Maritime Sikh Society, Canada Elects All Women Office Bearers

The Maritime Sikh Society 10 Parkhill Road Halifax, N S B3P 1R3 902-477-0008

At its annual General Body meeting held on December 20, 2009 Maritime Sikh Society, Halifax, Canada elected all women office bearers to run the Gurdwara for the year 2010.

This is not the first time that a woman- Kanwal Kaur Sidhu,- has been elected President of this Gurdwara. In 1993, when Mrs. Gurdip Kaur Toor was elected President for the first time, all other office bearers were women. In 1994 Mrs. Surjit Kaur Sidhu and in 1998, Mrs. Gurinder Kaur Dhillon were the Presidents.

In fact the year 2009 was all devoted to recognize and promote women's seva to Guru Ghar. When the 2009 executive was elected, we made it a point to take oath of office from a woman..

Only women were honored at the end of this year. Mrs. Kuldip Kaur Chehil, Mrs. Satpal Kaur Sodhi and late Mrs. Gurdip Kaur Toor (represented by her husband) were presented Siropas- robes of honor by a senior and well respected lady, Mrs. Pritam Kaur. It was in recognition of their meritorious service to the Maritime Sikh Society since the society was founded forty years back.

We also gave two awards to young girls for rendering valuable service to the society. Miss Sonia Singh got the 'Bhai Ghanayya', ie, ‘Sevadar of the year’ award while the 'Best Speech in Punjabi' award went to miss Sargam Paul.

We associate women in all activities of the society. Besides preparing Guru Ka Langar, they mostly women, especially Satpal Kayr Sodhi, lead the Sangat in reciting Ardas. Mini ardas before putting Babaji to rest is always done by a woman, Swinder Kaur Clair or Shivinder Kaur Sekhon. On Akhand paths, mostly women take turns in reading the whole of Guru Granth Sahib, especially Nauven Mohulle de Silok. Majority of the devotees who sing shabad are women and young girls. This year on Baisakhi day in April, Amandeep Kaur was the only guest speaker and she did an excellent job in covering the significance of the birth of Khasla in 1699. She read her scholarly paper in chaste Punjabi. Only girls are taking music lessons from renowned musician Pandit Vijay.

Maritime Sikh Society is a progressive society where turbaned and non-turbaned Sikhs work in harmony. Though according to the constitution only Sikhs can become its members, we encourage Hindus who are devotees of Guru Ghar to become members and even invite them to serve on the executive. Guru’s message was universal, let every body get the benefit. From its very beginning there has never been a contest in the election to the new executive; it is always chosen unanimously. The Gurdwara library is pretty up-to-date containing works of both the Sikh and Western authors. We don't have a paid Granthi; all work is done by volunteers.

with thanks : source : www.sikhphilosophy.net

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For Bollywood heroes, it's cool to be a Sikh

NEW DELHI: What's common to actors Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar? All have recently played a Sikh hero in a Bollywood film.

Indeed, there's a profusion of Sikh characters in leading roles: the honest salesman in Rocket Singh, the love-smitten student Veer Singh in Love Aaj Kal (2009), the formidable army officer Balkar Singh in Heroes (2008) and the bumbling villager Happy Singh in Singh is Kinng (2008). Even Jackie Shroff played a gentle farmer Dayal Singh in Sohail Khan's Kisaan (2009).

Over the decade many films have depicted Sikh characters in leading roles. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) and Jo Bole So Nihaal (2005) are some such films. What's new is that today's Sikh hero has acquired a mellow, romantic shade as evident in films like Love Aaj Kal and Rocket Singh. Social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan points out that young Sikhs in recent films are shown as playing "non-military characters" unlike what was frequently projected in earlier ones. "Today's Sikh protagonist in Hindi film has broken the stereotype," he says.

Director Imtiaz Ali's films, Jab We Met (2007) and Love Aaj Kal, had plenty of Sikh characters. He narrates an interesting story behind his decision to do so. "I come from Jamshedpur and there is a sardar in my close group of friends. Whenever we would think of going to a movie, he would say, "What's the point? It's not as if by watching films I can get into the industry. Sardars don't make it in films." That got me wondering why a sardar can't be a hero?" says Ali on phone from Jamshedpur.

His desire to have Sikhs in leading roles grew stronger after watching Sunny Deol as Major Kuldeep Singh in J P Dutta's Border (1997), and a patriotic Tara Singh in Anil Sharma's Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001). "While Border established that a lead actor can be a Sikh, Gadar went on to shatter any other bias," says Ali. He adds, "I think Sikh heroes is a great trend. Why can't a handsome sardar be a hero? We should move beyond the clichi of chocolate heroes and look around our neighbourhood for real characters."

Agrees writer Jaideep Sahni, who fleshed out Rocket Singh's character and claims to be naturally disinclined towards the 6'2" kind of hunk imagery. "If one has a choice that doesn't go against the story's concept, then as film-makers we owe it to the audience to give them variety," says Sahni.

Sahni also feels the Hindi film industry restricts a filmmaker into a 'language jail'. "We normally can't cast a lead character from a Telugu, Tamil or North-East zone. My desire to break out of this 'jail' inspired Rocket Singh's character," says Sahni.

Film historian Firoze Rangoonwalla has a theory behind the recent rise of the Sikh protagonist. He says that the urban, multiplex films had hitherto alienated the cinema-going middle-class audience of north Indian heartland. "To target them producers have turned their focus on characters who look and speak like them. So we have Yash Chopra and Karan Johar often introducing Punjabi characters. This is a business-oriented action taken to cater to the ethos of that territory," he says.

Nonetheless, the profusion of Sikh heroes is in stark contrast to the Bollywood of 1960s and 1970s when a hero had to be clean-shaven and fair. The Sikh was consigned and confined to character roles. "It was assumed that a turbaned Sikh with a beard didn't have pan-India mass appeal. Also, they were viewed as representatives of a particular community with a distinct style of speaking," says Rangoonwalla citing examples of Dharmendra in Tarachand Barjatya's Jeevan Mrityu (1970) and Prem Nath in Manmohan Desai's Desh Premee (1982). "At best, a sardar played a good friend to the hero or was relegated to being a side character/comedian," he says.

Such a portrayal continued down the decades until Govind Nihalini's Vijeta (1982), where hero Kunal Kapoor played Sikh Air Force pilot Angad. Now the abundance of Sikh characters as regular heroes underlines the growing maturity of Bollywood as well as its audience.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/For-Bollywood-heroes-its-cool-to-be-a-Sikh/articleshow/5376357.cms

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In Harimandir Sahib on April 30, 1877 at 4.30

In Harimandir Sahib on April 30, 1877 at 4.30 in the morning, a strange thing happened. There were about four hundred devotees enjoying spiritual peace of celestial music in Harimandir Sahib when suddenly a flash of lighting was seen which in the form of a big resplendence entered through the door on the mountain-side and exploded exactly like a ball in front of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and illuminating everything went out, becoming a streak of light through the southern door--though at the time of its exploding there was a dreadful and forceful sound, no harm of any kind occurred to any devotee sitting inside and no harm to the building or anything else in the precinct. All the people described this supernatural scene as the wonderful doing of Sri Guru Ram Das himself" (translation based on one in Strange but True in Sikhism by SS Kohli p.11)

Sikhnet / Maple Leaf

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Sikh matrimonial - latest profiles

Supreet singh, Toronto, Canada

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Gurmat Samagam : Gurdwara sri guru singh sabha, Krishna nagar, Delhi - 51

Harbhajan Singh Matharu




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Young Boy Missing From Union City, CA Since Saturday

Union City, CA: Jagmeet Sidhu, a 25 Year old male, has been missing since December 19th, 2009 from his home town Union City, CA. Jagmeet is 6 feet tall, has medium built and black hair. When last seen, he was wearing a yellow sweat shirt, black pants, a white t-shirt and a black belt. He was last seen driving his blue 1997 Acura Integra in the San Mateo, CA region. The vehicle has been found abandoned on the 92 San Mateo Bridge at an emergency pit stop.

As per the information, Jagmeet was on his way home from a friend’s place and was talking on the phone with another friend when he said that his car did not sound right and he would pull over to check it out and call the friend back. However, no one heard from Jagmeet after that. His cell phone, keys and wallet were found in the car.

UNITED SIKHS, CA Director, Kashmir Singh, was contacted by the family to get the community involved in the matter. While commenting on the current situation, Kashmir Singh stated, “It is a very tough time for the family and we would like to call upon all our fellow community members to help and support in Jagmeet’s search. Nothing can be ruled out at this stage, we hope that the Police is considering all possibilities.

The Union City Police and the National Center for Missing Adults are already working to find Jagmeet. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has not been involved yet. The Department of Justice Community Relations Service and Congressman Stark have been apprised of the case. A joint letter from national South Asian Advocacy Organizations is going to be issued to the Union City Police Department offering complete community support along with a suggestion to involve FBI at the earliest in order to expedite the matters.

Issued by:
Jatinder Singh
Director
646 315 3909, 510 299 7982

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Prof. Darshan singh Khalsa on Chardikala Time TV - part 1

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Prof. Darshan singh Khalsa on Chardikala Time TV - part 2

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Prof. Darshan singh Khalsa on Chardikala Time TV - part 3

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Prof. Darshan singh Khalsa on Chardikala Time TV - part 4

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