Green Sikhs?

This latest Sikhtoon and another article in Sikhchic, brought to my attention by Jasleen Kaur, has gotten me thinking. How to be greener. Being, at the moment, physically handicapped - not disabled, I'm still pretty abled - this presents a challenge.

As much as I hate to admit it, some things I cannot do right now. Hanging clothes on the outside line is simply impossible. (Not to mention, I live near Seattle and it's usually pretty wet out.) I have cut back on the time I use the clothes dryer, though. If that article isn't quite dry, it gets hanged up or spread on the bed to dry. I also have moved from warm water wash to cold for most things. I do admit to washing bedsheets in hot water - please forgive me - because of a totally obsessive-compulsive thing about bed mites.





I have taken to using reusable cloth bags for grocery shopping. But I did that years ago anyway. I am knitting a bag now to have something a bit more expandable. If any of my volumnous readers are knitters, please go here to read about 1Bag. Such a great idea. Someone join me? OK, I know - or at least suspect, most of the readers of this blog are young Sikh men who are probably not that interested in knitting. There are a few women, however, - at least one of them knitters - who read this, and they might be willing to do this.

1Bag

I found a nice pattern for crocheting a bag that I'll try when the left hand in working better. I can knit now pretty well, but crochet is difficult.



I have taken to planning shopping trips carefully, so many little trips become just one. Unfortunately, there is not even a convenience store where I live that I can walk to and bus service is limited to a little bus that comes once an hour during weekdays only, and I have tried that a few times. Hard to get off and on, but I can do it. (Yes, the bus does have a lift; I feel unsteady on those things, though, and I'm sure they use extra energy, so Mai struggles off and on.) I use a backpack for carrying purchases, as I need to use a cane for walking these days. It's hard to get off and on , but I can usually find some kind soul willing to do a random act of kindness. The real problem there is that some stores just don't allow backpacks because of shoplifting problems. Most will hold them while I shop, but a couple refuse. Liability, I suppose. OK, they don't need my business and I don't need their goods. An even exchange. My valuables, of course, are in my fanny pack, in lieu of a purse


Cooking I am unsure of. Does the rice cooker use less energy (electricity) than the stove (natural gas)? I don't obsess, but I'd like to know. I know doing processing by hand would save energy, but I admit to using the food processor quite a bit. I have, however, gotten a hand spice grinder to use instead of the electric coffee grinder I had been using. I think the hand ground spices taste better, too. We eat a lot of tortillas, both corn (maize) and flour. I have invested in a tortilla press, a pretty little thing, quite decorative actually, and am now making our own tortillas. Fresher than from the store and I know my hand work saves energy over those huge machines in the factories. In the summer, I make my own curd (yogurt). It doesn't seem to grow well, though, in the cool of other seasons.





My favourite green thing is my green thing. My little organic garden. This year, unfortunately, it's something of a bust. During the early spring planting season, the temperatures were below freezing; then when the weather warmed, my husband's back gave out and he couldn't cultivate for me. (Try cultivating with half your body not working. I did. It doesn't work. I kept falling down and quit before doing real damage to myself.) We do have a small crop of pumpkins growing, plus some collards, voluntaries from last year's crop gone to seed. I have also gotten a promise that next weekend we will plant some cucumber seeds. My experience is that those will grow very easily, in fact will take over the whole garden if you let them. For next year's crop, all of this should provide a good basis for a real garden again. I forgot to mention my curry plants. They have gone wild, seemingly happy and free. And delicious, too.
I also do the obvious little things. Turn off anything that isn't being used, lights, TV, computer, etc. I am considering turning off all the power strips at night to cut down on the use of stand-by energy. I'm not quite ready for that, though, because many of our electronic gadgets have to be reset after a power outage and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that every morning yet.



I remember back when there was a severe water shortage and I learned to take three minute showers, five when hair washing. I haven't quite gone back to that since I never really felt clean, and since the stroke, everything takes more time. I have, however, stopped dawdling in the shower, the first thing here that is a real sacrifice for me.




I have also heard that the methane produced by the cows of India are a major source of global warming. I'm not sure I believe that, but in any case, that is out of my hands. Totally.










Am I crazy enough to believe these silly little things are really going to save the world, stop global warming, make a real difference, all that stuff? Sure! Why not? "Great oaks from little acorns grow." "The journey of a thousand

miles begins with a single step."






Now, next problem...How are we going to save our beloved Punjab, both in India and Pakistan (Occupied Khalistan), from desertification? "The difficult we do at once. The impossible takes a little longer." That said, the sooner we get moving, the sooner we'll see results.
BTW, in Sikhtoons, you can find many cartoons about the Third Sikh Holocaust (Teeja Ghalughara).by going here: http://www.sikhtoons.com/ThirdSikhHolocaust.html

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN?
YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

Adventures In Colonoscopy

As my friends know, I had a colonoscopy on Tuesday. No, wait, please don't tune out! I'm not going to do a Katie Couric on you.

No full descriptions, no grossing out. Promise. I couldn't if I wanted to because I was fully sedated, quite unconscious of the whole procedure. I want to talk about what happened before.

I was all (un)dressed and (re)dressed for this when the nurse, a sweet, young thing wanted to take my blood pressure. Instead of using the big pressure cuff I'm used to, she used a small wrist device. Because the stroke had affected my left side, she needed to use my right wrist. And on my right wrist, of course, my kara. I half-expected her to ask me to remove it, but I was totally surprised when she said, 'Oh, are you a Sikh?'

Of course, I answered , 'Yes.'

She must have heard the question in my voice because she went on, 'I like you Sikhs. You guys never make a big fuss and usually smile.'

She then helped tie my kechera firmly but not tightly around one leg. Then my kirpan. 'You'll need to arrange that thing you don't call a knife -'

'Kirpan.-'

'Yeah, keerpaan. 'Cause you'll be lying on your left side.'

So that was done.

She also made sure my kangha was firmly in place.

Then she stuck the IV needle in my arm.

...

The next thing I was aware of, it was all done. She helped a very groggy Mai get dressed, all the kakkars properly arranged, none having left my body, and returned me to my waiting husband.

BTW, the test came out clean. No polyps, no cancer, see you in another 10 years.

So why this story here?

I know this post is a little more light-hearted than most posts here, and maybe better belongs in sometimes - 2, my personal blog. But hardly anyone reads that blog and I like this story and want it to be read. (On the other hand, a couple of my sometimes - 2 readers wouldn't think of reading a blog with Khalistan in the title. Oh, well, their loss.)

I read - and write - so much about Sikhs being mishandled, disrespected, and just totally mistreated, I thought this story of a sweet, young gori nurse might brighten someone's day. An occasional day brightener is good for the soul.

And if anyone is hesitating to get this procedure, it really is painless. A little gross and unpleasant the night before, but nothing major. And it might save your life.

Pictures:

Top - Colonoscope. I promised nothing gross, so just use your imagination.

Second from top - Katie Couric, newswoman. She's not really a tart. Her husband died of colon cancer and she's become a colonoscopy advocate.

Second from bottom - Wrist blood pressure monitor

Bottom - Five kakkars. I know we all know what the 5 Ks are, but I used this picture because the person on the left might be a woman. And her kesh isn't any longer than mine, which still hasn't grown out properly since being destroyed by that defibrillator a couple years ago.

GENOCIDERS NEED TO BE CAUGHT AND TRIED

RADOVAN KARADZIC - CAPTURED!!

Is the only way to get justice to take matters into our own hands?

VAHEGURU! I hope not. I pray not!

KHALISTAN ZINDABAD!

'Please don't send our dad home'

And the saga of Brother Laibar Singh Ji goes on. Imagine how hard it must be for his children to say that they can't care for their only living parent.

I have always been proud of being Canadian; one reason for this is that we are a country with a huge heart, knowing that people are more important than money. This whole affair, however, is making me rethink this.

From the Asian Pacific Post

'Please don't send our dad home'

Wed, July 23 2008

By Gurpreet Singh

On assignment in India

JALANDHAR, Punjab — As the sword of deportation continues to hang over the head of Laibar Singh, the paralyzed refugee claimant who has spent a year in the sanctuary of a Sikh temple in Abbotsford, British Columbia, his family in this part of the developing world is pleading that he not be sent back to India as he won't get proper medical treatment in his native village.

As the 60-kilometre, bone-rattling road from urban Jalandhar to Singh's village of Sohal Khalsa increasingly deteriorates, so too does the state of the district's infrastructure.

The 90-minute journey into the rural heartland of India's northern state of Punjab reveals a scattered landscape of rudimentary structures and dilapidated dwellings.

Just outside of the small, agrarian village, Singh's two children — son Kanwaljeet, 17, and 20-year-old daughter Pinky — live in a two-room house of mud-patched walls and plastic chairs.

With no land or cattle to their name, the youngsters' only source of income is Pinky's sewing business, which brings in a few meagre rupees each day. She takes in work piecemeal, stitching dresses day and night, between the electricity brown-outs that are so common in the region.

After their mother fell ill and died in 1994, life for the Singh family quickly spiralled into penury.

In 2003, after his eldest daughter, Sonia, was married off to a local farming family, Laibar Singh opted to leave his children behind with extended family and seek out employment in Canada.

According to his children, Singh paid a 'travel agent' heavily for his one-way ticket out of poverty. He entered Canada as a refugee claimant, first working in Montreal before shifting to Vancouver.

"He kept sending us money until he got paralyzed and became bed ridden," recalled Kanwaljeet, showing off a picture his dad sent home from Quebec before falling critically ill.

There is no hospital in or near Sohal Khalsa village. Kanwaljeet now goes to a nearby school that is run on charity. His elder sister Sonia, now 23, lives in a nearby village, but visits them by bus on occasion. The youngest sister, 16-year-old Amandeep, lives with an aunt, Laibar Singh's aging sister.

"We alone cannot take care of him," Sonia told the South Asian Post during a visit last week to Laibar Singh's ancestral home.

"He needs good nursing and constant medical check ups. Where the money would come from?"

Following an aneurysm, Singh became paralyzed in 2006 and was placed in a long-term care facility in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, Canada's refugee board rejected his claim and ordered him deported.

An Indo-Canadian nurse at the care facility informed the Punjabi media about the sorry state Singh was living in, seeking help in raising funds to get him a special wheelchair.

As soon as the story hit the media, the demand for granting Laibar Singh legal status to stay in Canada on compassionate grounds began to grow.

Vancouver-based human rights group, No One is Illegal, began lobbying for Singh with the aid of other South Asian organizations and influential individuals within the community.

Since the Canadian authorities were determined to deport him, Singh took sanctuary in an Abbotsford Sikh Temple with the help of friends amidst petitioning and protests — both for and against the immigrant who entered Canada without the proper documentation or authority.

The Canadian government finally decided to deport Singh last December 10 — ironically, the International Day of Human Rights — after reviewing his case.

However, over 1,000 people gathered at the Vancouver International Airport to stop Laibar Singh's deportation.

Singh was shipped by supporters to a different Sikh temple after the authorities decided not to wade into the pressing crowd at YVR. He ultimately returned to the same Sikh temple in Abbotsford where he was originally granted sanctuary after two other temples refused to take him in, even after keeping him for several days.

He remains there today.

The Canadian Border Agency has decided to respect the sanctity of the temple and won't enter it to arrest Singh. He is likely to be arrested once he steps outside the temple as the deportation orders against him are still valid.

"We won't be able to look after him well if he is sent back," Pinky said. "We don't have enough resources to provide him with long-term care. We don't have a car either to take him to the city (Jalandhar) in case of emergency."

The villagers of Sohal Khalsa also feel Singh is better off in Canada.

The village Sarpanch (headman), Laimber Singh, told the South Asian Post that they are not equipped to take care of a man in Singh's condition.

"We don't have such facilities even close to our village," he said. "In the city, he would need money to get good care at private hospitals as the government hospitals also lack special services."

Atamjit Bawa, a philanthropist who runs Pingla Ghar, a special home for the disabled in Jalandhar agrees: "We don't have a kind of social security net in India as one in Canada for the poor and people with disabilities."

Varinder Singh, a senior journalist with The Tribune who has been following the case, is also apprehensive about the quality of long-term care provided to the disabled in Jalandhar.

"Even the NGOs cannot guarantee good care, leave aside the ill-equipped government-run facilities," he said.

Dr. Gulzar Cheema, who is looking after Singh in Canada, earlier noted that Laibar Singh won't get adequate care in India.

"What would be the image of Canada before the whole world when a paralyzed refugee claimant is deported and arrives at the Delhi International Airport?," he commented.

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN?
YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

What Is A Dalit Sikh?

Disgusting, just flat out disgusting!

Any time I see the words 'Sikh' and 'caste' in the same sentence, I cringe. The very idea that after all these centuries, we still carry this evil baggage around with us is disheartening. But what can I do? I can explain to nonSikhs that caste is a Hindu belief, but, yes, some Sikhs don't follow the teachings of our Gurus. Sad. I can simply tell them I neither have nor want caste.

But I have thought long and hard about what can I say to other Sikhs. What can I do to help eradicate this evil from our midst? I have come to the conclusion that there is only one thing I can do. From now on, I am a Dalit Sikh. Take it or leave it. Now. Does anyone out there have the guts to follow my lead on this?

I was going to let this article pass, but my friend and nemesis, Darcey, of Dust My Broom has picked it up, so I guess it has to be addressed. Here is the offending article:

From Canwest News Service

Temple allowed to restrict members because of class

Catherine Rolfsen
Canwest News Service



Saturday, July 12, 2008


VANCOUVER -- The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a complaint by two members of the Indo-Canadian community who were denied membership in a Burnaby Sikh temple because of their social ranking in India's caste system.

Gurshinder Sahota and Sohan Shergill said they were discriminated against by the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Temple because they belong to a higher caste in the traditional system of social ranking than do temple members.

Caste is a complex and much-maligned hierarchy that has historically divided Indian society according to occupational categories.

The 900 members of the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Temple belong to the lowest group, Dalits, formerly referred to as "untouchables" and often considered outside the caste system altogether. Sahota and Shergill are from the jat caste, which is traditionally a land-owning class in the Punjab and now makes up much of Metro Vancouver's Sikh community.

The decision, released this week, was hailed as an affirmation of temple members' right to gather as a "minority within a minority," said spokesman Jai Birdi.

"Since the decision has come out, the members are feeling quite empowered by it," he said. "They're feeling that this really reinforces their ability to come together as a marginalized community from India to talk about their heritage and historical unresolved issues and come up with some strategies for moving forward."

He added that the complainants are welcome to attend the temple's religious ceremonies and social programs.

"Our vision is that one day the community's confidence will increase to the point that they are not feeling oppressed . . . and then there will no longer be a need to restrict membership," he said.

The Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Temple was formed in 1982 to meet the needs of Dalits who "felt that they weren't fully welcome in the existing temples," Birdi said. Members follow the teachings of a 15th-century guru who preached against the caste system.

Birdi said temple-goers were worried that if membership was opened to non-Dalits, it would defeat the purpose of the organization.

The tribunal dismissed the complaint for two reasons: First, it found it does not have jurisdiction over temple membership; and, second, citing a prior decision regarding the United Native Nations, it agreed that the temple should be allowed to restrict membership to a minority group in order to promote the group's welfare.

Sahota and Shergill argued that by denying them membership, the temple was promoting the "evil caste system," according to the tribunal ruling.

But Birdi said that after centuries of social segregation and extreme poverty there is a need for Dalits to unite. He compared the struggle to that of Canada's First Nations and African Americans, groups that have gained a sense of pride and identity through organization and advocacy.

Although caste is not taught in the Sikh religion, in reality it still affects many aspects of life for Sikhs in India and Canada, with even local matrimonial ads specifying caste preference, he said.

Vancouver Sun

crolfsen@png.canwest.com

© Canwest News Service 2008

A Little More About Brother Laibar Singh Ji

This article doesn't really say anything new - except maybe he shouldn't call the cops for help, lol. Would someone please inform me about the demonstration on Saturday! Was there a demonstration on Saturday? I want to report, but I can't unless I get some infoirmation!

Anyway, here's the article from 660 News (All New Radio):

Paralyzed Sikh man's supporters mark anniversary of his seeking temple sanctuary

July 13, 2008 - 11:47 am

By: Jeremy Hainsworth, THE CANADIAN PRESS

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - As paralyzed refugee claimant Laibar Singh marked one year in sanctuary Sunday, his supporters were concerned about visits by Canada Border Services agents to the Sikh temple where he has sought sanctuary.

Spokeswoman Harsha Walia said the unannounced visits are making the tradition of religious sanctuary meaningless.

"The fact that they're entering into sanctuary without notice and without consent is of concern," Walia said.

"Immigration authorities themselves have typically respected sanctuary because that's the intention of that tradition, but for them even to come for any purpose is a concern.

"It's just told to them that they really shouldn't be doing that," Walia said. "They haven't attempted a removal because they know he's in sanctuary but it is a little bit alarming."

Singh came to Canada on a false passport in 2003.

His appeals to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds have been complicated by the fact that he was left a quadriplegic after suffering an aneurysm three years ago.

His refugee claim was denied because the government believed he did not have sufficient ties to Canada, although supporters pledged money to pay the costs of his care.

Singh was initially to be deported in June 2007, but took sanctuary in the Sikh temple in Abbotsford, about 60 kilometres east of Vancouver.

He has been provided shelter in several Vancouver area Sikh temples but is currently at the Abbotsford gurdwara.

He has been granted two extensions to remain while his refugee claim was dealt with.

A deportation order was issued in December despite claims that his health would suffer if he was returned to India, where he has family.

He is being cared for by supporters and doctors who are donating their services.

Walia said in an interview that Singh's health remains precarious.

"His medical condition is always up and down," she said.

"He's really stressed out (and) has a high degree of anxiety particularly because he's in a place where he can't leave because of fear of being detained and or being deported."

Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who is responsible for the CBSA, suggested in January that the law would eventually be upheld in Singh's case.

And Border Services Agency spokesman Chris Williams said the same month that the fact a person is in a place of worship to avoid deportation will not stop the enforcement of a deportation order.

Day also rejected suggestions the agency might look weak due to its handling of the case. He noted when a crowd of Singh's supporters forced the cancellation of a January removal effort, agents had instead shown "sensitivity" to a situation possibly becoming inflammatory.

The minister noted the CBSA successfully removes 12,000 people a year.

Visits to Singh at the Abbotsford temple would not be the first time officials had allegedly violated the tradition of sanctuary in B.C.

An Iranian refugee claimant who spent almost three years in sanctuary in a Vancouver church was arrested in February 2007.

Amir Kazemian said he'd been tortured in Iran and had been living at St. Michael's Anglican Church in east Vancouver since June 2004 when he sought sanctuary from a deportation order.

The Canada Border Services Agency released Kazemian after Citizenship and Immigration officials granted permanent resident status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds not long after the arrest.

Kazemian had reportedly called police to the church himself to investigate complaints he had been receiving harassing telephone calls relating to a business deal.

The attending officer arrested Kazemian after a check of his name found an immigration arrest warrant from June 2004.

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal said the police officer was simply doing his job when he arrested Kazemian on an outstanding warrant

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN?
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