The Ghadar Movement: A Living History
A North American based Internationalist movement for the liberation of India Guest blogged by York Ghadaris On the centenary of the Ghadar Movement, a conference is being held at York University, Toronto, Canada on April 12 to April 13, 2013, to honour and remember its history, and its contemporary relevance...
Dhan Dhan Guru Nanak Sahib!
From all of us here at The Langar Hall, wishing you a very happy and inspired Gurpurab.
Fatting It Up at the Langar Hall
Guest blogged by Navdeep Singh Dhillon My wife’s family is Hindu, with varying degrees of connections to the religion. Some of them have statues of deities like Krishna and Ganesh scattered throughout the house, others have entire rooms sectioned off for bhajans and pujas, and then there are those,...
Promoting Multilingualism in the Punjabi Community
A few weeks ago I attended the Sikh Education Conference hosted by the Sikh Research Institute that brought together educators from across North America.  One of the presentations focused on the importance of language education.  The presenter made it quite clear – teaching young children multiple...
Miss World Punjaban 2008
I found this video of the Miss World Punjaban 2008 contest interesting because the contestant chose to highlight her Sikh identity that is intimately linked to Punjabi culture.  I find that it is easy for us to “intellectually” talk about the separation of the two identities.  However,...
Money Is Available But No Punjabi Teachers
Punjab has been divided numerous times.  Both during and after partition. Anita Rau Badami eloquently writes, “First it was Partition and half our land disappeared.  Now our own leaders are chopping it up like a piece of meat”. The Punjabi language was one thing we hoped would cross borders despite...
She Was The Ticket To A Better Life
Pawandeep holds a framed photo of her sister. In the photo, Amandeep is wearing a pink salwar-kameez, a Punjabi dress. “She dreamed of a better life for herself and her family. All she wanted was to live happily with her husband and son like any other woman.” I don’t even know where...
Economic Woes Deepen for Punjabi Communities
This holiday season I noticed the pinched expressions on people’s faces, the emptier stores, the going out of business sales, and the general air of unease and uncertainty as we round out of the holiday season and into a worsening (economically) new year. Over the past few weeks, the NYT has been...
“Good Gracious Me’s” Take On Christmas
Hope all of you are enjoying your holidays with family and friends! Here is a “Punjabi” take on a Christmas and one of its infamous songs from my favorite British Comedy Show …. “Goodness Gracious Me”! Some of you may have already seen it (GGM aired long ago, but is available...