Sunday, December 23, 2007

Sikh Warriors

It was a documented fact that Sikh warriors were the most feared and fearless warriors on the battle field, the Mughals, the Persians & even the British documented this in their dairies, reports to their superiors and etc.


They did not get this reputation by just eating Alu Pratha, () they trained their butts off! Not just physically but spiritually as well each soldier was trained to kill anything that moved in a 30 yard radius, they were so good that it is said that each man was equivalent to fifty of any other army’s of that time. Each Sikh warrior was called Fauj which literally means a battalion.



Didn't get his reputation, merely by eating Alu Paratha


They achieved this reputation by training in armed, unarmed combat & meditating countless numbers of hours. The martial art they trained in was Shastar Vidya, literally meaning Science of weapons but i interpret it as the science of making your body a weapon.


I leave you with this quotation written in the Jang Namah (battle chronicles) by Quzi Nur Mohammed in 1765, He was a staunch enemy of the Sikhs but he goes into a rosary of praise when he goes into defining qualities of Sikh Warriors.


” … If you cherish the desire of learning the art of war, face them on the battle field. When they hold their mighty sword, they gallop from Hind to Sind. Nobody however strong and wealthy dare oppose them. If their sword struck a coat of mail, the coat itself becomes the enemy’s shroud. Each and every one of them look like massive boulders of rock. In a grandeur, each one of them excels fifty men…”


An absolutly amazing article I found on Hargobind Singh Khalsa's Blog.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Everyone (christian or not) should celibrate Christmas because....



"Otherwise they'll remove the christmas holidays!"



- A friend of mine

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Jacksson Singh!!!

You HAVE to check this out to believe it!!!
I believe this is Madhu, who also makes the announcements at Sikh Student Camp.
Absolutly lovely person.


Saturday, November 17, 2007

Burma has a few things it can learn from India







Lately a lot of news has been focusing on the state of the people living in Burma. I am very sad to hear all of the stories that are coming out; how the regime is treating its own people; treating the monks and other peaceful protesters where curfew was announced; and the leaders of these peaceful protests are suddenly 'disappearing'.



One thing that Burma can learn form the numerous atrocities that have occurred in India are; how to distract international attention.



Not that it's helped a lot (especially since China and other Asean countries have the capability to end it all with one phone call) - what India did during the genocide of SIkhs in 84 was, they banned the state from foreign journalists - they were totally banned into the state, and those who were inside were forced out in busses.

Recently there's been covering about a Japanese journalist being murdered, and a photo is showed of him lying on the street with a Camera.

I think Burma turned into the "news item" the newspapers needed for a few weeks; now it's over. Peace is yet to be restored in the country of turmoil, and hundreds are still suffering. Unfortunatly after the huge amount of covering, the media attention has gone to other places, such as Pakistan (emergency rule), and Bangladesh (floods); and no-one really cares about Burma anymore.

The Burmesen government is free to continue treating its people like sh*t; since no-one cares anymore.

Sad. But true.
My prayers go to the people of Burma.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

BANG - and I realised - I was screwed

Today I had (another!) car accident.


This (time it) happened late in the afternoon (it was late – cold and dark, in an alley somewhere in the middle of nowhere…..[the first few details are true] ). I had left my pile of books (and enormous amount of studies) to go to my cousin’s place and help him with the last bits and bobs in his shifting/moving.


As soon as we arrived (mum was with me), I leave of my mum, and drive off to the train station to bring my cousins wife who had just called and said she had arrived at the station, and wanted to be picked up. It was when I was about to pick her up from the train station when it happened. I called her to find out where she was (while reversing the car), and BANG – the entire car shook. The turban almost BLEW off (Yes I was looking totally like a roadaccident after that). The owner of the car was just a few hundred meters away and came running.



Indeed I do have some Indian genes, but No, I did NOT escape . I still had to pick her up remember?


Soooo, turns out this Fat (with a capital F) geezer is Finish and doesn’t speak a word of Swedish. He writes down my car’s number plate number and takes my phone number. He calls his female friend, who (luckily) speaks a bit Swedish. She wants me to give her my DOB and other personal details. I hesitate since it’s not my car (mum’s, and its insured on her name). They suspect I don’t even have a license (those SONS OF B*****!!! – of course I’ve got a driving license!).


Soo they ask me if I want to take it on the insurance or if I want to end the thing there and then. I go how much you want? He goes 5000kr!!!! That’s almost 1000 USD, for a small scratch!!! I’m like – no way!!! I’m not gonna give you penny more than 30 USD (proving that Indians are essentially cheap bastards haha). So they don’t accept my cheap offer. OK what’s next? I get reinforcement – my mum and cousin appear out of nowhere (my cousins wife who as sitting in the car (it was dark and cold, and I was wearing SHORTS and a jacket)) had called them and told them about what happened.


I had followed the fat Finish man to the nearby bar where he wanted to borrow a pen and paper to write my details (it was also now that this random druggie - or was he just drunk? anyway; this random geezer comes out and shakes (grabs) my hand; because I'm a Sikh! I was very flattered (not really! He was smoking with his other hand!!). Anyway the reason why she called to get them to come was because I had followed the Finish geezer to the bar, and she thought I might get beaten up by him there (WHAT?!? Do I LOOK that weak?).



So we decide – that those b***** can take it on the insurance; but since we would still have to pay an excess fee to the insurance, and my mum’s insurance fee would get more expensive (see I’m not actually allowed to drive the car due to certain age restrictions put by the insurance company; so officially I wasn't involved anymore) – so we decide to find a solution. We offer the owner to fix the car the next day (we’d go to the cheapest mechanic in the area – we are Indians after all). But he was too smart for us. He was Finish.


No, he wants it on the insurance or some money NOW. In the end we agree to give him 1500kr (approx 300 USD) – and get him to sign that we’ve solved the problem; and that we’ve paid him that sum of money – just to make sure the geezer doesn’t report it anyway.


There was today’s study-time lost in the cold alley arguing with a Fat Finish guy. And now another hour on blogging about the event that just occured.





Oh yes! by the way - I'm fine - I'm not injured in any way - I'm totally Ok (For those people who were getting concerned about my physical wellbeing. )


Sunday, September 30, 2007

White men CAN dance!!!

Ok, I was at this Sukshinder Shinda concert a few months ago; and was amazed to see that there were more non-indians than Indians there enjoying and dancing to the music!

Although I must say, their (attempts to make som) Bhangra-moves; did require some improvements - they did quite a good job heating the dance hall (with their random movements!) haha.

It was that day (night) that I was convinced. White people will never manage to dance Bhangra properly. [No I am not being serious- for those who have a hard time comprehending irony, I am NOT a racist peace of shit!]

I just had to post this video that I saw on Dilpreets blog; which proved me wrong!
This Bhangra group - Izzhat Punjab di (The Pride of Punjab) - make some amazing moves!.

Link


Sunday, September 23, 2007

....bunch of red indians yelling


Today I was at the Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship, Sikh temple) and a few interesting things happened.


Well the most interesting thing was that; Snatam Kaur came and sung a bit!



Snatam Kaur is a very talented young artist/vocalist (nominated to the grammy awards) who sings devotional songs in a very light, inspiring and soothing way. She sung really nice today, and me being me, I recorded it!


I must say that the sound quality was awful; too loud – I was too optimistic when setting the volume on my mp3 player, so the recording comes with a few distortions if you listen very closely and carefully with a high volume; so try to keep it low. Also, the first 3 minutes is basically full of disturbances since they were still sorting out the microphones and stuff (no I haven't bothered editing and cutting the track since that takes ages)



Today’s recording.


Recording from last year. (this recording is much better)


Another thing that happened was that, since I brought my mp3 player I started messing around with it, and recorded something that a friend of mine thinks sounds like "a bunch of angry red Indians yelling."


Link (Caution; only listen if you are healthy, don’t have any heart disorders or are pregnant)


This is post as light humour only; and I have no intention on offending anyone.


Hope you enjoy the tracks.



Friday, September 14, 2007

Wish with care

Although there's a lot of stuff I need to blog about, among other things the two camps I've been to lately and a lot of other stuff, I decided to post about something that's very recent. A bike ride with my cousin where we discussed the issue of 'wishing stuff', and how we easily get carried away wishing stuff and, once we get what we wish we really regret it.


Sometimes what we wish comes as a really big challenge and struggle.


A bit background info; I’ve studying Medical Technological engineering (basically maintaining and developing machines in hospitals). My education started last semester (Jan 2007). The first semester we studied medical courses (in order to make a pulse meter; you need to know what a pulse is! In order to make a pacemaker you need to know how/why/when the heart depolarises etc). I found that a lot of fun. I found it really interesting; thought – I might as well study biomed. So I apply for biomed and a few other extra courses I had applied for ….which are realllllly hard to get in…. The fact that I applied late doesn’t help


I was anxious all summer waiting for the response; did I get into everything I wanted to get in to? (this was one of the small things that didn’t allow me to enjoy Sikh student camp to its fullest).


Ok so a lot of prayers and anxiety later I find out that I got into the program I wanted to!!! Wooohooo!


But what about my other seat, in the engineering? Should I just dump that? How can I dump something I haven’t even done!!?


So although I had gotten what I wished, and prayed for; I was now in a big dilemma – what do study and do for the rest of my life!!!


I since not all of them started at the same time, I decided I’ll start all of them (don’t worry; education in Sweden is totally free [which might be the reason why I’m so spoiled] – so I wasn’t spending all my summer savings paying 4 different university fees.)


Studying 3 different fulltime courses, and one part time course just doesn’t work. Believe me; I’ve tried it. (I’m struggling with 2 fulltime ones – it’s working!!!). On a more serious note; I managed to make up my mind; I decided to carry on studying Medical Technology; and worse comes to worse I'll have to change later on if I find it really boring - but I can't just leave something I haven't even tried! I don't regret it - and am really happy that I've got my priorities straight now. And who says it needs to be so dramatic - something I want to do for THE REST OF MY LIFE. Come on! Nothing says I can't change field later on; after I get my basic degree - I think it's a very tabu thing within Indian culture - to change your mind later on. But one thing is for sure; life was living hell when I still hadn't made up my mind !


Point being; wish with care – cause its very likely that you might get what you want; but in the end you might regret asking it to begin with.


Kind of reminds with the quote;



ਵਿਣੁ ਤੁਧੁ ਹੋਰੁ ਜਿ ਮੰਗਣਾ ਸਿਰਿ ਦੁਖਾ ਕੈ ਦੁਖ

ਦੇਹਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਸੰਤੋਖੀਆ ਉਤਰੈ ਮਨ ਕੀ ਭੁਖ


To ask for any other than You, Lord, is the most miserable of miseries.
Please bless me with Your Name, and make me content; may the hunger of my mind be satisfied.


Page: 958

Thursday, August 30, 2007

I’VE GOT WHAT ALL GIRLS WANT

Ok, just thought I’d have a catchy title. But the topic of the post is slightly related.


I’ve been working quite a lot this summer, and I’m going to narrate an event that happened during the lunch break a few weeks ago. There were three of us (me and two female blond colleagues [not that their hair color has anything to do with it]) around the table, and having our lunch. One of my female colleagues mentioned considering from home; but being very confused about it.


The trend here is to move out from home as quickly as possible. This colleague currently lives with her parents, and is considering whether to move to a separate apartment or whether to move in with her boyfriend. (this post is NOT gossip haha)


She was listing the positives and negatives she saw in moving to a separate apartment, and to her boyfriend. To cut a long story short, she wanted her boyfriend to live a lone for a few months before she moved in. She wanted to do this because; she wanted him to ‘learn’ most of the household duties that are typically done by females. Basically she didn’t want to move in with him, because she was fearing she’d become his ‘mother’ (i.e. the person who washes the dishes, does laundry, cooks the food); she wanted him to learn it all, and then when she moved in, they’d share responsibilities, and she wouldn’t have to do everything else.


The other female colleague concurred, that before a female moves in with a man, the man should have lived by himself for a while, so that he’s learnt doing all the chores. She mentioned how her boyfriend would come home (when she was away), and order a pizza instead of cooking food for the daughter, and the house would look like a mess. She complained how she would have to clean up the place, and that she kind of ‘had’ to clean up before settling down (some kind of internal thing she has that doesn’t allow her to rest before the house is clean.) Her explanation was that her boyfriend had been spoiled by his mother who did everything for him.


Then suddenly, all eyes were on me. Now it was my turn to comment on how lazy men who live with their mothers were. Although I could picture myself in some of the cases (such as not being able to cook proper food – by proper I mean Indian :P… I can cook pasta, and make some kind of sauce and do simple stuff… but nothing fancy); there were other things that I couldn’t relate to at all. For example, I do help with chores such as dishes and laundry, but I’ve definitely become more cautious about being lazy now, and I did note that, although I was tired I did wash the dishes that evening =D.


The fact that my parents are divorced has helped me in this way, that I’ve always had to take more responsibility than; if they weren’t; so whereas I personally can’t relate to this completely (but I can in some way), I do think that a lot of people can.


I think this especially is the case with Indian men; who more often than not, live with their parents for quite a long time. Parents spoil their kids by not making them learn chores, and not making them learn cook food and stuff. This is mostly apparent in the cases of immigrant (i.e. my father); who had to learn everything from scratch when they were mommy-less outside India.


Basically point being; I do understand where the female colleagues were coming from, and think that men should start thinking about these things.





Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Updates updates

I’ve been a very bad “blogger” lately. Haven’t managed to update my blog for ages.


There’s simply too much stuff going on in my life.


We’ve bought a new house so we’re getting some modifications done; which means there’s a builder working, which means we need to supply stuff and to check everything is going okay. At the same time I’m having work related issues. I’m reading several courses and programs parallel. And loads of other stuff going on.


Too bad summers over!


Okay enough complaining and ranting.


But on a serious note, I do think all of this stuff happening, and everything “co-incidizing” with everything else (all of these coincidences) are very well planned by God. Although I do not claim to understand Gods will or his command; but it seems like he’s reserved everything for august-September. The reason MIGHT just be for me to not think about certain personal things that have happened me lately; and for me not to get stuck in certain things. He might want me to get on… Get over stuff…


Ok that’s me being very vague.


I’ll make a more elaborative post within a few days =)

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Sikh Student Camp


Recently we (a group of young Sikh Students, age 17-23) went to England for a camp; Sikh Student Camp. The camp is meant to serve as a place where young Sikhs can meet, interact, learn about their faith, and at the same time have loads of fun and laughs; and make new friends and circles!

Most of the people where really nice; and were there eith the intention to really learn more about their faith, tradition, heritage and were really down to earth people. There were all types of people; students, graduates, working people, and sevadars (volunteers who were there just to help stuff going)

The mornings begun with morning prayers (Japji Sahib) [if you woke up late like me; if you woke up earlier - which was voluntary; there was Kirtan (hymn singing) of Asa ki vaar, and Simran (meditation) for you!] followed by yoga and breakfast. After breakfast we had some sort speech or talk about a certain aspect of our religion/heritage/culture, which was followed by us going into groups for discussions. After that we had different workshop and classes. This is where the fun bit came in. We got to choose what we wanted to learn for five days! You could choose; Yoga, Self defence, Punjabi , Kirtan, Traditional Kirtan (hymn singing) with string instruments, Tabla (drums), and Introduction to Sikhi. That was loads of fun. Subsequently, there was the daily activities! That was quite fun, but sometimes a bit too tiring. The activities were so special that I'd have to make one blog post for every activity; so I'm not even going to attempt to. After that there was evening prayers and Kirtan, food followed by the real evening 'divan' (evening hymn singing time!)

That time was probably the best time during the day. The kirtan was unbelievably good and the singing would pierce your heart. OK I don't have any words for the Kirtan, so I'm simply going to put this
LINK up for you to listen to it yourself. Any words put to describe the singing will be doing unjustice to it.

All in all, I think it was a good camp; there were some negative times where I'd pay double my ticket to come back home early, but once the last day came, and I was in the buss about to leave there was this sudden feeling of separation from the rest...and it was all sad, although I was kind of tired of everything (because I did go through quite a lot during the camp...some personal issues).

The thing I loved the most was the concept of; "Unity through diversity" - there were all sorts of people with all sorts of beliefs, but everyone was respected.

I'd definetly recommend anyone interested in the field to go to it as it is a must go :)


Thursday, July 26, 2007

Sikh Youth Camp

Here's the trailer to the Youth Camp, we've been organizing and have worked really hard with!

Hope you enjoy it; and attend the camp if you can!







p.s I didn't make the video

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Politics

I usually don’t tend to post political stuff.


But today this post is going to be very offensive to any of you capitalists who are reading this.


So we had elections last year in Sweden (typically known as a socialist; welfare society). The “moderate-capitalist” party won (first time in twelve years woohoo!). They’ve managed to screw up entire Sweden in one year! And they’ve got three years left!


See in Sweden we’ve got a very different system to the rest of the world; we pay a HUGE amount of taxes (approximately a third of the income; all goods we purchase come with a VAT (tax) of 25% etc etc), but in return we get loads of facilities; such as (pretty much) FREE health care; FREE SCHOOLING/education (primary school up till university; all free!), kids up to a-levels get FREE LUNCH at schools; free dental care for those under 18; no matter how big the surgeries etc are; subvention on stuff like union fees; etc etc the list goes on.


The state owns a lot of the companies which also contribute to keeping this welfare state stable.


Those who earn the least money; the weakest/poor/sick people are those who benefit from this most. Middle class are pretty much unaffected, and the high-class suffer from this, since they have to pay a lot more taxes.


What the current government is doing is; they’re decreasing the taxes slightly, making the income becoming slightly higher (mostly benefiting rich businessmen); and stripping people off of these facilities. What group of people suffers from this the most? The sick and the poor. For middle class its still okay since they get more money, and would thus afford paying school fees etc. For the poor/sick this is catastrophic. Totally bananas.


What’s ironic is that the types of taxes that have been removed or decreased are those that benefit 10% of the population the most (the rich); and working-union fees have been stopped being subvention; which means higher costs for working people/labourers.¨ I think the news reported that 90% of the tax decrease goes to the rich businessmen, since before we used to have a fortune/capital tax, where you pay 1.5 % tax on the money above 1.5 million kr in your account. That means that a HUGE amount of revenue to the state has been lost...which means they'll put in less money into stuff like, schooling, healthcare etc!


P.s they've already increased the costs of traveling on public transports!!! Who does this effect the most? not rich people who constantly drive back and fourth!!!... (crap! I got carried away writing this postand have to drive to work now instead of taking the buss..since I'm late to work now...)

Vote left-wing in the next election!!!

(I’m actually surprised I managed to write such along post on this issue…)



Saturday, July 07, 2007

The Jakara Movement

I watched a few videos on Youtube about the Jakara movement. I think they raise a lot of vital issues that need to be tackled within the Sikh community. Among other things, it raises; domestic violence, female foeticide and dodgy disagreements in the community.

I definitely hope that those who could’ve attended it, have attended it, because it seems like a really good event.

Also I do admire their video-making skills ; because it’s definitely not an easy job to make a video like that.

Enjoy:





Monday, July 02, 2007

Results!

I’ve been quite busy lately; although I thought I’d have more spare time during the summer due to no time going to studies any more, and although I’d be working more; that’d be okay, since there wouldn’t be any reading or revision to be done after work; but I was wrong.

Most of my time goes to actually working since some days, I begin 10 a.m and end 8 pm! The entire day is ruined!!!

Enough rambling about that!

I got results for my latest exams! I passed wooo!!!




Although this year hasn’t been the most efficient (or as Indians say; I’ve wasted one year), I think I’ve learnt a lot about myself; and about my own passions! I LOVE music, Indian classical instruments and anything related to the topic!

I’ve learnt that I don’t like technology as much as I like biology, and physiology, so I’m going to start studying biomed after the summer (this first semester I was reading physiology as a part of the, engineering in medical technology; which included some physiology courses; but is mostly about machines and stuff like that).

Anyway, my conclusion is this; although life is short and we should learn to use it as efficiently as possible; there's no hurry (realistically)... There is still time to get into the boring adult-life; and I don't need to try to hurry up the process; because I've realised that I LOVE studying [as much as I'd be surprised saying this], and am not looking forward to the working life; unless I get a dream job, straight after university!

Enough for now!

My next post will, most likely, be able some things I saw on youtube =)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Recognize the Lord's Light within all

An interesting quote I stumbled upon while reading Gurbani (hymns);


ਜਾਣਹੁ ਜੋਤਿ ਨ ਪੂਛਹੁ ਜਾਤੀ ਆਗੈ ਜਾਤਿ ਨ ਹੇ 1ਰਹਾਉ
jaanahu joth n pooshhahu jaathee aagai jaath n hae ||1|| rehaao ||
Recognize the Lord's Light within all, and do not consider social class or status; there are no classes or castes in the world hereafter. ||1||Pause||

(p 349)

Wouldn't the world be such a great place if we considered and acknowledged that the Light of God resides in everyone. If we managed to realise just that; wouldn’t we treat other people totally differently?

Although it’s quite easy to post this quote and hope everyone would treat each other much better from now on; but complex as we are; it doesn’t work that way. I myself think it can be really hard to consider that God exists within some people who really piss me off… or just generally are... stupid…

I must say I’ve got a problem swallowing the quote myself; or, to rephrase myself, follow it fully, and don’t think that I’ll ever manage to do it fully; but think that as long as I manage to keep it in mind, I might be able to control myself next time I’m getting pissed of at somebody for some reason… acknowledging that maybe it’ll just be better to stay calm?

Disclaimer;
I'm not the kind of person who easily gets pissed of (or am I
?; comment, and let me know what you think....); but there are times, when people really manage to tick me off..but usually I'm okay

Saturday, June 09, 2007

The Begger Boy


by Sat Mandir Singh Khalsa (Virginia), Grade 12 Miri Piri Academy, Amritsar, India, December 10, 2006

"A few weeks ago, during a so-far uneventful G.T. (Golden Temple) trip, I was walking along, minding my own business, when I suddenly felt a tug on the side of my chola. I looked down and saw a scrappy-looking beggar boy about seven or eight years old staring up at me, hand outstretched. He looked pitiful. He had long, greasy hair that was draped sloppily over his face and almost concealed his big, round eyes, which portrayed an emotion of deep sorrow. A tattered hemp shirt that was much too small for him was pulled as far as it would go over a cavity of a stomach, which indented his skeletal frame. Covering his twig-like legs was a pair of old, hand-me-down trousers that were torn and faded from generations of use. His feet were shoeless and calloused from many years of walking barefoot through the rough streets of Amritsar. From head to toe, he was covered in a thick coat of dirt and grime that darkened and splotched his skin.

He was repulsive, and he’d touched me! I felt contaminated. I quickly turned and hurried back up the street. Pausing at a nearby shop, I bought an ice cream, thinking it might help purge my mind of the dirty little boy. It didn’t. I kept thinking about those big, sad eyes staring up at me. Why did he make me feel so guilty? I wasn’t responsible for putting him on the street, for forcing him to beg. I hadn’t hurt him… but I hadn’t helped him either. He was in need, but instead of feeling sympathy for him, I felt disgust, as if he didn’t have feelings, as if he weren’t human. I was angry with myself. How could I have brushed him off so easily, without a second thought, as if he were some insect crawling up my leg?

I finished the ice cream bar, bought a second for later, and continued on up the street. About a hundred feet away, I came to a second shop. The storefront was packed with MPA students, all matching in their blue cholas with miniature adi shaktis patched onto the sides. Each one had a five or a ten or a twenty rupee note in his or her hand and was jabbing it at the men behind the counter, hoping to catch their attention so that THEY would be first to be served. I realized how awfully rude this was and made a mental note to myself to be a little more respectful in the future.

I turned away from the shop and continued on my journey up the street. I heard someone call out my name. Still walking, I looked back over my shoulder to see what he wanted. I never found out. Just after I had turned around, my legs hit into something and I had to stumble forward to prevent myself from falling. Startled, I looked down and standing there before me was the little beggar boy, in exactly the same position with his arm outstretched, palm cupped, staring.

My first thoughts were similar to the ones I had had during our previous encounter, but I soon silenced my mind and took control. Remembering the ice cream bar in my pocket, I took it out and handed it to him. His eyes instantly illuminated, and he smiled so widely that I could see tops of his gums. In the blink of an eye he had the ice cream out of its wrapper and into his mouth.

A few seconds later, I was surrounded by an entire posse of children, all looking at me hopefully. I turned back to the shop, ordered ten more ice creams, and began handing them out. The rest of the children’s reactions were similar to that of the first. One by one they took their treat gratefully, being extremely careful not to drop it. Then they slowly licked away, savoring every moment. When they finished they skipped away, rejuvenated and content. As I watched them go, I realized how such a small sacrifice on my part could make such a large impact on others less fortunate."

Copied from MrSikhnets blog.


Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Prayers

23 years ago, heaven turned into a battlefield….

Deep condolences, and prayers to all those who have been affected by the events.


Operation Bluestar.




Picture courtesy: mrsikhnet.com

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Weirdo!






Pretty funny, but true. It's actually quite common that I stand there and think that some geezer iss wooo weird; but totally forget that some other geezer might see me as totallllly weird as well. Something I definitely can relate to.

Made me smile; so thought I'd post it




Sunday, May 27, 2007

Mummmmmmmyyy

In Sweden; it's mothersday today!

All I'm going to say is; just acknowledge everything you're mother has done for you so far. Even if you're pissed at her for some reason; think about how many things she’s done for you; how many sacrifices she made for you.

Here's a small vid I made a few months ago. I thought I had posted it on my blog before, but apparently I hadn't, so here you go!





Everytime I watch it, it kind of gives me the goosebumps (especially the end)



Friday, May 25, 2007

Gurmeet Ram

Although I had intentionally avoided writing about the controversy in Punjab, I finally decided to make a post about it. For those of you who haven't heard about what's been going on:

Basically there's been a conflict in Punjab due to the fact that the leader of a dera/sect called Sacha Sauda "appeared in advertisement dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh, the revered 17th century Sikh guru. "

Akal Thakhat has issued edict against the leader, and is currently, (practically) forcing him to apologize. They organized a Punjab Bandh-day, which basically means that all shops, offices, schools and everything are closed, in protest to what
happened.

An ultimatum has been issued saying that if he doesn't apologize for this "blasphemous act" by ay 27, they demand the closure of his deras in Punjab.

More background info about the issue


Basically, I think that what he's done isn't very nice, and one can almost guess that his intentions weren't to be very nice either. Although I can understand that a lot of Sikhs are upset about it, I think that this might be taking it too long.

I agree with the fact that peaceful protests have been made to get people's attention that Sikhs are very upset about the issue, and that what he's done was very offensive. To quote from tribuneindia.com from May 24; "Makkar was reported to have told mediapersons that he did not believe in what the law and Constitution says. He had stated that deras of Sacha Sauda would have to be vacated.” Something gives me the feeling that, the approach that will be used to impose this ultimatum isn't going to be very peaceful, especially considering the fact they are openly saying they don't give two hoots about the law. The fact that some "hard-liners" have announced that they will reward the person who manages to 'bring the dera leader's head' will be weighed in gold, does not help.

I think the approach Sikhs used to use before was really good. In 1920's against the British for having taken over the Gurdwaras and imposing their rules and regulations, Sikhs peacefully protested, and were at times SHOT for doing so [Hence: Gurdwara di seva ley kurbaniya kitiya; Those who sacrificed their lives in order to be able to serve and take care of the religious shrines- in the daily ardaas. (
read more about that here).] Another event that comes to mind is the massacre of 1978 in Amritsar, where the Sikhs peacefully, (without weapons) protested against the Nirankari baba for the "blasphemous" words he used to address Guru Granth Sahib Ji. They were shot the whole bunch for protesting (read more here). Today Sikhs are getter more into using violence. It become the easy-way-out to show that we are upset. Whereas before Sikhs would take a lot of sh*t before using violence; Sikhs now quickly jump to the resort of using violence. Sikhs are loosing this tolerance, and ‘taking-the-sh*t-first-resort’, which kind of worries me,

I think the article by I.J Singh and Ravinder Singh raise a lot of very important issues regarding this event. I strongly recommend that you read it, especially if you have been following the recent events in Punjab.
Click here to read it.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

I want summerrrrr!

I'm sooo looking foward to summer!
Right now, I've got exams, part-time job, exercise, vocals, internet time wasting etc etc!

I've hardly got any time anymore.


That's why I'm looking forward to the sumeer! No studies, and then I can do everything else, sleep good 8 hours, and have some fun!

Best of all (something I'm really looking forward to) is; Sikh Student Camp!




Can't miss that out!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Powerfull


bilaaval mehalaa 5 ||

moo laalan sio preeth banee || rehaao ||
thoree n thoottai shhoree n shhoottai aisee maadhho khi(n)ch thanee ||1||
dhinas rain man maahi basath hai thoo kar kirapaa prabh apanee ||2||
bal bal jaao siaam su(n)dhar ko akathh kathhaa jaa kee baath sunee ||3||
jan naanak dhaasan dhaas keheeath hai mohi karahu kirapaa t(h)aakur apunee ||4||28||114||


Bilaaval, Fifth Mehla:
I have fallen in love with my Beloved Lord. ||Pause||
Cutting it, it does not break, and releasing it, it does not let go. Such is the string the Lord has tied me with. ||1||
Day and night, He dwells within my mind; please bless me with Your Mercy, O my God. ||2||
I am a sacrifice, a sacrifice to my beauteous Lord; I have heard his Unspoken Speech and Story. ||3||
Servant Nanak is said to be the slave of His slaves; O my Lord and Master, please bless me with Your Mercy. ||4||28||114||

Read Shabad
Listen to Shabad

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Wierdness

The other day, I was surprised that the buss I usually take, didn't follow its normal route; it took an entirely different direction.

I yelp out of shock, and find out that the other way has been blocked by police. I wonder what's wrong, but don't get too fussed about it.

The buss leaves me quite a bit from home, so I have to walk home; but the tiredness overweighed curiosity.

Later on I found out that they found a body, a few hundred meters from home, in a forest, nearby the bus stop I pass daily. This was the place I usually passed when going on my walks.

Off course, there's an entirely different feeling passing that place now. I still pass the place a few times a week, but now you make sure you look at the forest extra carefully, just in case.

The other day I noticed how I was holding my kirpan quite tightly when passing the place, during a night-time walk. I had goose bumps.

Sounds very spooky, and it is quite a spooky place. But like everything else, life will go on (what a bad ending to a post you're probably thinking..), the fear will disappear, and soon, everything will back to normal.

The police still hasn’t revealed (or actually identified) the identity of the murdered.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

The Tabla Guy



Big up to this geezer. He's my new role model haha.
No; but seriously; he did a really good job, combining several genres; including western music, to indian classical teen taal and what not!
Great stuff!
Check out his website; he's got some interesting stuff there as well;
The Table Guy

Friday, May 04, 2007

License!

The other day (exactly one week ago) I did my driving test; and I passed it!

Was a great feeling; now being able to drive without anyone sitting beside all the time! Not that I'm going to be able to drive much, but had guests that day, so the first trip I made without a teacher was to the Gurdwara, to drop the guests (",)

After the test, mum (who was waiting in the car), went to work, and I was meant to go home (with public transport!). Since the test place is near a shopping center, I decide to check out clothes. I usually don't spend much time shopping clothes. That day I speant a few hours, and quite a lot of money on buying shorts and shirts (Summer seasons here)!

I think I deserved it. I did however realise one thing; Shopping on your own can be very fun. As long as you've got time to check out stuff, and don't have anyone (an annoying relative, or parent) nagging on you to hurry up, to just BUY THE CLOTHES OR NOT TO BUY THEM. So that was actually a lot of fun! Mum wasn't too happy to see my bank balance after the shopping, but that's another story alltogether!

I'm satisfied. One thing that I do remember from a previous post about contentment is about license being one of the things I still don't have. Now thats removed from the list. Now it's just; a Digri (Degree, in hardcore Punjabi), a job (academic, to come after the digri), a car, and a voti.
Thats it! Amazing!

I went to the post office to pick up the license, which came by mail today; I look pretty good in it (okayish haha
)

p.s Mum still doesn't know I, kind of, bumped the car into the garange door while taking the car out of the garage
. Nothing serious, hardly visible (if your eyes aren't too good. )


Deynda deh lehnde thuk pay...

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Dost

Dost dost nahi, Khuda hota hai.

Mehsus tab hota hai, Jab voh juda hota hai.

Bina dost ke jina, Ik saza hota hai.

Aur dost aap jaisa ho, To jine ka maza hi aur hota hai.

Copied from Himmat Singh's blog