Guest blogged by Harkiran
Becomes the first house of the man and yet it’s ironical, that its the woman that seeks a shelter all her life. As she grows up she leaves her house and her family to start a new life with her husband and then her own womb becomes the place where life comes to existence and get’s nurtured. Years of duality and other kind of “loves” doesn’t let man do justice even to the woman he calls mother.
There’s the Bani of Nanak that does justice to the status of a woman in society and then this Vaar by Bhai Gurdas Ji.
The Woman – Bhai Gurdas Ji
Vaar 5 Pauri 16
At birth a Sikh girl is ‘darling’ to her mother and father/ Later, she becomes admired by her brothers and sisters and favoured by her relatives / On attaining to ” the bloom of youth” she is wedded with costly gifts and presents / Now, respected by her husbands family and deemed lucky in her new household, she regarded as the equal of her spouse in both virtue and wisdom / She becomes as a doorway to salvation.
This beautiful verbal portrait written by Bhai Gurdas Ji not only makes you appreciate the beauty of a woman and but also puts ones mind in their creator too.
It can be said that extraordinary history is currently being made in the UK’s political environment. A possible Conservative-Liberal parliament is in the works – but the question remains – who will decide it? An interesting article in the Guardian discusses the need for a more diverse government to be formed.
The headline results are already solidly familiar. But it is the analysis of who voted where, and who they voted for, that will best illustrate the wider political health of the nation. Already, it is clear that once again the House of Commons is too white and too male and too middle class to reflect the people who voted for it. [link]
There were a number of South Asian candidates who were hoping for seats in parliament. Gurcharan Singh was one such candidate (hat tip: Southall Lad). As the first turban wearing mayor of Ealing, Gurcharan stood as the Parliamentary Candidate for the Conservatives in Ealing Southall – a Labour stronghold for many years. The following is a message from the candidate,
If elected, I will make sure that I represent the concerns and interests of all communities. This will include visiting local Mosques, Mandirs, Churches and Gurdwaras. I would like to set up an inter-faith working group to ensure that we can tackle local issues together and in a unified manner. I believe that the issues we face cut across us all. For example, we all care about the NHS, we all care about the safety of our families, we all want to be able to express our religious freedoms without hindrance and we all care about education. Therefore, we should tackle these issues together. [link]
As the stupid joke once went – Sikhs’ only culture is agriculture.
While farming and agriculture has been the backbone of the political economy of Punjab, questions regarding current practices and sustainability have become more and more common. Impending water crisis, increasing cancer and mortality rates, and annual suicides related to crop successes and failures are all tied to the future of agriculture in Punjab.
Solutions come often. Crop diversification is one that is common. Here a CNN report calls for organic farming. Still one cannot help but wonder even with these ‘magic bullet’ solutions, can there be sustainable increases in the standard of living for all citizenry in an economy tied to industrial agriculture? Siphoning of Punjab’s wealth has for decades left state service (civil, military, police) as the most desired duty for all rural youth. In such a command economy, Punjab will always be at the whims of puppet masters in Delhi. Are there any alternatives?
Also here is a link to Umendra Dutt’s blog that does have some very interesting measures being taken by the Punjab organic movement, including many by women – the Kheti Virasat Mission.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mother’s who have nourished our physical bodies with food made out of love and nurtured our souls with their warm spirits.
I leave you with one of Satinder Sartaaj’s most beautiful songs, “Ammi”. Among all the many Punjabi songs about mothers, Sartaaj has brought us one of the best. He captures a mother’s spirit and it’s priceless value to not only children but the world.
As we celebrate motherhood today, let’s also remember the value of the girl child. Guru Nanak Ji reminds us in Raaj Aasaa on Pannaa 473:
Few programs in the United States have become as popular as the Sidak Summer put on by Sikh Research Institute. If you have ever sought to explore Sikhi through an immersion in instruction, discussion, and study apply for the Sidak Summer Program now!
The program runs for 2 weeks, from August 1-15, 2010 in San Antonio, TX. 3 different tracks are available, custom for everybody’s previous knowledge levels: Introductory Sikhi 101, Advanced Sikhi 201, and Gurmukhi 101. Learn more about each program at the Sidak website. This summer see where Tvarikh (Revolution), Gurbani, and Rahit intersect to give us a Gurmat view. Apply now!
Vijay “Jay” Chand Gandhi was sworn in as California’s first South Asian federal judge on April 14th. He is only the second Indian American federal judge in the country. Gandhi will be a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Cou
rt in California’s Central District. This district serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
India-West reports, “The duties of magistrate judges include conducting preliminary proceedings in criminal cases, trying and disposing of misdemeanor cases, ruling on discovery disputes in civil cases, issuing reports in habeas corpus and civil rights cases, trying civil cases and other assigned matters.”
Kiran Jain, president of the South Asian Bar Association in Northern California, told India-West, “As the first South Asian federal judge in California, Judge Gandhi’s appointment is not only an historic advancement in increasing diversity in our judiciary, but a testament to the South Asian American legal community’s progress in advancing our bar to the highest levels of our profession.”
Congratulations Vijay Gandhi! It will be interesting to see if and how Gandhi utilizes his experience as a South Asian American in his work as judge. It is one thing to have a South Asian name and another to actually use your cultural experiences to help the community. I hope he views being a federal judge as an opportunity to shed light on the issues impacting the South Asian community while helping create larger policy changes.
As far as I know, there are no Sikh U.S. federal judges. Do you know of any? If not, I await the day we have Sikh U.S. federal judges. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer. Being a lawyer is one of the top 3 professions many Sikhs pursue any ways.
Guest blogged by Jind Kaur
For my inaugural [guest] post on The Langar Hall, I wanted to discuss something that is often on my mind when I think about our faith and how to practice it: the concept of sangat (the congregation). The Guru Sahibaan often impressed upon us how we should not isolate ourselves from the world in order to find salvation. We are taught that we must live amongst the world, and it is from the sangat where we learn and practice the teachings the Gurus pass on to us. “Satsangat Satgur Chattsaal Hai, Jit Har Gunh Sikha” “The Sat Sangat, the True Congregation of the True Guru, is the school of the soul, where the Glorious Virtues of the Lord are studied.” Participation and engagement with the sangat is considered essential for a Sikh’s spiritual progress. It is in the sangat that we worship and in the sangat where we are to receive training in our faith and its daily application. The sangat is our holy fellowship where we may become morally elevated.
But where is our sangat? Is our sangat in our Gurudwara, out in the world or some combination of both? Sometimes when I see the current state of our Gurudwaras, regardless of geography, it makes me want to stay home to pray quietly by myself and find other ways to do seva where it is needed. There is an epidemic of politics overtaking our Gurudwaras. However, this is enabled and encouraged by the absence of a true sangat.
When I was a teenager attending a particular Sikh camp, (I don’t want to date myself), I attended a lecture/discussion that has permanently imprinted itself in my mind. The man who led the discussion taught us about the root of the word “sangat” – this is “sang” (pronounced “sung”), which means “together”. Your sangat consists of those whom you walk with together in life. This led me to ask, not only where my sangat is, but who is in that sangat.
Guest blogged by Brooklynwala
While many of us were celebrating 311 years of the Khalsa at Sikh Day Parades and Nagar Kirtans this weekend, thousands of immigrants and their allies gathered in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday to protest what is being called the 
most anti-immigrant legislation in the United States, Senate Bill1070. Signed into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on April 23rd, this measure allows local law enforcement authorities to question individuals based solely upon the suspicion that they may be undocumented.
According to the New York Times, “The law…would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status.”
President Obama stated that the law threatens “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.”
Gurinder Chadha of Bend It Like Beckham fame returns with a new film, titled “It’s A Wonderful Afterlife.” The movie centers on the trials and tribulations of Rupy, a slightly overweight 20-something year old and her zealous Punjabi mother, who will stop at nothing to see her daughter happily married – including killing a few people along the way.
The film is being billed as a ‘zom-rom-com’ and is receiving rather mixed reviews in the UK. The film gives Punjabi billing on its soundtrack to well-known producers and artists, such as Panjabi MC, Kidd Skilly, and even Taz of Stereo Nation. See the trailer here and look for an interview with the film-director with Al-Jazeera’s Robert Frost after the jump. If you’ve seen the movie or are waiting for it, tell us your thoughts!
I have noticed these past couple of weeks that discussions about the value of Punjabi have become more prevalent. The issue of maintaining our “ma boli” is constantly on our minds and manifests in our everyday lives. However, with the onset of many Vaisakhi melas, Nagar Kirtans, and of course Satinder Sartaj concerts the discussions are heightened.
Recently, on Jus Punjabi’s “Aaj Da Mudda” show, there was an insightful conversation about pronunciation and the longevity of Punjabi. The host and guest discussed how East Punjabi’s pronunciation of words have changed (we are taking the easier route). Despite this change in pronunciation, the guest highlighted how Punjabi has survived the most turbulent of times (e.g. the state language during Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s rule was Farsi and the 1960′s division of India Punjab).
As he spoke, I was reminded of Gurdas Mann’s song “Punjabiye Zubane” (listen below). This song captures how the strength of the Punjabi language was developed over time. It is this strength that has allowed it to survive. I am left wondering if we 1) have the will and 2) the capacity to nurture and love this language like others have done in the past. Can we help nurture the strength of Punjabi in today’s context? What do you think?
A few weeks back, we attended our first Sikh Parade of the season.
Like every year, we love making the trip downtown to join our sangat and spend a beautiful spring day outside celebrating Vaisakhi. Amongst the sea of kesri dastaars and chunnis, there was keertan, gatka, and jakaaray filling the streets.
As we began marching down the main avenue, I started to notice the passerby’s reaction to us. Some were irritated they had to wait for us to cross the street, some took out their camera phones to take pictures of us, but the vast majority looked, well…confused.
And who can blame them?
None of our floats and few of our signs would make any sense to a non-Sikh. The overlapping keertan, jakaaray, and political slogans were obviously all in Punjabi. And there was little to no interaction between us and the onlookers. I wondered, why did we come here to do this?
If our purpose was to have a nagar keertan and to celebrate Vaisakhi in our own traditional way, then why waste the time and money to do it out here? Why not just do this on our own Gurdwara premises? But if our purpose was to educate the greater community on who Sikhs are, then what exactly were we doing to accomplish that? Sure, many people were taking pictures of us, but was it because of the spectacle we created? Or because people were so happy to see the Sikhs that they’ve heard so much about – followers of Guru Nanak, brave soldiers, and defenders of the downtrodden? Which do you think?
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As many of us reflect upon the birth of the Khalsa this Vaisakhi, throughout North America (and beyond) our communities come together in celebration. Covered here is a round-up of Vaisakhi celebrations with various media links. If your city is covered here, provide us some context/anecdotes about your experience. If your city is NOT covered here, provide us some context/anecdotes about your experience.
The Sikh Youth Scholarship is a scholarship program created by youth and provided to youth. The Scholarship is open to aspiring Gursikh students residing in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut or Pennsylvania. Students must be high school seniors who plan to attend a four-year college/university and have maintained at least a 3.0 GPA during high school in order to be eligible to apply. In 2009, the program provided $7,500 in scholarship funding to three students. The unique aspect of the program is that the scholarship recipients are now part of the scholarship planning team and can truly give back to the community.
In the first year of the Sikh Youth Scholarship, three scholarships were awarded to Rashmeen Kaur, Amrit Kaur Bhinder, and Tarika Kaur Virdi for the 2009-2010 academic year. The winners are now a part of the Sikh Youth Scholarship Executive Board and have been assisting in the expansion of the scholarship as a means of assisting their fellow students within the Sikh community. The Sikh Youth Scholarship is a completely community funded endeavor, made possible by sevadaars like you. Through your generous donations, we were able to award three scholarships of $2,500 each to these aspiring Gursikhs, in addition to funding their costs for Camp Chardi Kala in the summer of 2009. [From Press Release]
The scholarship program has an informative site where interested students can learn more and apply!
Guest blogged by Brooklynwala
A few days ago, a friend sent me this powerful open letter she wrote in order to spark critical thinking and dialogue on the pitfalls of calling the police and relying on the criminal (in)justice system to deal with issues in our neighborhoods and communities. We live in New York City, which has a police force widely known for its excessive use of force and violence, especially against people of color. Sundari recently did a post on the NYPD shooting and killing of a Sikh man in NYC, Satnam Singh, just last week.
In a context in which police by and large cause more harm than get us closer to justice and where the prison system dehumanizes people instead of rehabilitating them, the author of this piece, along with a growing movement around the U.S., are challenging us to think of alternative ways of responding to harm. She states,
“Many of us don’t believe in calling the police. Right now, right here, even before we’ve sufficiently built all the alternative structures for responding to harm. Both in an attempt to create the world we want to live in, and/but also because the impact of prisons and policing is brutal, oppressive, racist, traumatic. We see almost no good coming of it, certainly no transformation, no making things better. We don’t trust police, we don’t think of them as the “good guys,” and we don’t think calling them is going to change anything.”
My friend’s compelling piece “Feeling for the edge of your imagination” got me thinking about what a Sikh approach to justice is. While there is clearly not a simple answer to this question, I tend to think a Gurmukh would place love, forgiveness, rehabilitation, accountability, and recognizing the Divine in all at the center, despite questionable or even horrific actions one has perpetrated. Think about Bhai Kanhaiya Ji’s seva for “enemy” soldiers in need, who saw the injured soldiers’ humanity before he sought vengeance for their attacks against the Sikhs.
A few years back, I went to my first Charni Lagna ceremony. Charni Lagna – literally, “at the feet of the Guru” is the traditional name of the event where a Sikh formally begins reading from the Guru Granth Sahib.
Like most Sikh ceremonies, it is actually quite simple. After shabad kirtan is recited, an ardaas is offered for the young (or old) Sikh who is beginning their journey with the Guru – then finally, he or she will read the hukamnama.
The ceremony I attended was for an 11-year old girl, who was very excited and worked hard to prepare for this day. After a few shabads were sung by the local jatha and the girl’s friends – one by one, members of the sangat came to say a few words of encouragement. One of her friends was around the same age and similarly went through this ceremony a year prior. She spoke about her own experience reading from the Guru Granth Sahib on a daily basis and how it has changed her life. Then one of her friends who had yet to take this step spoke of how she was inspired to do so soon. Then came her Punjabi school teacher, then her camp counselors, then other leaders of the community. I noted that neither her parents nor any of her relatives spoke – but instead, they just sat and listened to the members of the sangat, who individually shared such beautiful words of encouragement and praise for this young Kaur, who humbly sat at the feet of the Guru…It was quite powerful.
Finally, as the ardaas ended, there was a rare moment of pin-drop silence in the darbar hall. Then this brave 11 year old girl, surrounded by her proud parents and grandparents, read the hukamnama flawlessly…I was moved by the whole event.
Immediately after the hukmanama was completed, something remarkable happened…
By now, everyone should have heard of Glee – a musical comedy-drama television series focusing on a high-school glee club. A glee club is a musical group which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs. Before writing this blog post, i didn’t quite know how big this phenomenon was… but apparently it’s big and there is a large following of gleeks and gleemania.
A young Sikh girl by the name of Raveena is hoping to audition and land a role on the show. There is a Facebook page dedicated to helping “Raveena get on the show”.
I am auditioning for this TV show called Glee, I trust that you have heard of it and I need your help. As a Sikh, its been really hard for me to land roles in a more professional environment because there are very few roles available for Indians. With the nationwide casting call for Glee, I can hopefully show everyone what I’ve got and get a call back for a show that is looking for people who don’t quite fit the mold.
Here on TLH, we love to highlight Sikhs who are pursuing their passions. Watch Raveena’s video and if you like it – take a few moments to rate/comment on her video so that she has a chance to audition for the show.
Sikhs will be celebrating Vaisakhi world wide next week on April 14th. Sikhs in Malayasia are requesting that Vaisakhi be made a national holiday.
Tan Sri Darshan Singh, the President of Malaysia National Sikhs Movement president, said, “The Sikhs who arrived earlier in this country served in the security forces and have contributed towards the economic development of Malaysia”. Karpal Singh of DAP believes that Vaisakhi should be given consideration as a national holiday because of its considerable significance to Sikhs. However, Malaysian Sikhs have not gotten a positive response from the government.
A common saying is a community knows when its contributions are being viewed as an important part of a “host” country’s fabric of life when the entire nation gets a day off on a day that is significant to that community. In a nutshell, it means you have really “made it”.
I look forward to the day that non-Sikhs will be taking Vaisakhi off in Malaysia and America. We have “made it” in these countries in many ways although we are often treated like “resident aliens”. I wish it wouldn’t take a national holiday to break that mold, but may be it would help?
The Ravi Foundation recently released PunjabiKosh – the first full-featured, mobile Punjabi-English and English-Punjabi Dictionary. Designed for iPhones and iPods, this Punjabi dictionary is the first of its kind created for this platform. The app is currently priced at $6.99.
The app provides for a clean, intuitive and easy-to-use interface that’s both attractive and clean. Features include:
- 30,000+ Word Dictionary
- Includes Common Punjabi Phrases and Idioms
- Full Gurmukhi Unicode Native-Keyboard
- English & Punjabi Search Capabilities
- Reverse-Definition English Search
- Vowel Fuzzy-Search
- Gurmukhi & Shahmukhi Transliteration
- Part-of-Speech
100% of the profits made from the sales of the app will be donated to fund a project with The Association for the Welfare of the Handicapped. While the group is still attempting to fix some coding issues (the iPhone does not fully support the Gurmukhi unicode font) this application seems to be a great first step.
A true Sikh hero, Fauja Singh, turned 99 last Thursday.
Turbaned Tornado, Fauja Singh turns 99 on Thursday. Here’s wishing this Punjabi icon who manages running marathons at an age not many reach, many happy returns of the day. Besides other gifts that he’d be receiving on his birthday on April 1, this real life ‘Forest Gump’ is all set to give himself a present — by setting yet another marathon record at the ripe age of 99. “I can only sleep, run or walk. I’ll die the day I sit down,” the young nonagenarian had told this scribe in an interview in 2005 on the streets of Ilford, Essex, UK, where he has been living along with his son Sukhjinder Singh since the 1980s. He shifted to UK after having lost his wife and younger son in quick succession in Punjab. [TOI]
Harvest of Grief, a new documentary directed by Anwar Jamal recently premiered in Punjab. The film aims to tackle the rising number of farmer suicides in Punjab.
Harvest of Grief is a 60 minute documentary of farmers’s suicides in the dry district of Sangrur. Suicides are due to indebtedness arising out of high costs of water, mechanized farming, chemical pesticides and fertilizers and low economic returns. The film also takes a comprehensive view of gender, health and environmental destruction which are the consequences of the Green Revolution and globalization. [link]
The movie is sponsored by the Rescue and Revival Mission and predominantly focuses on the impact the suicides have had on women and children. A recent article in the Financial Times also discussed Harvest of Grief and the issue of famer suicides in Punjab. Official statistics say that 132 farmers in Punjab killed themselves in the past five years – attributing the deaths to natural causes or alcohol or drug abuse. However, Inderjit Singh Jaijee, a Chandigarh-based human-rights activist and former state legislator, states that up to 40,000 farmers have taken their lives in the past 20 years. A large discrepancy in the number of farmer suicides exists (perhaps due to a lack of infrastructural support, social stigma etc.) and families are often left destitute, receiving little or no state support.
I look forward to watching the film and hope it creates productive dialogue leading to potential solutions for families impacted and affected by this issue.
