"You'll Never Walk Alone" : Malaysian Gursikh family's 'Classical' Indian Rendition of Liverpool Anthem

Gurmukh singh and his family dedicate their unique rendition of their club’s song to celebrate Liverpool’s Premier League Win.

As a Liverpool FC fan for over 40 years, lawyer Gurmukh Singh was over the moon when his favourite football team finally became Premier League champions for the 19th time last week.

To mark the occasion, Gurmukh gathered his "troupe" together - his wife Inderjit Kaur, daughters Gursimer Kaur, 19, and Kavelnain Kaur, 21, and his son, Gurishver Singh, 15, (a die-hard Manchester United fan who joined his family reluctantly) - and, together, they performed a unique Indian "semi-classical" rendition of the Liverpool anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.

They wore red, of course, (even their pet dog, Argon) and, Gurmukh, who played the harmonium, proudly had his Liverpool scarf draped over his shoulder. Gurishver couldn't resist wearing his United scarf over his kurta.

Gurmukh, 54, recorded the song, posted the video on his Facebook page yesterday, and in just a day, the recording has garnered almost 1.6 thousand likes and been shared over 1,000 times.

"I had to do it. I've wanted to put a traditional Indian spin on this song for some time now, but never got around to it. What better time than now, right?" says Gurmukh, who has been supporting Liverpool since he was in Standard Five.

"I'm into spirituality and religion. But, I must say, witnessing Liverpool emerge as Premier League champs again after so long was right up there as a kind of spiritual experience. It's an indescribable feeling," he adds.

There was not much practice involved in the family recording of You'll Never Walk Alone, admits Gurmukh. However, the family often sings kirtans (devotional songs) together at home.

"We just went through it for five minutes or so before recording it. We never expected it to get so much attention. Absolutely not. I guess that's just the vast, global following that Liverpool has," he adds.

https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2020/06/30/a-family-of-liverpool-fans-dedicates-semi-classical-rendition-of-club-song

"Fuel priceS Prices Increased 20 Times In Three Mnths’ : Congress activists hold agitation across Punjab

Congress workers raising slogans against the Centre at Hall Gate in Amritsar.

The Congress organised a nationwide stir against the rising prices of petrol and diesel on Monday, demonstrations were also held in Sangrur, Patiala, Amritsar, Faridkot, Bathinda and SBS Nagar.

Youth Congress and NSUI workers pulling a tractor to oppose rising fuel prices in Sangrur.

Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar said, “The tractor, an instrument of change that brought about the green revolution, has become a cart for farmers as they cannot afford the high prices of diesel.” “The Centre should applaud the work done by the farmers amid the Covid-crisis as Punjab has produced a bumper wheat crop of 1.27 lakh tones. Instead, the BJP has passed anti-farmer ordinances,” the Congress leader said.

“The prices of fuel have been steadily rising over the last three weeks as the central government has been imposing excise duty on fuel. Thus, for the first time the prices of diesel have exceeded that of petrol,” he said.

“When the Congress was in power in 2014, the price of crude oil was 104 dollars per barrel and the price of diesel was Rs 63 per litre. Now, crude oil is hardly 40 dollars per barrel but still the price of diesel has reached Rs 80,” he said, demanding an explanation from the Modi government.

Congress leader Daman Thind Bajwa said businesses had been badly affected due to Covid-19 over the past three months but the government of India had hiked petrol and diesel prices instead of helping the citizens.“The hike in diesel prices will directly affect farmers, who are already under debt, during the paddy season,” Bajwa said.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/fuel-price-hike-congress-activists-hold-agitation-across-punjab/story-s2e7rowuU5Q0yqscmgXo5I.html

Covid-19: Door-to-Door Drive to Collect Samples Starts in Amritsar

The health department and the administration on Monday started door-to-door collection of samples for Covid-19 testing in the Amritsar district with a view to putting in place more effective prevention measures.

To start with, a mobile van of the municipal corporation (MC) started collecting samples in the city’s two containment and as many micro- containment zones. Thereafter, more such vans may be pressed into service in other areas, health officials said.

“The residents of containment zones were reluctant to visit the nearby sample collection centres thinking that they might get infected if they came in contact with others. Due to this, the health department was unable to achieve the target of random sample collection in the city’s two containment zones. Two teams of doctors will be sent in the van at one time,” said assistant civil surgeon Dr Amarjit Singh.

Amritsar mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu 

Amritsar mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu said, “This is the first initiative in Punjab to launch a door-to-door sample collection facility. The van has been designed specially to avoid direct contact of health officials with the public. The van has adequate space for storing the samples. If the plan remains successful, the health department will use more such vans.”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/covid-19-door-to-door-drive-to-collect-samples-starts-in-amritsar/story-vTOZGK44YMFNgC8AFxAxXN.html

Pakistan Govt.Reopens Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

The government of Pakistan has reopened Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur for Sikh pilgrims, closed due to coronavirus. Sikh pilgrims from all over the world, including Pakistan, will be able to come to Kartarpur to perform religious rites. 

After three and a half months later at the reopening of Gurdwara Kartarpur, 26 Sikh pilgrims from all over the world including Pakistan attended the religious rites. Sikh pilgrims performed religious rites at Gurdwara Baba Guru Nanak and food was arranged for them on this occasion. Sikh pilgrims also visited different parts of the Gurdwara. A ceremony was also held at Gurdwara Kartarpur for the first time in connection with the 181st birth anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Religious rites were performed at the ceremony to pay homage to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Sikh pilgrims were overjoyed as Gurdwara Baba Guru Nanak Kartarpur was reopened after the coronavirus and thanked the government of Pakistan for taking this noble step.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/633879/govt-reopens-gurdwara-kartarpur/

“Speak Up India” :Navjot Singh Sidhu guns for his own govt over Punjab’s indebtedness

 Mr.Navjot Singh Sidhu 

Ending his self-imposed exile, Congress MLA from Amritsar East Navjot Singh Sidhu addressed NRIs on Sunday night as part of a ‘Speak Up India’ campaign started by the Congress.

The event in which Sidhu spoke was a web broadcast organised by the Indian Overseas Conference.

He said Punjab had slipped from being a revenue surplus state to being neckdeep in debt and also referred to his report on generating revenue from mining while he was a minister. “You cannot afford to be apolitical in such a scenario,” said Sidhu. “Between 2007 and 2017, the debt of the state shot up manifold. Those at the helm mortgaged the state for personal gains. (I) don’t think that the debt has no bearing on people of the state. The funds being used to pay back the loans would have been used for development, education and health.”

“Why are funds not being spent on schools and hospitals? The total revenue receipts of this year was Rs 88,000 crore and of that Rs 47,000 crore has to be repaid as loans with Rs 19,000 crore on account of interest. To add to the problem, we were hit by coronavirus. Now revenue receipts have been calculated to be Rs 62,000 crore. Where will we go? How can we think of development? People who are the cause of this, why will they find solutions to this?” he said.

“In 2019-20, Punjab’s revenue from VAT, taxes etc was Rs 33,000 crore and a state like Tamil Nadu earns Rs 32,000 crore from excise revenue alone… I made a report on sand mining after going to Talengana. The state is earning Rs 43 crore in 10 days. The Akali government earned Rs 42 crore in one year. Where is the money going? The Badals had two buses but now they had 2,000, but the PRTC is under debt,” he said.

He also referred to cable mafia and Justice Kuldeep Singh’s report on land under alleged illegal occupation in his address. “The land should be vacated and then the NRIs can be involved,” he said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/sidhu-ends-exile-with-cong-web-address-to-nris/articleshow/76699342.cms

Big-hearted Sikhs Raise £25,000 for Hospital

The Sikh community showed some real heart when it raised more than £25,000 for a new heart-monitoring machine at Ealing Hospital.

Ten people from the Pingalwara Charitable Society (PAC) collectively cycled, ran and walked 1,000 miles over a month in recognition of the National Health Service and its work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It included PAC’s sure-footed president Jagraj Singh Sran who walked up to five miles a day after work to meet his individual target of 100 miles.

Mr Sran said: “It’s the least we could do for the NHS, especially in recent months when so many people have been putting their own health on the line to help others. We all have a responsibility to help one another.

“The NHS is always there for us, so we should be there for the NHS.”

The cheque was presented to cardiologists Dr Harmandeep Singh and Professor Jaspal Kooner and will be used to help treat the thousands of people treated for heart conditions at the hospital ever year.

http://www.lnwh.nhs.uk/news/bighearted-sikhs-raise-25000-for-hospital-2000

Entire Amritsar can feed on langar, my sense of hunger comes from New York: Watch how casual racism of BBC was exposed by chef Vikas Khanna

In an interview with the BBC, Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna sharply corrected the anchor who conjectured that the chef’s generosity of feeding homeless and destitute in India amidst coronavirus lockdown was triggered by his own sense of hunger while he grew up in India.

“You have been famous now. You have cooked for Obamas, you have been on Gordon Ramsay’s show. But, you were not always like this. You are not from a rich family so I dare say you understand how precarious it can be in India,” the BBC anchor said imperiously.

However, Khanna, with his cool demeanour, tersely dispelled the unfounded notions held by the BBC anchor. “My sense of hunger did not come from India so much because I was raised in Amritsar and we have a huge community kitchen where everyone gets fed. The entire city can be fed from the community kitchen,” Khanna said while referring to the pervasive langars in the city that provide food to people.

Vikas Khanna's reply to BBC anchor wins the internet

He further added that his sense of hunger came from the sprawling American city of New York during his struggling days. “My sense of hunger came from New York, when I was struggling and really at the bottom. It was difficult for a brown kid to rise through, someone who had a dream of winning the Michelin star,” he said.

Chef Vikas Khanna who describes the Langar as a “Mental Therapy”

“Therefore my sense of hunger came from New York when I was living in Grand Central and sleeping around. It came from the United States, not from India,” Khanna emphatically added.

Vikas Khanna helps migrant labourers and poor with cooked meals

The stark images of migrant labourers trudging on their foot empty stomach to their native places across the breadth of India moved the celebrity chef into launching an initiative for those who had been adversely affected by the coronavirus induced lockdown in the country.

Khanna wanted to express his solidarity with those who were going hungry during the lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. So he put out an appeal on social media for those who were in the need of food during the pandemic and within no time, he received a flurry of responses on social media requesting food for the needy.

As of June 3, Khanna had supported the distribution of sanitary napkins in Diamond Harbour, West Bengal and bankrolled 57 food stations within petrol pumps in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to offer cooked meals to migrant workers hoofing it towards their respective villages. Till June 3, he had approximately distributed 9 million meals in more than 125 cities with the assistance of the National Disaster Relief Force and several other collaborators.

https://www.opindia.com/2020/06/michelin-star-chef-vikas-kapoor-busts-casual-racism-bbc-anchor-watch/

Indore: Sikhs Pay Tribute to 'Sher-e-Punjab' Maharaja Ranjit Singh on his Death Anniversary

Ranjit Singh's  life story was re-told to children to teach them lessons of courage and good governance.

Indore: Sikh community could not offer tribute to Maharaja Ranjit Singh popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or Lion of Punjab, like every year. His death anniversary was on Saturday. Like every year, the Sikhs commemorate his contribution and pay tributes to him on the following Sunday of June 27.

Though the memorial event was organised as every year, he was remembered in prayers and special ardas was organised to express thanks to the great leader in various gurudwaras of the city.

His life story was re-told to children to teach them lessons of courage and good governance. “Every year, we offer tribute to the Maharaja with get-together, flower wreaths and celebrations, but this year, since public gatherings were restricted, we only offered prayers in Gurudwaras,” Devendra Singh Gandhi, coordinator of Imli Sahib Gurudwara, said.

Imli Sahib Gurudwara,Indore,MP

Kirtan was organised in his honour in gurudwaras. Impressed by the Maharaja’s life stories, kids were particularly inspired and wished to be as courageous as him.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

“He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years and was proclaimed as the ‘Maharaja of Punjab’ at age 21,” Simran Kaur, a teenager, said.

She felt that such real-life stories are needed to be re-told today, as we often get depressed easily. “I can feel my blessings when I compare it to the life of Maharaja, who bore so many pains in such a nascent age,” Narender Singh, a businessman, said.

“Maharaja is still our inspiration and in times of covid-19, we need to learn from him,” Surender Singh, president of LIG gurudwara committee, said. He added that Maharaja had defeated Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln during the early 19th century.

“His policies were based on respect for all communities, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim. We need to remember and re-learn those policies,” Singh added.

https://www.freepressjournal.in/indore/indore-sikhs-pay-tribute-to-sher-e-punjab-maharaja-ranjit-singh-on-his-death-anniversary

India Rejects Pakistan Offer to Reopen Corridor

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur

India has turned down on health and technical grounds Pakistan’s offer to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib corridor on June 29 to mark the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. New Delhi rejected the offer within hours on Saturday after Islamabad conveyed its readiness to reopen the corridor.

Sources here said any such decision would have to be taken in consultation with the health authorities and other stakeholders as cross-border travel had been suspended to contain the virus.

India accused Pakistan of being less than sincere in making the offer as Islamabad aired the proposal at a short notice of two days. On the other hand, the bilateral agreement provides for information to be shared by India with the Pakistan side at least seven days before the date of travel. This would need India to open up the registration process well in advance, the sources pointed out. Besides, Pakistan has not built the bridge on their side across the flood plains of Ravi river despite having committed to it in the agreement. With the advent of monsoon, it would need to be evaluated whether safe pilgrim movement was possible through the corridor.

This comes at a time of rock-bottom bilateral ties, as both countries are reducing their staff strength at their respective High Commissions by half, after India fired the salvo earlier this week on Tuesday.

Hailing the Kartarpur Corridor as a “true symbol of peace and religious harmony”, Pakistan on Saturday morning offered to open the corridor, saying that as “religious places are gradually opening up around the world, Pakistan has also made necessary arrangements to reopen Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for Sikh pilgrims”. Islamabad also invited New Delhi to work out necessary Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for reopening of the Corridor to ensure compliance with health guidelines.

The corridor was inaugurated in November last year by Pakistan PM Imran Khan on the eve of Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. 

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/india-turns-down-pak-offer-of-reopening-kartarpur-corridor-105298

https://nation.com.pk/29-Jun-2020/reopening-kartarpur

Pink Ladoo Project - Celebrate the Birth of Girl Child

Lawyer Raj Khaira : Founder of Pink Ladoo Project

The Pink Ladoo Project was set up to challenge these views and to encourage communities to celebrate the birth of all babies equally, regardless of gender.

It was launched on the International Day of the Girl Child in October 2015, by lawyer Raj Khaira, who decided to take a stand against long held patriarchal views which see females as a financial burden to parents because of the dowry system.

It’s about starting conversations and educating the older generation, but we recognise this is not going to happen overnight.”

Raj used this“tradition” to make a statement. By encouraging the celebration and conversation of equality for girls through the giving out of pink Ladoos at their birth. This transformation of a normal yellow Ladoo into a pink one creates a powerful yet simple symbol of protest against bygone sexist customs.

http://www.kissbranding.co.uk/the-pink-ladoo-project/