Gurdwaras and Religious Tolerance
Thursday, January 31st, 2008 Posted in General, Politics, Punjabi, Sikhi | 16 Comments »While reading Bruce La Brack’s ethnography on Sikhs in Northern California my attention was drawn to his writing on Sikh and Muslim relations in the Gurdwara. He wrote, “Muslims, particularly Punjab-born-Muslims, had regularly joined the Sikhs of California at ...
No Nishan Sahib = No Gurdwara
Thursday, January 31st, 2008 Posted in Sikhi, USA | 37 Comments »I often take many trips to Fresno to visit my friends and on this day I was visiting one of their work places. A number of people had told me about the new Gurdwara that was nearby and in seeking ...
Raising awareness or a turban commodified?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 Posted in Entertainment, General, Politics, Sikhi | 47 Comments »A few days ago, Kenneth Cole unveiled one of his new ads on a wall of Rockefeller Center in New York City. The model is, surprisingly, a sardar. Most Sikhs will be (and should be) proud to see a sardar ...
Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 Posted in Canada, India, Literature | 11 Comments »Dedicated to "The man on the bridge in Modinagar and the victims of Air India Flight 182," Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?, is said to be one of the recommended reads for Sikhs everywhere. While there are numerous historical ...
You a African? Do you know what’s happenin?
Monday, January 28th, 2008 Posted in General | 10 Comments »The Dead Prez song remains one of my favorites. For the past month or so, the violence and allegations of rigging following Kenya’s election has led the country to a dangerous standstill. Since we concern ourselves with issues of the ...
SAAN 2008 and Vote or Die
Monday, January 28th, 2008 Posted in Events | 7 Comments »Guest Blogged by Mewa Singh Partially due to the rave reviews found at Sepia Mutiny, I flew out to Michigan this weekend to attend the annual SAAN (South Asian Action Network) Conference on the Ann Arbor campus. I had a number ...
Sikhi, Light, and Social Activism
Saturday, January 26th, 2008 Posted in Human Rights, India, Politics, Punjab, Sikhi | 2 Comments »Recently, when I was watching Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra’s speech that he gave at a Gurdwara in Toronto in 1995, I found his metaphor of Light and Darkness particularly inspirational for social activist. He said (English translation of Panjabi), ...
Mental Health Today — are we serving our community?
Friday, January 25th, 2008 Posted in Health, Punjabi, Sikhi | 4 Comments »Like many communities bifurcated by both their religious understanding (Sikhi) and their ethnic/racial identities (for many of us, Punjabi), there are unique challenges to providing comprehensive mental health services to immigrant communities. Within the context of California, this is not ...
Farmer suicides continue…
Thursday, January 24th, 2008 Posted in Human Rights, India, News, Punjab | 10 Comments »A couple of years ago, in the farmer suicide capital of Punjab (Sangrur-Mansa belt), the first People’s Tribunal on farmers’ suicides took place, organized by the Human Rights Law Network and the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab. Word got out ...
Consciousness
Thursday, January 24th, 2008 Posted in General | 4 Comments »W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of Double Consciousness is used to describe an individual whose identity is divided into several facets. I recently read a Mexican-American's short autobiography on his own Quadruple Consciousness and to say I related to ...
Bruised Body, Mourning Mind, Soaring Spirit
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 Posted in Human Rights, India, Politics, Sikhi | 4 Comments »Some readers to this blog may be aware of the great work done by Ensaaf in advocating for human rights. Jaskaran Kaur, Sukhman Dhami, Jasmine Marwaha and the rest of their team deserve the community’s praise for their tireless ...
A Sikh’s Rights
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 Posted in Canada, India, News, Sikhi, UK | 2 Comments »Lately there has been numerous stories affecting Sikhs around the globe, and an interesting number of them concern our innate rights as Sikhs. Sarika Singh, a 14 year-old Sikh girl living in Wales, was excluded from her school for wearing ...
Between Martin and Malcolm
Monday, January 21st, 2008 Posted in General | 3 Comments »Today across the country, many Americans, but by no means all, will come together to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. (true, others will just enjoy the day off). Many Sikhs, undoubtedly, will attend interfaith functions, ...
Baby Boys and their BMWs
Saturday, January 19th, 2008 Posted in General, Punjabi | 2 Comments »The news of the tiger attack in the San Francisco Zoo made national headlines. A few days later it was revealed that two of the three people attacked came from a Sikh background. Paul, 19, and Kulbir, 24, ...
Lohiri Celebration: Girls and Boys?
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 Posted in General | 15 Comments »Recently I attended a Lohiri Party celebrating the birth of a baby boy. Complete with bhangra, ghidda, food in the garage, a fire in the backyard, peanuts, rarroya, ladies in the family room, and the Babujis in the living ...
Insaaf Zindabad
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 Posted in News, Politics, Sikhi | 4 Comments »Although this article is over 3 months old, I still thought it was necessary. While the press has all but forgotten Burma, the struggle still continues. In the aftermath of the devastating brutality unleashed by the junta, I ...
The Spirit of Langar
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 Posted in Sikhi | 2 Comments »After attending a recent workshop organized by the Sikh Research Institute on The Guru: Connecting with the Divine Light, I have been pondering much of what was discussed. The focus of the workshop was becoming “Guru centered” and one ...
Rocket Roger and Raging ‘Roids in Rural Raikot
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 Posted in India, News, Sports | 11 Comments »* (the asterisk) This symbol should be assigned to most of the professional baseball's records over the last two decades. From Barry Bonds to now Roger Clemens, most of the greats of this baseball era have had their images tarnished ...
Has the Anand Karaj Lost its Significance to the Afterparty?
Monday, January 14th, 2008 Posted in General, Punjabi, Sikhi | 14 Comments »Hey readers...I accidentally deleted the post on Sikh weddings and we are in the process of trying to retrieve it. I may attempt a reconstruction if we cannot, but in the meanwhile - We'd still like to hear your ...
4 days in New Hampshire
Saturday, January 12th, 2008 Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »Last week I made the trek from Connecticut to New Hampshire to campaign in the presidential primaries. While I've campaigned and door-knocked for a variety of issues in the past, I've never really been moved to canvass for a presidential ...
