Challenging Misinformation about Sikhi on BBC Radio
Guest blogged by Naujawani Sardar
Sikhs in the UK celebrated a victory of sorts today with the news that the national broadcaster, the BBC, ‘regretted’ comments made by a presenter on their digital radio station, the BBC Asian Network. On 13 March, DJ Nihal Arthanayake had suggested on his...
Learn About Sikhi at Sidak 2012
Guest blogged by Sharandeep Singh
http://www.vimeo.com/37006707
Sidak, run by Sikh Research Institiute, is a diamond among jewels. It is one program, which after attending, completely changes your outlook on Sikhi, and life – I speak unequivocally when I say there is nothing else like it!
As a...
Balwant Singh Rajoana’s Gift to the Nation
Posted by Mehmaan (Guest) in Punjab on 04 1st, 2012 | 47 Comments
The following is a guest-post, In Defence of Assassination: Balwant Singh Rajoana’s Gift to the Nation, by our guest-blogger Inklabi Singh.
Balwant Singh Rajoana has been in jail since 1995 and was sentenced to death 5 years ago, but it was only recently, as the date of his execution started...
LIVE FROM AMRITSAR – Day 2 (day after the Punjab Bandh)
Posted by Mehmaan (Guest) in Punjab on 03 29th, 2012 | 3 Comments
Day 2, March 29: Day after 1st Punjab Bandh
I tend to spend my nights at the Darbar Sahib, emerging from the complex around 9 am from the Manji Sahib jorha house. What I saw this morning near the South side of the Darbar Sahib complex near Baba Atal was notedly different from the scenes described yesterday.
As...
LIVE FROM AMRITSAR – Day 1 on Punjab Bandh
Posted by Mehmaan (Guest) in Punjab on 03 29th, 2012 | No Comments
The following are daily live reports we have been receiving from a friend in Amritsar. This came from yesterday (March 28, 2012) on the Day of the Bandh. So long as we hear from them, we’ll keep posting. We’re posting this exactly as they wrote it – spelling, capitalizations, and...
Zindabaad
Guest blogged by Preeti Kaur
For Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana
For everyone who flies the kesri jhaanda today
ZINDABAAD TO THE KESRI FLAG WAVING ACROSS MY HEART
ZINDABAAD TO MARCH 31, 2012
ZINDABAAD TO THE EYES
ZINDABAAD TO THE LUNGS
ZINDABAAD TO THE WRIST WHICH WEARS THE KARA TO REMAIN SHACKLED...
Sikh Punjabi Western
Guest post by Naujawani Sardar
The title to this article might have conjured up images of a cowboy-style shoot ‘em up between turban-donning, mounted riders, and whilst I would welcome development of such an idea into a film, sadly that’s not what i’m writing about. I am Sikh, Punjabi...
Reflecting on the Punjab 2012 Elections
Guest post by Nirbhau Kaur
[Admin note: This post was penned by the author the morning after election results were made public in Punjab.]
Pain. Disgust. Hurt. Dread. Longing. Connect, then Disconnect.
For the first time I felt these feelings in relation to Punjab – a land where I was not born,...
Surat-Lalkaar 2012 – A New Collaboration
Guest blogged by Mewa Singh.
Earlier this year, I wrote an in-depth post, summarizing the workshops and questions raised at the Jakara Movement’s annual Lalkaar conference. I was hardly alone. Our sisters at Kaurista shared their thoughts, as did a number of individual participants.
So now...
Remembering Partition, One Story at a Time
Guest blogged by Ranjanpreet Nagra and Jaskiran K. Mann
In February 2011, six months after finishing my Master’s in South Asian Studies from University of Michigan, I moved to Berkeley and was still looking for a job and a place to live when I met the founding members of The 1947 Partition Archive,...
Sikh Identity: Separate but Equal?
Guest blogged by Birpal Kaur
Over this past weekend there was an article published in the Los Angeles Times of the experiences of Sikh women and maintaining kesh. This article addresses the journey and relationship with kesh, looking at societal pressures as well as a personal journey, and in this...
Confusion to Solution: Educating Children about the Sikh Identity
Guest blogged by Navjot Kaur
Usually, I can take quite a lot before something unsettles me. Today, my pressure cooker was whistling.
When you think things can’t get much worse, they have a way of doing just that. When it rains, it pours, right? As I went to pick up my son at the end of his second day...
Nishaan – The Sikh Society Network
Guest blogged by Naujawani Sardar
There has been a lot of talk about the SGPC elections recently, even over on our blog. And it got me thinking about a whole range of things from ‘selection vs. election’ to Sikh bodies outside of Punjab. My life in Sikh circles has been positively fascinating...
If England were like a langar hall there’d be no riots
Guest blogged by Eren Londonwala
Each day I walk down Ferry Lanein Tottenham to my workplace. On Friday 5 August a police cordon blocked my usual route. I learned later that police had shot dead 29 year-old alleged gang-member Mark Duggan the night before. The precise facts remain unclear but early...
Remembering Hari Singh Everest
Posted by Mehmaan (Guest) in California on 08 23rd, 2011 | 2 Comments
Guestblogged by Mewa Singh.
A young and vibrant community in the diaspora, it is incumbent upon us to remember our trailblazers. Hari Singh Everest was one such person. I remember reading his name during my undergraduate days. Stumbling across the ‘Sikh Review’, when I should have been...
The Sacred Thread: It’s All In the Head
Guest blogged by Gurchit Singh. Gurchit is a 16-year-old aspiring activist (in his own words) who submitted this piece (his first) to The Langar Hall. Raksha Bandan was last Saturday, August 13th.
Oh the joys of Raksha Bandan! The air is filled with love, family members are conversing and munching...
Some Notes and Random Musings
Guestblogged by Mewa Singh.
Here are some general musings and broader notes/reflections that were sparked by my participation in the camp:
On Parenting – One thing I found quite interesting was changes in parenting styles. I don’t remember having had many choices as a child, when my parents were...
Reflections on Bhujangi 2011
Guest-blogged by Mewa Singh. Mewa Singh is a sevadar with the Jakara Movement.
The term ‘bhujang’ has a Sanskritic base and is used to refer to a small snake. The Mughals and Afghans of the 18th century employed the term as a pejorative to refer to the Sikhs as ‘bhujangs.’ Try as they might,...
Unifying Sikhs: A Riot Story
Guest blogged by Naujawani Sardar
When the riots began in London last Saturday, we all thought they were a one-off incident and the world would be back to normal by Monday. Instead we awoke to find that more shops had been looted, buildings were still being set ablaze and that the rioters were now widening...
UK Sikhs Gather to Protect Gurdwaras from Riots
Guest blogged by Naujawani Sardar
Riots have hit London and a few other cities in the UK over the last three nights causing mayhem, destroying property and leading to looting. Tonight, hundreds of Sikhs are gathering to defend the Gurdware in these cities should they fall under the eye of the looters....
