British Bhangra: Beyond Signature’s Suleman and Madhu
Friday, May 30th, 2008 Posted in Bhangra, Entertainment, General, UK | 12 Comments »So we have seen two (here and here) performances by Signature. Although most Langar-ites did not seem to enjoy the second performance as much, it impressed enough people to propel the duo into the finals of Britain’s Got Talent. ...
Karma Police
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 Posted in Events, Gurbani, News, Politics | 10 Comments »Sharon Stone's recent comments about whether or not the earthquake in China was due to bad karma over Beijing's occupation of Tibet has caused quite a stir. Stone is now facing a backlash in China with her films being boycotted ...
Census of farmer suicides
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 Posted in General, Health, Human Rights, India, Politics, Punjab | 8 Comments »The Punjab government has finally allocated funds to assess the breadth of farmer suicides in the state. The Punjab Government seems to have finally woken up to the need of having a census on farmers’ suicides in the state. The state ...
Are our Gurdwaras dividing us?
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 Posted in General | 11 Comments »In recent months I have witnessed the ceremonial openings of three new Gurdwaras in the Central Valley area. The number of new Gurdwaras are continually growing. Some people may applaud this action as an indicator of our success for having ...
Signature is Brilliant (Again!)
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 Posted in Bhangra, Entertainment, General, UK | 10 Comments »I may be stealing Anandica's UK thunder, but I couldn't resist. A month ago, we were introduced to Signature, a phenomenal dance act by a Muslim, Suleman (too often misspelled as Suleiman) Mirza and his Sikh partner, Madhu Singh on Britain's ...
Justice for Jassi? A Pyrrhic Consolation?
Monday, May 26th, 2008 Posted in Canada, Human Rights, Punjab | 13 Comments »Many of us either saw or heard of CBC’s broadcast (for those of us here in the US, it was on Dateline NBC) of “Forbidden Love” chronicling the death of a Sikh Canadian, Jaswinder “Jassi” Kaur Sidhu. The basics of the ...
UN spotlight on racism in the US
Monday, May 26th, 2008 Posted in General, Human Rights, Politics, USA | 17 Comments »We've had a lot of discussion recently about various forms of identity discrimination. It seems that the UN is also paying attention to racial discrimination in the US: A U.N. expert on racism and xenophobia arrived in Washington yesterday for a ...
Confronting our own Demons
Friday, May 23rd, 2008 Posted in Canada, Sikhi, UK, USA | 11 Comments »Usually on Friday, I like to post something musical, something funny, or even something just plain stupid. However, when I saw this news article, I was just so incensed. Yesterday I commented in another discussion that Sikhs need ...
Turbans For Non-Sikhs: Just Part Of The School “Uniform”?
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 Posted in News, Punjab, Sikhi | 19 Comments »Many of us have taken part in discussions on how the turban is being commodified and a target for hatred. Understandably there is a strong religious argument for why a turban shouldn’t become another fashion accessory or replaced with a ...
American Idol and presidential candidates
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 Posted in Entertainment, Politics, USA | 1 Comment »Juan Cole drew an interesting parallel between the candidates vying for the Presidency and those competing in American idol's finale: I find it a little eerie how closely the finale of the television program American Idol resembles the presidential race. Here ...
Immigrants: The Hare and the Tortoise
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 Posted in Politics, USA | 18 Comments »Do some immigrant groups assimilate faster? Last week, USA Today published an article summarizing the results of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. The institute has computed a quantitative assimilation index to compare groups historically and from various nations. The report ...
Beats and Beliefs
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 Posted in Music, Politics, UK | 5 Comments »Going along with the theme of music which has been popping up all over TLH recently, I came across a documentary from the Asian Network discussing (what the presenter calls) the arrival of a new music scene in which religion ...
A policy of Islamophobia or old fashioned xenophobia?
Monday, May 19th, 2008 Posted in Entertainment, General, News, Politics, Punjab, USA | 29 Comments »The violence breaking out in South Africa reminded me of the Islamophobia that Jodha posted on. The man certainly looked dead, lying motionless in the dust of the squatter camp. His body seemed almost like a bottle that had been turned ...
A Systemic Sickness
Monday, May 19th, 2008 Posted in Human Rights, Politics, USA | 4 Comments »In today’s LA Times, I read an article that I thought was just horrifying. It seems that an American soldier was using a Qur’an for target practice. U.S. commanders moved swiftly to avert a crisis after a soldier deployed in Baghdad ...
Another Reason Why I Like Waris
Monday, May 19th, 2008 Posted in Entertainment, General | 6 Comments »A few weeks ago, I wrote a post titled, "Metrosexual Murdabad!" Although I gained the ire of some commenters, I think amongst the Langar-ites, the 'metrosexual' trend is not the preference. Waris Ahluwalia, of Inside Man fame and a sort ...
The Spirit of Bant Singh
Sunday, May 18th, 2008 Posted in General, Human Rights, Punjab, Sikhi | 2 Comments »I have mentioned Bant Singh before in a previous post, but yesterday while scouring through Youtube I came across a great video of him, his message, and his voice. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttBHNsW6KBU[/youtube] To those that may not have heard of him, Bant Singh is ...
Too Crooked
Sunday, May 18th, 2008 Posted in Canada, General, Punjab | 4 Comments »Although in the blogosphere, I was beaten again by Shinda’s blog, I did want to highlight it again here at TLH. The Toronto Star reported today that “Brampton bridegroom murdered in Punjab.” Although the tragedy is fresh, the Toronto Star is ...
Not a Tribute Song
Friday, May 16th, 2008 Posted in Canada, Media, UK, USA | 5 Comments »Skimming the other Sikh blogs, I found this post (on a great blog that I am starting to like and not just because he is also an Immortal Technique fan) about a Sikh conscious rapper from Toronto. Although I ...
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban
Thursday, May 15th, 2008 Posted in General, Human Rights, USA | 5 Comments »At the vanguard of civil rights, the California Supreme Court affirmed the right to gay marriage today by overturning two of the state's previous bans. The legislative debate over "gay marriage" (now, simply marriage) began in California in 2004, when ...
Avneet And Her Bandook
Thursday, May 15th, 2008 Posted in India, News, Punjab, Punjabi | 6 Comments »As some of us shoot rifles as a recreational activity, while others view them as a defense plan or just admire the way rifles look, it was nice to come across a Punjabian, Avneet Kaur Sidhu, an international rifle shooter, ...
