Raj Sadosh/Abohar.

Carrying the 53-year-old tradition of meeting people to exchange greetings ahead of Diwali that his grandfather Bal Ram Jakhar started after winning Punjab Assembly election in 1972, MLA Sandeep Jakhar walks through markets here each day.

After the tall politician was elected to Lok Sabha in 1980, his sons Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, Sunil Jakhar and Surinder Jakhar, used to meet people beginning a fortnight ahead of the festival of lamps. They also used to sit in the lawns of ancestral houses in village Panjkosi, day after Diwali, to exchange greetings with an un-ending number of people from different villages. Each visitor was served with tea and sweets.

It is no surprise that Jakhar family’s third generation scion, Sandeep Jakhar, an alumnus of Mayo College Ajmer, who learnt Hotel Management in top-ranking institutes at Switzerland and Florida, looks so simple and affectionate while meeting people. For him, caste or creed is no consideration. He led Apna Abohar, Apni Abha team in the morning to clean the road near the main post office and BSNL complex. The team did patch work on the potholed road. In the evening, Sandeep was found walking through the markets to wish all a Happy Diwali.