When should Sikhs get legal protection for religious belief?
Posted by Reema in Canada on 07 10th, 2008 | 28 Comments
An interesting case arose recently in Canada– Av Singh, a British Sikh, was fired from a Canadian company because his beard raised safety concerns relating to the proper use of a required gas mask.
Removing the beard is against his religious beliefs, so Singh refused the razor and instead hired...
Government accountability remains elusive
Posted by Reema in General on 07 7th, 2008 | 14 Comments
It’s men like David Addington and John Yoo that give lawyers a bad name. Addington was Vice-President Cheney’s enabler. Yoo authored the infamous torture memo stating that in order to qualify as torture, pain (resulting from interrogation techniques used on detainees) had to reach a level...
Afghani-Punjabi fusion music? Sounds good in theory…
Posted by Reema in General on 07 2nd, 2008 | 19 Comments
Few of us are probably well versed in Afghani music, unless you’re in close proximity to a sizeable Afghani population, or unless you have Afghani friends. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard any, except maybe in independent films. (On a side note, how many Afghanis even consider themselves...
New York Sikhs speak
Posted by Reema in General on 06 30th, 2008 | 5 Comments
I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy belonging to such a pro-active community. I don’t know whether it’s the Punjabi, the Sikh, or some combination of the two influences that makes people speak out, but whatever it is, I love it.
This picture, I think, portrays why. It speaks volumes....
REMINDER- For a right to education without harassment
Posted by Reema in General on 06 28th, 2008 | 8 Comments
REMINDER– If you’re in the New York area, take the morning off work/school on Monday and join the Sikh Coalition in a march to end harassment against Sikh students in public schools:
When: Monday, June 30th, 11:00AM
Where: Meet at Sikh Cultural Society: 95-30 118th Street or Gurdwara Baba...
Language and personality
Posted by Reema in General on 06 26th, 2008 | 6 Comments
A blogger recently mentioned that many of us switch back and forth between English and Punjabi in conversations, and how it’s sometimes more comfortable to speak Punjabi. Have you thought about how your mental frame of reference shifts when you switch languages? Do you think this affects your personality?...
Blind organizations make many invisible
Posted by Reema in General on 06 23rd, 2008 | 42 Comments
SCORE has already come under scrutiny here in The Langar Hall, and I don’t wish to scrutinize the entire organization further. But their list of honorees from the 2008 Heritage Dinner does deserve some attention. This year, the following individuals were honored:
1. Sandeep Singh Caberwal, a Sikh...
An interview with Fauja Singh
I found this interview with the revered Fauji Singh ji, after completing the Edinburgh daur- a mere chabi (26) miles to be so endearing.
He has a message for the nau-jawan and at the end (it kind of got cut off, but he seems happy that the nau-jawan, both boys and girls, are running these days)…
A note of hope in Jersey
Posted by Reema in General on 06 18th, 2008 | 10 Comments
Could the community’s recent rallying in response to hate crimes have similar results (though in smaller proportions) as was seen after Operation Bluestar of people re-committing to their faith?
Many Sikhs today, unfortunately, cut their hair at some time during their adolescence. This is seen...
Baeke Vekh Jawana…
72 year old Balwant (“Bobby“) Singh Grewal is walking 500 miles (800 km) from the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh to the House of Parliament in London in five weeks. He began on June 5th and is scheduled to finish on July 9th. He is raising 100 million pounds for cancer research....
Try a bike
Adding onto prior posts concerned about the environment, it’s interesting that the Transport Minister of Punjab made a statement today by riding his bike to work.
In a rare display of a public official and a cabinet minister and that too the transport minister of a state at its austere best, Master...
Punjabi Sikh Women And The City
About a week ago, Sex And The City (SATC) hit theaters. Many may resist an association with the dating scene that the movie and show explored with the lives of Punjabi Sikh women, and wonder whether this is appropriate for The Langar Hall. But the stories and characters of SATC reflect broad ideas...
Census of farmer suicides
Posted by Reema in General, Health, Human Rights, India, Politics, Punjab on 05 28th, 2008 | 30 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 government, it is learnt, has the [sic] entrusted the arduous task...
UN spotlight on racism in the US
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 three-week fact-finding visit to examine human rights...
American Idol and presidential candidates
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 you have an older male from the school...
A policy of Islamophobia or old fashioned xenophobia?
Posted by Reema in Entertainment, General, News, Politics, Punjab, USA on 05 19th, 2008 | 59 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 on its side, spilling blood. His pants were red with the moisture…...
Free Binayak Sen!
Posted by Reema in General on 05 14th, 2008 | 2 Comments
India is shining yet again…
In Chhattisgarh, May 14th, 2008 marks the one year anniversary of Dr. Binayak Sen’s incarceration. The arbitrary arrests we remember from Punjab in the 80s and early 90s have continued in other areas of India like Chhattisgarh.
The renowned public-spirited paediatrician...
Establishing ‘knowledge’
Another university endowment has been gifted. This time it goes to the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins (SAIS) for “India studies,” and comes from Mohinder P. Sambhi, a Ludhiana-born hypertension specialist.
A prominent Indian-American has donated $2 million to...
Turning to Healers
Posted by Reema in General, Health, Punjab, USA on 05 9th, 2008 | Comments Off on Turning to Healers
Those in Punjab who don’t have access to hospitals and licensed doctors often seek cures from quacks posing as medicine men and the plethora of cure-all medication sold by hawkers at bus stops. In central California too, illegal immigrants turn to traditional healers.
Immigrants interviewed amid...
Rise of the Great Khali
Other bloggers have discussed their convictions regarding manly men, but Dalip Singh Rana from Himachal Pradesh may have taken this concept to a whole new level.
At a mere 7 feet, 3 inches and 420 pounds, Dalip Singh is blazing a new trail into World Wrestling Entertainment.
He is the first Indian to...
