E-Mail: reema@thelangarhall.com
Web Page: http://thelangarhall.com
Registered Since: 2007-12-18 19:38:44
Profile:
Posts by Reema:
- Every principal must designate a staff member to whom students can report bullying and harassment episodes.
- A new e-mail address — RespectForAll@schools.nyc.gov — has been set up so that students who have been harassed, but do not feel comfortable reporting it to their school, can seek help.
- Each school must create an annual plan “to ensure that it has a safe and supportive learning environment,” and train students in the new rules so that they understand what behavior is prohibited and where to go for help if they have been bullied.
- Schools will have to report all complaints of harassment, intimidation or bullying within 24 hours, and conduct full investigations, including interviews and written statements.
- A full investigation of an incident within 5 days
- A written report for the alleged victim of the results of any incident within 10 days
- School staff members who witness or are told about bullying episodes must report them, and schools must contact the families of accused students. [link]
- If you favor the ban: While engaging with issues faced by communities impacted by the ban, please discuss how France’s conception of secularism (laïcité) can be used to shed light on the ban.
We don’t have to be friends
October 8th, 2008From the Volokh Conspiracy:
Dear Senator McCain:
Repeatedly calling me and everyone else in the United States “my friends” is extremely annoying. In part, it’s just an irritating phrase. Beyond that, I’m not your friend. I don’t know you, and, from what I know of you, I don’t even really like you. Sorry to focus on such superficialities when the world economy is going to Hell, but you probably lost more votes with your constant repitition of “my friends” than from anything Obama said.
Sincerely,
David B. [link]
Reema (I’m signing on.)
Both candidates used the phrase. And of course, because of my bias, it grated on my nerves when McCain used it. It was just amusing when Obama did. Anyone who is about to control my life and the lives of all US residents is not a friend, and they shouldn’t try to be. They just better know what they’re doing because everything (economy, environment- one in 4 mammals is threatened with extinction, social security, Medicare + Medicaid) seems to be falling apart at the same time. Not to be dramatic or anything. The only suggested economic solution from a Sikh point of view I found was vague, overly ambitious, and not really very palatable either.
Sikhs: turning religulous?
October 7th, 2008Last week Bill Maher was a guest on the Daily Show, promoting his new movie Religulous and offering a clip. The clip happened to show a sardar in a London park, which was the extent of any Sikh’s appearance in the movie.
The name, ‘Religulous,’ is a portmanteau blending the words 1) religion and 2) ridiculous, and examines the overlap of those concepts. The movie’s proclaimed purpose is to promote doubt in the minds of those who have blocked doubt in religious teachings completely and subsequently hold totally irrational beliefs (i.e. reject evolution), though those who actually go to watch the movie probably wouldn’t be completely opposed to such doubt to be
gin with. Of course at some point the explanations of rationality end, and there is the unknown. The point of the movie is to admit that it actually is unknown, and show that those who claim to know, really don’t.
In the movie, Bill Maher interviews people from a variety of backgrounds and religious faiths (from a former head of the Human Genome Project and the former Director of the Vatican observatory to a British rapper). Some hold more nuanced views than others. He listens and asks questions of people who staunchly believe in literal translations of age old texts even when their beliefs scientifically absurd, and has some interesting (and comical) conversations. My favorite interview by far was with a very rational Vatican priest who happily admitted that Jesus’ birthday is not on December 25th and the Catholic church has absolutely no idea when it really is.
A strange and unecessary effect of women in politics
October 2nd, 2008In anticipation of Biden’s showdown with Palin tonight, as I wondered how Biden would perform in the strange, negotiated format that really favors Palin- allowing only 90 seconds for a response before two minutes for discussion (since every newscaster is cautioning Biden to not come across as chauvinistic) this picture gave me extra pause.
The headline reads: “Putin accuses Ukraine of having assisted Georgia during war”
That’s ….Putin ….accusing Ukraine (Tymoshenko is the Prime Minister) of assisting Georgia against Russia??
Ladies, they’re on our turf now!
Blue-turbanned Sikh at the first presidential debate
October 1st, 2008
Were you watching the Presidential debate last Friday? Did you catch flashes of a sardar in a blue turban? I assume that anyone who did was equally as surprised as I was (though happily so). Well, who is the mystery man? He’s Arvinder Singh Kang, a twenty five year old who was the only Punjabi, and the only Sikh at the University of Mississipi when he came from Punjab to do a graduate degree.
I came to the U.S. in the fall of 2005, as a graduate student at the University of Mississippi. From a proud Sikh family, I was the first kid from my village and from my maternal and paternal lineage to come to America for studies.
I brought twenty-something Puggs (turbans). I knew Japji Sahib by heart and had been exposed to Sikh history more than I had been to comics. All through my undergrad years, I had taught my juniors how to wear a turban. There was no doubt, whatever the circumstances might be, I would always be a Turbanator!
While boarding a plane from London’s Gatwick Airport, I sat beside a Sikh girl living in Houston who was born and raised in London. “…So it’s going to be hard to keep a turban in university”, she said in a lovely British accent.
“Much nee te kuch nee!” (What’s a man without a mustache) I had quipped. [link]
You can read more from Arvinder at Sikhchic.
Are Sikhs in Haryana what Sarah Palin is to the Republican ticket?
September 30th, 2008Though this may not be the best analogy, I’m going to make it. It seems the Congress party in Haryana made the demand for a separate Gurdwara committee, in order to mobilize Sikh votes in their favor (at least according to one news source).
What is also well known is that Haryana’s Sikh vote has traditionally been mobilised by the SAD(B) for Devi Lal and then his son Om Prakash Chautala’s party. After 1984, the anti-Congress vote headed in that direction even more. By all accounts, the 2005 Assembly elections — also the one in which the Congress manifesto included the demand for a separate gurdwara management body for Haryana — constituted a break in the story. According to a CSDS survey, 50 per cent of the Sikh vote in Haryana went to the Congress in 2004, and only 35 per cent to Chautala’s INLD. [link]
And Sarah Palin- as qualified as she may be- was not selected to run as Vice President because of her outstanding qualifications, but for her token status as a woman. It was hoped that she would fulfill the dreams of Hillary supporters who wanted the glass ceiling in the White House shattered. (From what I’ve seen in the polls though, this doesn’t seem to have worked. The women who rallied behind Hillary don’t want a token representative.)
A Sikh tele-drama?
September 24th, 2008[Joint post by Singh and Reema]
The plot is thick. Nearly 100 million Phillipine pesos are at stake (roughly $ 2.2 million USD). Multiple groups of god-father like figures control entourages of loyal henchmen. Money is being used for unauthorized purposes, and powerful figures have put competitors out of play - risking not just the money, but [dun dun dun]…their lives!
Is this:
(a) The set of Al Capone?
(b) A government paramilitary force under a dictatorship?
(c) The Punjab Police?
(d) Or is it just the story of a gurdwara?
You guessed it: the answer is (d)!
This is the set for the latest episode of “Who Wants to be a Pardhaan (President of the Gurdwara),” and it takes place in Manila, where a battle for control of the local guru ghar has been waged for years. We had heard of this type of thing being publicized in the West (Europe and the Americas), but why should the Phillipines be any different - and undoubtedly this story has just as much drama and un-Sikh-like behavior as any we have heard. It goes something like this:
2004: Bansal became Gurdwara president following a court-supervised elections. After coming into power, he looked into organization’s assets and found that Amardeep’s group (the old committee) had siphoned off P30.6 million from Gurdwara donations to a new corporation they had created—Khalsa Diwan (Sikh Religious Association) Inc.
Police Patrol by Delhi Sultanate and Sukhmani Malik
September 17th, 2008In light of the Indian government’s response to this past weekend’s bombings in Delhi, this video seems especially poignant (not to mention sweeet!).
A review of the Sikh Research Institute’s First Webinar
September 17th, 2008Update: wow, I did an AWFUL job of summarizing SRI’s first webinar. (Apologies to the good folks at SRI) Here’s a better summary:
Sikh Theology - A Gurmat Framework: The first session comprised of introducing an approach to Sikhi and recognizing how Guru Nanak Sahib revolutionarily delivered a message of Oneness through illustrating a direct connection between ideas and practice. We engaged in understanding what ‘Guru’ means in the Sikh context and how we can begin to comprehend the Guru’s wisdom, Gurmat. To develop this understanding, three facets of bani (scripture), tavarikh (history) and rahit (lifestyle) were introduced. The greatness of a religion is when harmonious balance between Ultimate reality and visible form is exemplified thru the aforesaid facets. We concluded with Puran Singh’s rendering on the Guru’s vision, “It sweetens you and your sweetness sweetens all life around. At your sight, the lamb and the tiger must drink at the same pool.”
And some info on session 2:
Bani - The Message: In session two, we continued to build on our understanding of the Guru’s message; We engaged in actively learning about the scriptural canon, the Guru Granth Sahib. In covering topics as the compilation, contributors, structure, language and content of Guru Granth Sahib, we tackled questions such as, “How do we know Guru Granth Sahib is the Guru?” and “What is the Sabad Guru?”; thus, facilitating and inspiring us to continue to build our personal relationship with Guru Granth Sahib.
And 3:
Tavarikh – The Revolution: Having concentrated on the written form of our Guru’s message (Bani) last week, this week in session three, “Tavarikh – The Revolution”, we will turn our focus on to how our Gurus exemplified The Message. We will walk through the lives of Guru Nanak Sahib through Guru Gobind Singh Sahib and try to understand them through a social, political, economic and spiritual framework. We will cover a range of issues, from touching on the ramifications of negating the need of a Divine intermediary, to the economic center created by the Guru Sahibs, to the activism of both social and political kind. In surveying the inspiring history of our Gurus, we hope to remind ourselves of how relevant, active and exemplary the revolution of Sikh? is.
Punjab & Haryana High Court to deliberate on who qualifies as Sikh under Gurdwara Act of 1925
September 10th, 2008On September 19, a full bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will begin hearing arguments to decide the constitutional contours that define a Sikh under the Gurdwara Act of 1925. The decision will have important consequences, such as whether sahajdhari Sikhs ought to have voting rights in SGPC elections.
I’m not completely sure how the courts in India work, but the full bench seem to be joining two unrelated cases, that both turn on the definition of a Sikh, under the Gurdwara Act of 1925.
One:
. . . a plea filed by Gurleen Kaur whose candidature for an MBBS seat in the SGPC-run Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Education & Research, Amritsar had been rejected. . . Significantly, the college had a 50 per cent quota for Sikhs but Gurleen was denied the seat on the ground she did not fit the “definition of a Sikh in the purest sense of the term”. In fact, she was dubbed a ‘patit’ Sikh, a term referring those Sikhs one trim their hair or pluck their eyebrows. [link]
Punjab’s First Sikh University- high ambitions, and many obstacles
September 9th, 2008The Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, a project that has the potential to be groundbreaking, was announced in September 2004. As it’s currently being presented, it’s quite an ambitious project. From announcements, it seems that at least in its planning phases, a truly comprehensive education will be
offered.
Contrary to popular perception, the university will be in keeping with modern times and trends, and besides a school of religious and civilisation studies, the institution will also have a school of emerging technologies, school of basic sciences, school of management, school of social sciences, school of arts, school of languages, school of engineering, school of architecture and planning and school of law and social justice.
Talking to TNS, university vice-chancellor Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia said the varsity would neither be religion-based or religion-dominated. The university would take up the teaching of emerging technologies like information technology (IT), biotechnology (BT) and nano-technology, besides other emerging disciplines like ecology, human rights, feminism and empowerment of downtrodden, he said. [link]
The proposed university’s forward-looking goals make me hope that it actually materializes. It strives to address the role that Sikhi should and does play in the 21st century.
Sikh march in Queens leads to change in school regulations
September 5th, 2008[updates in italics]
The New York City school system has established a new process for reporting bias and bullying, prompted partially by Sikhs marching in Queens, led by the Sikh Coalition, two months ago. 1.1 million students will be affected by the new regulations. 
The new regulation — which is intended to prevent bullying based on a student’s ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability — comes two months after leaders of the Sikh population marched in Queens to protest attacks against Sikh students and what the leaders described as a lackluster response by the public school system. [link]
What is this new regulation? It includes several important provisions:
It seems that “Respect for All” will be a idea promoted by NY schools this coming year, and trends in bias-related bullying will also be tracked.
Mediation services needed in gurdwaras
September 2nd, 2008Many of you may have already heard about the shooting that occurred on Sunday afternoon at the Sacramento Sikh Society Sports Complex, next to the gurdwara. A cricket match, part of a sports festival, was being held when an ongoing argument took a fatal turn. So far, I’ve seen no news of the substance of the dispute. But the result left Paramjit Pamma Singh (name misreported?) dead, and an unnamed 38 year old man with a leg wound. [link]
Gurpreet Singh Gosal, 24, of Indianapolis, was arrested and booked into Sacramento Main Jail Monday morning for the murder of Parmjit Pamma Singh, said sheriff spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran… The shooting followed an ongoing argument between the victims, Singh Gosal and a second man, according to investigators. The suspect and the second man opened fire on Pamma Singh and a 38-year-old man as they watched a tournament at the Sacramento Sikh Society Sports Complex in the 7600 block of Bradshaw Road about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Curran said. Pamma Singh died at the scene. [link]
We must find better ways to resolve our disputes. 
Often, I’m proud of how our community quickly takes action when action is necessary, though this weekend’s events illustrate a darker side of this willingness to take initiative. If anyone has more information about the substance of the dispute between the shooters and the victim, please share.
Gurpreet Singh was apprehended by other spectators and athletes who beat him into submission with cricket bats and hockey sticks until the police arrive.
Dholfest: celebrating the 300th Anniversary of Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
August 29th, 2008The 300th anniversary of Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is being celebrated in an interesting way by dholis in the UK. In 1999, 314 dhol players came together to set a record in the Guinness Book of World Records. This year, in honor of the 300th anniversary, dholfest is trying to set a new record. They’ve registered the event in accordance with Guinness Book of World Records guidelines.
dholfest will be a large outdoor staged event set to break the existing world record of 314 simultaneous dhol players, set in 1999 in Sandwell, West Midlands, UK.
This year we need 500+ players to join us in making this dream come true! [link]
The event is also being dedicated to Ishmeet Singh.
Media XY would like to dedicate this event as a tribute to Ishmeet Singh who was the winner of Star Voice of India. Ishmeet sadly passed away due to drowning in a pool of a resort in Maldives on Tuesday 29 July 2008 aged only 19.
May God give peace and solace to your eternal soul and strength to your loved ones. [link]
Additional info:
The event will take place on Saturday 13th September 2008 in Victoria Square, Birmingham, as part of ArtsFest.
The occasion will mark the celebrations of the 300th Anniversary of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji – as the word Guru. [link]
4 Sentenced to Life in Prison for 1984 Murders of Sikhs
August 28th, 2008On Wednesday, August 27, the Delhi High Court sentenced 4 men (Lal Bahadur, Ram Lal, Virender and Surinder Pal Singh) to life in prison, eighteen years after a trial court acquitted them for lack of evidence. The men were charged with rioting, murder, and conspiracy, related to the deaths of Rajinder and Sardool Singh who were burnt alive on November 1, 1984 and their property looted in Sagarpur. The 4 men were also fined Rs. 21,000 each (about $481.43 per person). The High Court stated:
“it is a case where the members of one community were singled out and were murdered and their properties were burnt and looted. Such lawlessness deserved to be sternly dealt with”. [link]
Interestingly, the court found that conspiring to commit a crime was equal to committing the actual crime (I’m assuming that “members of unlawful assembly…in prosecution of the object…” is conspiracy; it’s unclear from the press release whether this is for conspiracy to riot/murder/combination):
“We may observe here that the liability of the members of unlawful assembly who knew that an offence was likely to be committed in prosecution of the object for which they had assembled is equal to those who commit it,” the Bench observed in a judgement on an appeal filed by the state challenging the trial court’s acquittal order. [link] (emphasis added)
According to a couple of sources, the state appealed the case after the trial court found there wasn’t enough evidence in 1990. If this is true, and not just bad journalism (fabricated facts inserted into the press release), I wish I could congratulate the prosecutors who pursued and won this case.
A sessions court had earlier on October 31, 1990, acquitted the accused due to lack of evidence. But the state had challenged the judgment in the Delhi high court stating that it have enough evidence to nail the accused persons. [link]
A Sikh cowboy?
August 20th, 2008I don’t really know what to make of this, so I won’t even comment. I’ll just let you form your own opinions.
Paramvir Singh Chattwal, of central Hounslow, who claims to be the world’s only Sikh rodeo star after taking up the sport while living in Texas has hung up his spurs for now to track down information about his decorated forefather, who he believes died in or around [Hounslow]. …Paramvir has already spent years researching the life of Risaldar Major Sher Singh Sirdar Bahadoor, who was an original member of the Punjab Frontier Force, formed in 1849. [link]
I’m more interested in Paramvir’s cowboy-ness, than his hunt for his great great grandfather’s legacy, though Paramvir’s view of his ancestor is a bit twisted. Paramvir seems to be equally proud of his cowboy activities, as his grandfather’s fighting for the British in 1857, against his
fellow Indians, and also escorting the Kohinoor to become part of the British treasury.
But Paramvir believes [his ancestor] earned his peers’ respect by escorting theKoh-i-noor diamond, then the largest in the world, on a perilous mission across India to Calcutta before it became part of the British Crown Jewels in 1877. “I couldn’t believe he’d been breaking social barriers in 1887 by mixing with the British aristocracy and five generations later I’m doing the same by taking up rodeo,” said Paramvir. (emphasis added) [link]
I’m not trying to promote a tribal mentality (not that that’s a bad thing). But, since when is “mixing with aristocracy” breaking a social barrier?? Slaves “mixed” with their slave owners. Prisoners “mix” with the guards that keep them locked up. Paramvir, you’re confirming my suspicion that all cowboys are stupid, and I really don’t like to generalize. (Ok, one comment.) I hope this article has misquoted you.
Sikhs could learn from Icelandic on stigmas, taboos
August 19th, 2008Over a year ago, Ajmer Singh Hothi was found shot dead inside a semi-truck that he had just bought and was still making payments on. Only a day before, he had changed his phone number and gotten a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend and her father. [link]
More information surrounding the case has recently became available since 553 pages of court records from a grand jury hearing have become public.
A prosecutor accuses Gurparkash Khalsa of being driven by humiliation over his daughter’s soiled reputation to the point of ambushing Hothi in a big rig parked east of Stockton. The 56-year-old now sits in a jail cell charged with capital murder… Details of the case recently became public when San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Charlotte Orcutt unsealed the 553-page transcripts of a four-day grand jury hearing that ended with Khalsa’s April 25 indictment. He was arrested hours later. [link]
The events that led to Ajmer’s death began with a relationship between Hothi and Khalsa’s daughter.
It began in November 2004, when a secret romance sparked between Hothi and Khalsa’s daughter, Kiranjot Pannu, then age 17. The lovers kept it quiet because Hothi was a lowly trucker, while her father owned Pacific Coast Intermodal in French Camp. Hothi’s father, also a trucker, once worked for Khalsa and feared him, according to Hothi’s sister, Kiranjit Hothi, who testified before the grand jury. [link]
Khalsa forbade the romance and Hothi’s parents sent Ajmer to India for an arranged marriage. But then Khalsa heard rumors that Hothi had gotten his daughter pregnant, and that she’d had an abortion. The angry father then demanded that Hothi marry his daughter. He followed Ajmer to India and tried to have him divorced. It seems that he was unsuccessful, and word of his attempt traveled back to Stockton where Khalsa felt humiliated in the eyes of the community. [link]
Essay competition on French ban of (Sikh) articles of faith
August 13th, 2008We’ve occasionally, briefly discussed the current French ban in public schools on articles of faith. Recently, the Sikh Coalition invited high school students from all over the world to submit entries into their Diversity Essay Contest on “The Role of Freedom of Religion in the context of Contemporary Society.”
Students were asked to take one of the following two sides on the French Parliament’s ban on conspicuous “religious” articles of faith from public schools:
If you oppose the ban: What makes you oppose it? Please outline a strategy through which the international community may be mobilized to force France to repeal the ban.[link]
The first place winner was Casey Friedman, from Alameda, CA whose essay can be viewed here. An excerpt from this winning essay:
“Although Article 10 of the high-minded Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen states explicitly, “No one should be disturbed on account of his opinions, even religious,” and although the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic recognizes the Déclaration as fundamental law (“La Déclaration”), France today finds itself uncomfortably pulled in every possible direction by the forces of religion, popular will, secularism, and natural right.” [link]
This competition seems like a great way to engage youth both in and outside our community in a conversation on freedom of religion.
Sex-selection, pop culture, and the tipping point
August 12th, 2008Is the tipping point (the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable) approaching for a change in attitudes towards the value of women and need to have sons?
There has been a widespread, public movement condemning sex-selection by the government, ngos, and others in the community for some time now (this hard-hitting song by Sarabjit Cheema is a must-see). Since Amartya Sen’s articulation of ‘missing women,’ the rights of women in developing countries have been at the forefront of international agendas. In a recent development, Sunita Rao, an Indian pop singer, has released a song condemning sex-selective abortion and become the spokesperson for the LAADLI campaign, funded by the United Nations Population Fund.
Suneeta Rao’s latest album WAQT’s press conference was held in Hotel Palace Heights, New Delhi. It was on behalf of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The singer is the official spokesperson of the Laadli campaign of UNFPA that focuses on the pleasure and pride of having a daughter and motivates people to fight injustice against the girl child. ‘The video of the first song in my album ‘Sun Zara’ is a dedication to all girls, Suneeta said, UNFPA has gratefully supported in making the video of this album. According to United Nations Population Fund, “This video has been made for the Girl Child, to address the issue of Sex Selection and to help stop female feticide”. [link]
The song mentioned above, Sun Zara:
Kar sewa in times of tragedy
August 5th, 2008In case you’ve missed the front page of every major newspaper in the past few days, nearly 150 people died in a stampede in the Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh. (As great of a tragedy as this is, I’m not sure why it’s front page on American newspapers, considering that incidents of this nature occur all too often in India.)
Religious pilgrims were trampled to death on a hillside on Sunday morning, after rumors of a
landslide sparked a stampede, local officials said. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims traveled to Naina Devi, a hilltop temple in the state of Himachal Pradesh, on Sunday during a festival celebrating the Hindu mother goddess. Heavy rains in the morning led many to take cover in a shelter, local officials said. Some eyewitnesses said visitors on their way down the hill claimed large stones began sliding down the hillside, leading to panic in the crowd below, while others heard rumors of a bomb. [link]
In addition to the stampede, deaths were caused by lack of required medical care.
Local clinics were overwhelmed by the injuries and ran short of medicines and supplies. [link]
During this time of tragedy, the Sikh community came together through kar sewa to assist with the bodies when the government failed to arrange transportation for the bodies. Kar sewaks also organized and served langar and cha to the grieving relatives of the deceased who were camping at the evacuation site.
Relocating Gender in Sikh History
August 4th, 2008I recently ran across Relocating Gender in Sikh History by Doris R. Jakobsh who is now an Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Waterloo. I’m not a scholar of either Sikh history (and Jakobsh shouldn’t be considered one until she can read and understand Gurbani), and the ideas presented below are just fodder for discussion – not being put forth as any authoritative data.
The framework she uses notes the difference between the prescribed Sikh belief of equality amongst Sikh women and men, and what is actually practiced within the Sikh community, claiming that gender has generally been dealt with in 1 of 4 ways: silence, negation, accommodation, idealization.
One of the biggest problems that I noted when reading the book is her use of English translations of Gurbani for her basis of analysis. We’ve discussed before the problems that we, as Sikh practitioners, experience in understanding Gurbani, due to language barriers. Yet, she bases her research on translations that are subject to the same barriers and misunderstandings. Because of this language barrier, her reading of Gurbani is way off. Despite this, I do believe her feminist analysis of historical writing warrants discussion.
1- Silence: Jakobsh claims that silence is the guiding principle regarding women in Sikh history. Traditional recording of history focuses on politics and economics, realms that women have not been well represented. Women have also not been the authors of their own history, and so the specific questions asked have been those of interest to male historians.
