Saturday, November 19, 2011
Sikhs guarding Chinese cemetery since 1930’s
Sikhs guarding Chinese cemetery since 1930’sChina: For nearly 70 years, two statues of Sikh guards have stood faithfully over Qing Dynasty magistrate Chew Gek Leng’s grave. The brightly coloured pair are a familiar sight to visitors to Bukit Brown Cemetery, off Sime Road.Foreigners take pictures of them. Punters seek 4-D numbers from them. Except for a new paint job every two years, the pair have lasted their long vigil mostly unscathed.
Until now.
On 28 Mar, when Mr Chew’s oldest grandson, Mr James Chew, 68, a retired bank officer, went with his sister to visit the grave during the Qing Ming Festival, he found to his horror that the noses of both statues were broken.
The sentry on the left, which has the Chinese words for ‘house guard’ painted on it, also had the top of its rifle broken. (The other guard is labelled ‘patrol’).
It is a popular grave, and there are no shortage of gawkers, which Mr Chew does not mind. But he said: ‘Take pictures, but please don’t take away a piece of the grave’.
It is not known if the damage was the work of vandals.
The 1.5m-tall, splendidly uniformed duo with bushy black beards and bright red turbans are an arresting sight amid the grey headstones and green foliage of the graveyard. These statues even come with a guard dog each, which lies by the butt of each rifle.
Mr Chew called the statues ‘a landmark’ among visitors, and he wasn’t exaggerating.
Though rainclouds cut short the time The New Paper spent at the tomb on Good Friday with Mr Chew, at least two family groups stood and looked at the statues during the one-hour period.
One woman, who declined to be named, said: ‘We recognise these two statues. We see them, then we know how to go (to the grave we are visiting).
‘Everyone knows the guards.’
The grave is now looked after by the third generation of a family of grave caretakers.
People come to pay respects
One of them is Madam Queenie Quek, 49. Her grandmother first looked after the grave, then her mother, and now her.
Her face lit up when she saw Mr Chew, and she quickly came down with a Chinese paintbrush to ask him to draw pupils on the Sikh statues’ eyes, which had been painted white.
Mr Chew joked as he painted: ‘Otherwise, they’re blind.’
Madam Quek said that during Qing Ming Festival and the Hungry Ghost Festival, officials from various temples around Singapore will come to pay their respects, offering tea and burning incense.
‘Maybe it’s because he’s a magistrate, and they found out that he was a major official?’ said Madam Quek.
Her sister-in-law, Madam Oh Kim Gek, 53, has been looking after the grave for 30 years.
As for the damage, she suspects that it was a lorry that caused it since they stood by the road.
But who was Mr Chew Gek Leng, who died in 1940, and why does he, a Chinese immigrant, have statues of Indian soldiers at his grave?
Mr James Chew said his grandfather fled to Singapore from China after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.
He brought his two wives, his servants and his slaves, to escape death at the hands of warlords.
He had been given Sikh guards in China, whom he did not bring along. .
As he came from five generations of physicians, he started practising medicine when he arrived, at a large house near Jalan Eunos.
The grave that he was entombed in was a major undertaking. The statues were made in China and the granite was also shipped over from his home country.
Before he died, he also had a large coffin stored in the house.
Mr Chew Gek Leng’s Sikh statues first made news in 1993, during the impending exhumation of graves in Bukit Brown Cemetery.
Although Mr James Chew is a practising Christian who worships at Wesley Methodist Church, he believes that it is his duty to maintain the grave of his grandfather.
But he is old. Who will take over when he is gone?
He sighs. He has two daughters, but one of them is married in Sydney, Australia. He is considering paying a temple to take over his work.
He said: ‘I’ll let the next generation decide what to do.’
with thanks : www.sikhsangat.org
Super visa for parents of students in Canada
CHANDIGARH: Canadian government has introduced super visa for parents to facilitate their union with children living in Canada. Replying to a question regarding strict visa conditions for students, Canada's first Sikh minister of state for democratic reforms Tim Singh Uppal, who was in Amritsar on Friday, said Canadian government would now give four times more visas than any other country to the students from India. He also hinted at the possibility of education a tie-up with Khalsa College, Amritsar.
with thanks : times of India : link above for detailed news.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Gurdwara Shri Guru Kalgidhar Sahib:Largest Sikh temple in Continental Europe in Cremona,Italy!
On demand,some more photos of Gurduwara Sri Guru Kalgidhar Sahib which is Europe's Biggest Gurdwara situated in Cremona,Italy. Giorgio Mantovani is a designer of this beautiful Gurdwara.
With Special thanks:
Taranjit Singh,Manjot Singh,Dilbagh Singh & Sukhvinder kaur(Cremona,Italy).
Dr. Gurdeep Kaur
University of Milan
Italy
Associate Professor
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
University of Delhi
New Delhi
INDIA
With Special thanks:
Taranjit Singh,Manjot Singh,Dilbagh Singh & Sukhvinder kaur(Cremona,Italy).
Dr. Gurdeep Kaur
University of Milan
Italy
Associate Professor
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
University of Delhi
New Delhi
INDIA
He found his calling in turban tying
LUDHIANA: Jagtar Singh Jaggi is no ordinary professional. He earns his livelihood by tying turbans, which not many professionals in city would have thought of.
He runs a shop " Jaggi Turban Training Centre" in Brown Road area where he ties turbansfor his Sikh clients and also trains people in the art.
On asking what made him thought of this profession, says Jaggi, "I used to run a hosiery shop in Dhuri Line area. In 2004, a customer,Jaswinder Singh, who used to get his turban tied by me, told me that I am very good at the art. That was the first time I thought of exploring this as an option to earn livelihood."
During normal days, he gets about 20-50 customers, which include industrialists, businessmen, doctors, engineers, transporters, students and others. During wedding season, the number goes up to 50-80.
Jaggi says, "It takes me about 5-8 minutes to tie a turban. I do it in various styles, including Niku style (8.5 meters long), Grewaal style (8 meters), Daljit style (6.5 meters), Patiala Shahi(7.5 meters), NRI style (5.5 meters), American style and African."
with thanks : Times of India : link above for detailed news.
SikhsIndia
Rare Sikh memorabilia to go under hammer in UK today
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE Shyam Bhatia in London
A controversial 1854 memorandum to Maharaja Dalip Singh that tells of his duties as a Christian, including the need to nominate a Christian heir, is being offered for auction tomorrow (Thursday) in the UK. The author of the hand written memorandum is Sir John Spencer Login, who was appointed by the East India Company as guardian to the young and inexperienced heir of Ranjit Singh, shortly after he was deposed by the British in 1849.
 Some memorabilia related to Maharaja Ranjit Singh (in pic) also to be auctioned; and (right) German prayer book given to Dalip Singh. |
Born in 1838, Dalip Singh was Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s youngest son. Following the infighting after Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839, Dalip Singh was crowned in 1843, deposed in 1849, converted to Christianity in 1853 and exiled to the UK in 1854.
The fabulous Kohinoor diamond, part of his inheritance from Ranjit Singh, was taken from him and given to Queen Victoria. Nothwithstanding the efforts of the British authorities at the time, Dalip Singh responded to the call of his Sikh roots some 33 years later. Helped by his cousin, Sardar Thakar Singh Sandhawalia, he returned to the Sikh fold in 1886 in the port of Aden during an unsuccessful attempt to return to India and the Punjab.
Login’s memorandum is a timely reminder of the enormous efforts to brainwash Dalip Singh as part of a larger plan to prevent him from reclaiming his once powerful and extremely wealthy kingdom.
It was a measure of the Punjab’s importance (both strategically and financially) that when Login retired a few years later he was granted an annual pension of £300, which today would be worth £800,000 pounds (nearly Rs 6.5 crores) per year. The memorandum is part of a larger collection of Sikh, Punjabi and other Indian memorabilia that is being sold by Mullock’s auctioneers in the English county of Shropshire.
Among them is a German prayer book foisted on the young Maharaja, as part of the relentless efforts by the colonial powers to persuade him to give up his religion, roots and homeland.
Other items put up for sale include 19th century maps of the Punjab, assorted prints of the Golden Temple, a seated statue of Ranjit Singh, a drawing of Guru Har Krishan, a pen and ink sketch of Guru Gobind Singh and a print of Shaheed Bhagat Singh who was hanged for his revolutionary activities in 1931. Some other objects of interest include a gold mohur - known as a Nanakshahi - minted in the last 10 years of Ranjit Singh’s reign.
with thanks : Tribune : link above for more detailed news.
Sikh Pilgrims: Hundreds of yatris arrive in Shakargarh
SIALKOT:
Hundreds of Sikh pilgrims from the USA, India, England, Malaysia, Canada, Australia and Germany visited the Darbar Sahib Guru Nanak in Kartarpur, Shakargarh amid tight security on Wednesday evening.
According to security officials, Darbar Seva-Das in-charge Sardar Gobind Singh told reporters that the visiting Sikh pilgrims participated in celebrations held in connection with the 542nd birth anniversary of Baba Jee Guru Nanak Dev Jee.
“There were hundreds of pilgrims and the event went off without a hitch.
The yatrees performed religious rites and also attended a special prayer ceremony following the event,” he said.
Sardar Gobind Singh told reporters that the yatrees also took “Ashnan” there and distributed sweets among the local people. Some Sikh pilgrims also spoke about their pre-partition memories by visiting their native houses in Zafarwal, Shakargarh and other surrounding areas in the district.
The yatrees also exchanged gifts with the local people and dozens of local residents came to the gurdawara to greet them and wish them well for the remainder of their stay in Pakistan.
with thanks : Tribune PK
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sikh clergy hail Anand Marriage Act
AMRITSAR: The Sikh community has hailed Union law minister Salman Khurshid's statement regarding implementation of the Anand Marriage Act (Sikh's separate marriage Act) in the near future.
Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh said, "I appreciate Khurshid's gesture as it is acknowledgment of Sikh's separate identity". He said the law minister should now ensure that the Anand Marriage Act is implemented without delay.
with thanks : times of India : link above.
Gilani proposes plan for establishing university named after Guru Nanak
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani discussed the establishment of a university named after Guru Nanak in a bid to empower minority communities in the country.
The idea was discussed in a meeting between the prime minister and pilgrims of the Sikh community in Lahore.
Prominent at the gathering was the topic of the establishment of a university in Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak.
Dr Pritpal Singh, Convener of the American Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, expressed his pleasure at the enthusiasm shown by Gilani to set things in motion for the university.
The American Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee is an organisation that looks after Sikh places of worship.
The work on the university is slated to be arranged by the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the organisation that looks after the affairs of minority properties and places of worship in Pakistan.
with thanks : Tribune pak : link above.
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