BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS BRING SPLASH OF COLOUR TO CITY STREETS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury (though not on the paper's website):

Birthday celebrations bring splash of colour to city streets

A kaleidoscope of colours shimmered in the streets of Leicester yesterday as thousands of Sikhs celebrated the birthday of the religion's founder.

Brightly decorated floats led a parade of up to 15,000 worshippers from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara, in East Park Road, to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara at Holy Bones, near St Nicholas Circle.

The Nagar Kirtan event, which has been held in Leicester for more than 20 years, marks the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

After prayers and hymns at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara, the procession took three hours to make its way through the city.

Worshippers carried on the celebrations with more prayers and food at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara.

Wosrshippers lined the streets to watch the parade.

Harpreet Kut Bolina, 20, of North Evington said, "It's lovely. it reminds us al of wonderful our culture is. It has a serious message, but is fun too.

Her friend Mandy Kaur Bassi, 23, also of North Evington, said: "We are celebrating the birthday of our 10 gods and it's very important.

"It's great to see the youngsters and the older ones mixing in a day of celebration."

Balinder Singh, 43, of Crown Hills, said: "It is a fantastic occasion and an opportunity to show all of Leicester and beyond how we are about peace and love."

International charitable trust Khalsa Aid made a collection during the procession in aid of people suffering in Haiti, Ethiopia and Somalia.