Friday, November 5, 2010
Why I don't like firecrackers :
1) They create unnecessary air and noise pollution. They can prove fatal for people with Asthma or heart patients. Can we turn so unconcerned for such people? For others too, why do we have to go through all this pollution, just because someone wants to ‘celebrate’ !
2) For today's youth, Diwali is no more than a source of showing their might; they are least concerned about its history. If you don't agree, just ask any kid lighting firecrackers, as to why is he is doing so, or what happened on this day. It's just a rat race, as to who can light the most magnificent or most colourful crackers. No wonder we have people competing for the loudest crackers till 12am- 1am on Diwali night.
3) Lighting crackers depicts one's inner destructive self. When a festival can be celebrated quietly and by thanking God, why do we need to be so loud with our celebration, creating inconvenience to others? If one may consider it this way, crackers resemble the inner turbulence created by Vikaars. On the contrary, Gurmukhs do Simran/read Bani to tackle this inner turbulence and attain a 'Sehaj awastha'.
4) And not to forget the thousand of rupees spent on crackers could have been spent in a much more productive manner, like feeding the poor, helping the underprivileged or taking the responsibility of teaching a poor child !
Bhulan Chukan Di Khima,
Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa,
Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh !
SHABADVICHAR
Happy Diwali
With Best Regards
SikhsIndia
www.sohnijodi.com
www.sikhsindia.blogspot.com
www.RWABhagidari.blogspot.com
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Sikh place of worship: The gurus of Gravesend
A cash-strapped project to build a Sikh place of worship in Gravesend procured the large marble domes, arched windows and highly ornate stonework from India - and saved more than £2m along the way
Even putting its striking appearance to one side, you still couldn’t describe the gurdwara in Gravesend as a conventional build. As a place of worship for the UK’s third-largest Sikh population, the project has been on site for the best part of eight years. When it started there was only enough money to complete the foundations; the rest of the cash still had to be raised, most of it from donations. And to get the best value for money, and keep control of the complex project, the local community set up its own construction company.
Added to all this was the intricately detailed stone cladding.
Teja Biring, a partner in Calford Seaden, the architects behind the gurdwara (door to the guru), says: “The community wanted a very traditional-looking building.” As a result, it incorporates plenty of the design cues of a traditional gurdwara such as the five large marble domes, the arched windows and the Indian motifs which embellish the stonework. Procuring such an ornate design was always going to be tricky given the tight budget, and it quickly transpired that the best way to achieve the traditional detail at a realistic price was to obtain the stone, already carved, directly from India.
Teja Biring, partner in charge at Calford Seaden, spent two weeks touring India until he found a company capable of handling the project. Trivedi Tectonics based in Ahmedabad in western India had expertise in hand carving and also the CNC machine tools to cut and carve large quantities of stone, which was a must if the project was going to complete in the next decade.
It also had its own marble quarry. However, Biring had concerns about using marble because of the UK climate and the porosity of the stone. “I was looking for a life expectancy of 100 years plus, like a church or cathedral,” he says. For this reason a mix of pink and grey granite has been used for a large proportion of the building, particularly where weathering might be an issue, such as ledges. Marble, easier to work with, has been used where there is intricate detailing and to create the traditional covering for the domes.
The entrance porch
The structure of the Gravesend Gurdwara has been kept simple to make it cheap and easy to build. It uses conventional insitu reinforced concrete clad with ready carved granite and marble panels. The entrance porch is one of the most detailed sections of the building, bringing together intricately carved columns, marble Jali windows, traditional Indian motifs and a marble clad dome.
1 Gold finial
2 Screen created from marble
3 Solid marble petals
4 White marble sections
5 Insitu concrete structure
6 Concrete soffit clad with ceramic mosaic tiles
7 Pink granite
8 White marble
with thanks : Buildings.co.uk : link in headline above for more details.
SikhsIndia
BJP demands punishment for guilty in anti-Sikh riots
New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by its senior leader Arun Jaitley Tuesday took out a candle-light march here to demand punishment for those guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Addressing the workers, Jaitley blamed the Congress for the murder of thousands of Sikhs in the aftermath of the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
'It is regrettable that today one of the Sikhs is the prime minister but he is unable to ensure justice to the Sikhs. Not a single guilty person of the riots has been punished. Due to delay in justice, there is great anger among the community,' he said.
BJP workers tried to march from Jantar Mantar in central Delhi to parliament, but were taken into preventive custody midway.
Leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) also took part in the march.
with thanks : SIFY : link in headline above for detailed news.
SikhsIndia
Sikh-born Haley elected governor in South Carolina
Washington - South Carolina on Tuesday elected Republican Nikki Haley, the daughter of Sikh immigrant parents, as the first Asian woman to become a US governor.
She beat fellow state legislator Vincent Sheheen, taking 51 per cent of the vote to his 47 per cent.
'Tomorrow morning there's going to be a lot of news and a lot of observers who say we made history. And in some ways, you can look at me and say, 'Yes, we did,'' Haley said Tuesday night in her victory speech.
'But what I want this to be is that we're turning a page. We're turning a page on where we've been, but the history is going to be on where we're going to go.'
She made little of her immigrant family background during her speech, aside from a reference to her parents reminding her how lucky she is to live in the United States. Instead, the speech accentuated that she is through-and-through American, with references to family, '80s music and politics all delivered with the hint of a southern drawl.
'Regardless of how you voted, I'm going to get to work for you,' she assured voters.
An accountant and businesswoman, she has served in the South Carolina legislature since 2004, when she became the first Indian American elected to a state office.
Haley, 38, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina, one of three children of parents from Amritsar, India. She eventually went to work in the family's prosperous apparel business.
with thanks : monstersandcritics : link in headline above for detailed news.
SikhsIndia
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots stage protest in Delhi
A large number of victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots staged a protest rally here on Monday against the Central government's failure to punish the accused in murder of innocent Sikhs.
Atma Ram, one of the relatives of the riots, said that the Supreme Court should punish the main accused in the 1984 riots at the earliest.
"We want to appeal to judiciary that criminals like Sajjan Kumar (1984 riots accused), who is facing charges under section 302 according to the Indian Penal Code should not be given bail and he should be behind bars. This is how we will get satisfaction.
with thanks : ANI : SIFY : link in headline above for detailed news.
SikhsIndia
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