In Punjab, being vehla is a sport that wins the day in the digital age
Being called vehla (idle) in Punjab is usually an insult — a shorthand for laziness, drift and wasted time. But in Moga’s Gholia Khurd village, the word has been rehabilitated, repackaged and turned into a medal-worthy talent. Here, doing absolutely nothing is no longer a flaw — it is a competitive sport, a social experiment, and an oddly mesmerising public spectacle.
Fifty-five contestants — husbands and wives, grandparents and grandchildren, young men and elderly women — have gathered under one roof for an unusual endurance test of stillness: the Vehle Rehan da Competition, where participants sit for hours without phones, without movement, without washroom breaks and without distractions. The last person to remain seated wins.
The rules are simple, severe, and almost comic in their cruelty. Mobile phones are banned. Sleeping is forbidden. Games are outlawed. Food from home is not allowed. Fights or raised voices mean instant disqualification. Once a contestant gets up to use the washroom, they’re out for good — with no second chances. Even “match-fixing” earns an immediate exit. .
The reward? A bicycle and `4,500 in cash for the winner, `2,500 for the runner-up, and `1,500 for third place. But more than money or metal, what’s at stake is a strange new bragging right — Punjab’s ultimate champion of doing nothing.
Organiser of Moga’s village event, Vikramjeet Singh, called it a need-of-the-hour competition. “We have forgotten how to sit and talk…Mobile addiction has taken over our lives. This contest checks how long a person can sit peacefully without screens, without noise, without running away from their own thoughts,” he said.
The concept may sound eccentric, but it has already proved infectious. Similar vehla competitions held earlier in other villages of Punjab — especially in Barnala’s Gehal village - drew massive attention, with videos clocking lakhs of views and crowds gathering to watch people… do nothing. What began as a joke has now turned into a rural trend, part detox camp, part endurance theatre.
In Gholia Khurd, children, youth, women and elders sat wrapped in blankets on mattresses supplied by organizers. Some read religious texts, some whispered silent prayers, others stared into the distance as if negotiating treaties with their own restlessness. For the elderly, the stillness came naturally; for the smartphone generation, it was a slow-burning torture.
“The elders smile,” Vikramjeet laughed. “But seeing young people survive without a phone — that is the real suspense.”
Food is arranged by the organizers and served at the spot because no one is allowed to move. Even the act of standing up is grounds for eviction. The competition, unbound by time, could end in 12 hours, 24 hours, or even longer. The winner is simply the one who outlasts everyone else.
Behind the humour lies a deeper anxiety. Vikramjeet spoke of broken families, rising tension, divorces, suicides, failing eyesight in children and relationships dissolving into screen-glare. “Mobile has created distance between people sitting in the same room,” he said, adding, “If families sit together, talk together, half the tensions of life will disappear.”
The participants echoed that sentiment quietly. A schoolboy admitted that he had never spent so many hours without touching a phone. An elderly man said that he hadn’t experienced such silence in decades. Spectators do the real talking - whispering bets, counting minutes, gasping when someone finally gives in and stands up.
What makes the competition even more fascinating is its contradiction - in a digital age obsessed with speed, likes and reels, hundreds now gather to cheer patience, inactivity and quiet endurance. Punjab’s loudest land has found entertainment in stillness.
