Arriving on the Eurostar train, you can get there on
one train from the Gare du Nord int'l station (takes about 20 mins).
Metro No. 5 Station Bobigny. Charles de Gaulle airport is only a few miles away.

THE small but rapidly growing Punjabi community in Paris gets together at the sole gurdwara here
for festivities like the conclusion of three-day celebrations of the Baisakhi festival, which marks
harvest time as well as the Punjabi New Year.

Over 500 people, a fair mix of Sikhs and Hindus, visited the gurdwara Gurdwara Singh Sabha Association
located at Bobigny, a northeastern suburb of Paris, where an akhand path (uninterrupted reading of
Sikh holy scriptures) had been in progress.

The akhand path was followed by regular kirtan (devotional songs) that lasted for more than two
hours and concluded the Baisakhi celebrations in the gurdwara. The participants later also partook
of langar (community kitchen).

Simultaneously, daylong festivities had been organized by the Punjabi Sports Club of Paris.
Traditional Indian sports like kabbadi and kho-kho took place alongside races that saw
participation by a large number of children and youths.

Though officially, the Punjabi community in France is only about 15,000, recent years have seen a
significant increase in the number of migrants from Punjab and Haryana into France. Most of them
can be seen selling toys and roasted chestnuts near the famous Paris tourist spots like the
Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees and Opera.

Though no official figures are available, some members of the Punjabi community estimate that
there may be over 50,000 Punjabis living in and around Paris, with most of them having arrived
in the late 1990's.  A number of earlier migrants have now settled in trade and run grocery shops
in Paris and suburbs.