My Bad - Reconsidering - Another Link

UPDATE: Those following the story of this young girl will probably interested in going to this link.

Growing up in my Dad's family, one of his strictest rules was to look at an issue from at least two, and usually more, viewpoints before taking a stand. This was much practiced at our dinner table when we would be in a hot dispute about something, anything, and Dad would suddenly shout: 'Switch!' That was the signal to start arguing, with equal vigour, the opposing point of view. His theory was that you couldn't really understand anything, if you didn't understand the other side. And who knows, maybe the other guy will turn out to be right. Narrow mindedness is unSikh.

Another of his strict rules involved kindness. There might be times when kindness is uncalled-for - I think of us in Delhi, for example - but in general, you should be kind. Unnecessary unkindness just adds to the pain in the world and accomplishes nothing positive. And is unSikh.

My last post violated both principals. I saw something and reacted - immediately - purely on an emotional level. I felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach, that the dead bodies of my family lying at my feet were being treated as meaningless, in short, I took this whole thing very personally. (If Vini were here, she would never have permitted me to be so harsh.)

Let me be clear: I cannot condone changing one's religion for reasons of expediency, no matter what religion from or to. I think these parents are making a grave mistake. But I do not doubt that their daughter's welfare is their utmost concern. Clearly, she is loved and cherished, as all daughters should be, and her parents are acting from love.

Perhaps their local sangat could send someone who, like myself, survived the tragedy of 1984, who had family members murdered for being Sikh, to talk to them and show them the brilliant jewel that is Sikhi and help them see what it is they are throwing away. These parents need to be taught, not insulted and reviled.

So Mr. B Singh and Mrs. B. Kaur, I apologise for my harsh words. Now please, if you will listen to me, for your own sakes as well as your lovely daughter, reconsider.

To CK, whose comment made me rethink this: I believe that it is very Sikh to stand up and say 'I was wrong.' Thank you for pointing out my misbehaviour. I will be more careful and kind in the future. Mai

(Suni and Vini had nothing to do with that post)

UPDATE SEE BELOW Do We Cry Or Vomit?

Is this what our shaheeds, including my family, died for?

From The Daily Mail

20 August 2007

Sikh Girl Will Convert For A Place At Catholic School

By PAUL SIMS - More by this author » Last updated at 23:18pm on 19th August 2007

The parents of a Sikh girl want to convert her to Roman Catholicism to win a place at the school of their choice.

Baljit and Bal Singh say they will change their four-year-old daughter's religion if it means she can attend their favoured school next month.

Scroll down for more ...

Maya Kaur's Sikh parents are considering changing her religion in the hope she may be allowed into the Catholic school

Maya Kaur has been attending a nursery at St Paul's Roman Catholic School in Wolviston, Cleveland, for the past two years.

But her parents have been told there is no place available for her when she starts full-time education in a few weeks.

After losing an appeal, the couple say they are seriously considering changing her religion in the hope she may be allowed into the school, which gives priority to Catholic children.

Mr Singh said: "We think Sikhism is similar to Roman Catholicism so we put her in that school. She's been there for two years, she goes to church with them, she says a prayer before she eats her dinner.

"I'll baptise her as Roman Catholic so she can go to the school."

St Paul's admissions policy gives priority to children who have been baptised Roman Catholic, have been formally received into the Catholic church and live in the catchment area, or who have a sibling at the school. Priority then goes to other Christian denominations before children of other faiths.

The Singhs' extraordinary proposal is likely to be frowned upon within the Sikh religion, which takes some of its identity from ancestors who were persecuted and martyred for refusing to convert to other faiths.

Among the stories taught within the faith is that of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth of the founding gurus of Sikhism who was beheaded in 1675 by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for refusing to convert to Islam.

The Singhs insisted that they were doing nothing wrong in trying to get the best for their daughter.

"Two years ago when they took her into the nursery why didn't they say she wouldn't get a place straight away in the primary school?" said Mr Singh.

"I would have got her baptised then - or I'd have put her in another school."

Maya has been offered a place at William Cassidi School, a nearby Church of England school. But her parents claim she is upset and wants to remain with her friends.

Catherine Connelly, head at St Paul's, said the school had received 34 applications this year, compared to the norm of 24. The class size had also been expanded to the legal limit of 30.

"We are proud of our school's inclusive nature and we have children of several different faiths and ethnic groups," she said.

"We allocated the places according to our published admissions criteria which all parents had access to."

I don't know how to tag this: Disrespect, Ingratitude, Stupidity, Ignorance...?

Maybe the parents will come to their senses and quit being pushed around by a four-year-old girl, however pretty and charming. After all, this story is all over the Net today.

Or maybe the Church will refuse to sanction such a fraudulent conversion. Nah, I'm dreaming!

MAYA AND FAMILY: WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?

UPDATE SURPRISE:

From BBC News, the Catholic Church responds:

A diocesan spokesman said it welcomed adults who wanted to become followers of Christ's teachings, but that children were "another matter".
He said only parents who are themselves Catholic Christians could make such a commitment for their child.

The vice chairman of the UK Sikh Federation, Jagtar Singh, said children should be allowed to choose their own religion when they were old enough.
He said: "When a child is born, the parents try to bring up that child on the basis of what they think is best.
"So if they practice any particular faith they are likely to bring that child up in that faith, knowing the child will make their own decisions when they grow up.
"They may choose to not believe in that faith, move to another faith, and that will be the individual's choice."

Apology For An Oversight

This is not what I usually do, but this time I feel the need.




There is a website that I often visit and have bookmarked on my browser. I have found it both useful and interesting. Last night I tried to access it from this blog while on another computer and discovered, much to my dismay that I had never entered it in the list of links.



So my good young sisters and brothers in British Columbia, I am most sorry for this oversight. Look on the link list. You are now listed!

Sikh Youth of British Columbia, Canada.

Now, a question, what is going on in Canada, anyway? That CBC travesty, the children's pictures on the passports, the Kaur/Singh name thing and, mostly tragically, the ordered deportation of Laibar Singh Ji.

Is Kim Bolan running things up there now or what? Do I need to come back home and personally straighten out the country? Is that a task to give to a (supposedly) dying woman?

Note: If there are any other glaring omissions in my links, please either email me or leave a comment and I'll look into it. Thanks

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

Other Survivors' Stories

Few survivors have written their stories. That's understandable; it's a horrible, painful chapter and to write is to relive.


Here are a couple of links about some others survivors of Delhi '84. The first, by a young man with cerebral palsy is especially moving to me. Revisiting 1984 by Amrit in the Writing Cave
















Here are eighteen short eyewitness

accounts. These are brief, but contain a lot of information. Not for the squeamish.



This story is about a reporter who was a witness to Trilokpuri, a poor section of Delhi inhabited at the time by S ikhs, Muslims and Hindus, where some of the worst violence occurred.

This picture of the dog eating the roasted man is from Trilokpuri.




I am adding these gruesome links just as evidence that our stories, while more personally told than most, are not really unusual. I was going to put some more links, but I think this is enough to make my point and, frankly, I've had enough of this for now.

Read and weep.


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

Reprinted from sometimes - 2

Our Stories From 1984

I sat down this afternoon to start a project. I am organising the stories in my/our blogs in some sort of logical order. At first I thought strictly chronologically, but that didn't work since some posts span a lot of time. So I'm still working on that. Most of these are from Sometimes - 2, but a couple are from The Road To Khalistan . Also they were written and posted in a different order than they are presented here, so one or two references really seem out of place. I'm not editing them now, so please live with it. Also the last two posts are from 1985, but I have decided they belong in this post. I have also just now added another post #13, which expands on what was written before.

I am also adding a new link to the post: We Will Never Forget What Others Don't Even Know Happened . This includes a rather long article about what happened, from a Sikh newspaper. It's not really our personal stories, but it's well worth your time. If you're just looking for our stories, jump down to #1, below.



Suni and I have wracked our brains trying to decide the exact date we actually fought in Delhi - and we keep being unable to be sure. It must have been Nov. 3 or 4, but it might have been Nov. 2 or 5. It really was that confusing and traumatic to us.



I have, I think, gotten our stories from 1984 in order, so I'll start there.

1. The Last Time I Saw Amritsar - Early June, 1984




2. Suni's Story - Early November, 1984



3. Hindu Gods And Other Things - Early November, 1984




4. (Shaheed) Mandeep Singh Khalsa - Mani - Sometime in 1969 - Early November, 1984




5. Aftermath - Early November, 1984




6. Conclusion - Not a story, but this needs to be here




7. Vini Speaks - 1926 - Present




8. Suni's Statement - Early November, 1984




9. More Mani - April, 1984




10. (Shaheed) Sandeep Singh - February 14, 1971 - Early November 1984


11. Delhi Again - TWENTY-TWO YEARS AND NO JUSTICE- June, 1985


12. A Fairy Tale - Late 1985
13. Details - 4 November 1984 - This is a recently written post, in answer to someone who felt the need to know exactly what happened, .that day.

INDIA INDEPENDENCE DAY PROTEST RALLY - LONDON

...A good video trailer for the upcoming UK Sikh Protest Rally to take place on 15th August 2007 [London, UK]...forwarded to the Sangat by the Sikh Youth of Southall [UK]...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgZgoE8ODQA


SIKH PROTEST RALLY 15TH AUGUST 2007 LONDON

On India's 60th Independence Day Sikhs Will Protest Agianst India's Continued Human Rights Abuses Agianst SikhsORGANISED BY FEDERATION OF SIKH ORGANISATIONS- SIKH FEDERATION UK - DAL KHALSA UKPLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO FRIENDS FAMILY AND OTHER GROUPSATTEND THE RALLY OUTSIDE THE INDIAN EMBASSY ON 15TH AUGUST 2007 FROM 2PM - 4PM

...Please forward to your contacts, websites and blogs...