Arriving Days Before
Many sevadaars arrive three or four days before the mela begins. The preparation work is enormous. The darbaar complex must be cleaned, the langar infrastructure expanded, supplies received and stored, lighting and sound checked, traffic flow planned. Volunteers from across Punjab descend on Nakodar and simply begin working — no job too small, no task too humble.
"When you do seva here, you forget yourself. You forget that you are tired. There is no 'I' doing the work — only the work itself." — Sevadaar from Ludhiana, 12 years of mela service
The Langar Kitchen
The heart of the volunteer operation is the langar kitchen. In the days leading up to the mela, the kitchen operates at full capacity: enormous vessels cooking dal and sabzi, hundreds of kilos of atta being kneaded into dough for rotis, assembly lines of volunteers washing, chopping, stirring, and serving. The physical labour is intense. But sevadaars describe it as the most satisfying work they have ever done.
Night Shifts and Exhaustion
The mela runs through two full days and nights. Volunteers work in shifts, but the boundaries between shifts often blur as people find they cannot stop. The energy of the gathering — the music, the prayers, the sheer presence of so many devoted people — acts as its own sustenance. Volunteers report that the tiredness which comes after the mela is different from ordinary tiredness: it is the satisfied exhaustion of having given everything.
What Seva Gives Back
Those who serve at the mela consistently report that the experience transforms them. Not in a dramatic or sudden way, but quietly and deeply. The dissolution of the ego that comes through selfless service — through spending days caring for strangers without recognition, without payment, without any personal benefit — produces a peace and clarity that no other experience quite replicates.
How to Volunteer
If you wish to volunteer at the Annual Mela or at any other time of year at the darbaar, contact the Dera Baba Murad Shah Ji Trust directly at 01821-222 786. No formal application is required — come with an open heart and willing hands, and there will be seva waiting for you.