Mool Mantar

This is Harshdeep's rendering of the Mool Mantar from Rang De Basanti. Only the video on this one doesn't have the professional actors from the movie. Much nicer to watch.
And always perfect to listen to. I think this is the most beautiful version I have heard.


Except, of course, the one with my Dad, my husband and our son.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNb1efvF9J0&feature=related

WE WILL NEVER BE SILENCED

VAHEGURU JI!

What will it take to teach those fools in New Delhi that we will never be defeated? Their arrests, their tortures, their killings are just useless gestures. We are still here, still active, still vocal.

From Sikh Sangat News:

India's brutal campaign against Sikh lawyers, rights and Political Activists
Posted in: Asia
By IHRO - https://www.ihro.in/?q=node/106
Aug 1, 2008 - 10:43:50 PM

This paper on ‘The human rights situation in Punjab during 1984-94’ was presented at ICSSR Complex, Punjab University, Chandigarh, on July 2, 2006, by International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO) during a Panel Discussion held by The Voices For Freedom

India had launched a brutal campaign against Sikh lawyers, and human rights and political activists, in the state of Punjab. Main targets were those who have been opposing tooth and nail the state repression let loose on Sikh activists engaged in the ongoing Sikh struggle for an independent and sovereign state, and rendering legal aid to them in judicial courts. At least three Sikh lawyers, one human rights activist’s son and a journalist were liquidated at the hands of the Indian security forces as a result of this campaign. Many others were arrested, harassed and detained in jails only because of their activities as lawyers, journalists, leaders of political groups or religious organisations.

According to International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO), at least 13 lawyers and about 20 human rights and political activists were said to be on the police’s hit-list, and the then Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association president Gian Chand Dhuriwala had advised some of the “marked” lawyers to shift elsewhere for saving theirs lives. Three Sikh lawyers- Kulwant Singh of Ropar, along with his spouse and two-year-old son; Jagwinder Singh of Kapurthala and Ranbir Singh of Bathinda- were done to death by the police after clandestinely taking them into custody.

Earlier, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, a 70-year-old former High Court Judge and human rights activist, journalist Sukhdev Singh and advocates- Gurcharan Singh Ghuman and Jagmohan Singh- were arrested and detained in jails for months for their professional and human rights activities. Gurdip Singh, managing editor, Aj Di Awaz, has been terrorized into hibernation. Journalist Ram Singh Billing was picked up by the police, and he is feared to have been killed in custody. Avtar Singh Mander, a journalist of Ajit still remains disappeared at the hands of the police. And IHRO vice-president Dr. G. S. Mavi’s son Atamjit Singh, an 18-year-old BSc student, was picked up by the police and shot dead in cold blood in January 1992.

The murderous campaign reached its zenith when the police clandestinely liquidated the former Akal Takht (the highest temporal and spiritual seat of the Sikhs) Chief Gurdev Singh Kaonke in custody.

And, the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh used to issue “threats” to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Gurcharn Singh Tohra and Akali Dal president Simranjit Singh Mann to mend their ways. Otherwise, “they will be arrested under TADA,” had said Beant Singh. The chief minister had wanted them to shut their mouth so that his administration could go on unchecked particularly on the law and order front.

The energies of the IHRO were directed, during that period, against the manner in which New Delhi had tried to suppress and crush democracy in India, especially Punjab and Kashmir. Against this background, the IHRO had then become the target of the Indian State.

The residence of IHRO General Secretary Mohinder Singh Grewal was raided on March 21, 1993, by the Ludhiana police. They picked up his 74-year-old father Rajinder Singh and took him to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) staff. He was set free in the evening on the condition that we would produce Grewal, the next morning. Grewal went to the CIA police station along with his brother Apinder Singh, then a Councillor of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. The councillor was asked to leave, and Grewal was interrogated by a Delhi Police team, the whole day.

The police team questioned about Grewal’s telephonic conversation with his maternal uncle’s son Sukhminder Singh Sandhu, and then lodged in a New York jail. He was made to sit in the police station till 9:00 PM. Thereafter, he was released with an instruction to present himself the next day for further interrogation.

On March 23, the Delhi police team was assisted by a Superintendent of Police (Detective), Ludhiana, B. S. Gill. During interrogation, Grewal was manhandled and threatened for the consequences. Grewal informed Sukhminder’s defence lawyer Ms Mary Pike in USA about the incident vide his letter of March 25, saying: “B S Gill manhandled me and gave blows on my head. He asked me, “Have you stopped us by doing investigation reports against us (the police)? Could you do any thing in the case of Kulwant Singh Saini advocate? He also threatened that he would subject me to all methods of torture practically and thereby enable me to make a personal report on torture. He further threatened that he will also see D S Gill (Chairperson, IHRO), the same way soon.”

After this, taking him along, Grewal’s home was raided and his personal telephone directory confiscated. They had probably noted down the telephone numbers of his friends and relations. He was released in the evening and again asked to come the next morning.

On March 24, he was also interrogated by an Intelligence Bureau (IB) team for more than four hours. They asked him about the IHRO network in India and abroad. The police party allowed him to go home, asking him again to come to the CIA staff, the next afternoon. When Grewal went there on March 25, the investigation teams had left for Delhi.

After few days the Delhi team again visited Ludhiana. They tried to contact Grewal. He was not there then. The team, before leaving for Delhi, told Grewal’s brother that they would contact Grewal in the very near future for the further interrogation. The investigating team did not tell why they were after Grewal.

It was felt that he was being harassed and maltreated only because of his relation with Sukhminder Singh Sandhu. Grewal, along with D. S. Gill, was also a co-defender from India in the extradition proceedings pending against Sandhu and Ranjit Singh Gill in a US court.

Being the general secretary of the organization, Grewal was first among the investigators of the police crimes and was, therefore, targeted for exposing the police actions. Earlier, IHRO administration secretary Gurbhajan Singh Gill too was kept in illegal custody for a week. So, we (IHRO) saw a plot in it, thinking that “the police may implicate him or other IHRO activists in some criminal case or harm them physically.”

The IHRO chapters abroad, then, alerted the international public opinion and governments against the nefarious designs of the Indian administration and the police. And that lobby worked well, and that was why we could protect Grewal and other activists’ lives from the brutal police.

We, in IHRO, therefore, make fervent appeal to the international human rights agencies and defenders, including foreign missions here in India, of course, including The Voices For Freedom, to take notice of these state brutalities and to use their good offices for getting these matters judicially examined and then for pushing all those, including bureaucrats and politicians, found guilty.

© Copyright 2008 by

Picture courtesy of Simmal Tree

International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO), of the Indian subcontinent, is a NGO, with national focus and overseas lobby network. It agitates both in India and internationally For anyone wishing to join IHRO

Click to join IHRO

Farewell To Ishmeet

This is from Just Sikhs. I do not know who the woman in the picture

is. I suspect it may be his mother:

GOOD-BYE, MY SON

Ishmeet Singh’s body was brought home amid the chants of “Waheguru” here this afternoon.

When the van carrying his body, escorted by his father, relatives and friends, entered the street near his house, neighbours broke down. Women were seen running along the van, crying bitterly.

His shattered father, Gurpinder Singh Sodhi, walked ahead of his son’s body when it was taken inside the house. A proud father had suddenly aged.

His mother, Amritpal Kaur, sat next to the body. She uncovered Ishmeet’s face and kissed him before breaking down. She had not cried for the past two days, leaving the family worried.

As the family grieved, those witnessing the scene could not control their emotions. It seemed the tragedy had struck not only Ishmeet’s family, but also those present there.

Later, the body was kept outside in a glass chamber. The head was covered with a saffron cloth. People who loved him queued up in the sultry weather to have a last glimpse of Ishmeet, whom they had once cheered to victory.

Several elderly people, who had trouble walking, waited patiently for their turn to see him once more.

“Ishmeet’s family members are not alone in their grief. We are with them. We all have lost a promising and talented son,” said Narinder Kaur (70) from Dugri, while summing up the sentiments of scores of Ludhianvis.

thetribune.com

A HOMAGE TO ISHMEET SINGH from World Sikh News

From World Sikh News

IDOL TURNED IDEAL TURNED ICON ISHMEET SINGH IS NO MORE

VOICE OF INDIA
BELOVED ICON OF SIKH YOUTH
ISHMEET SINGH
IS NO MORE

A HOMAGE BY THE WORLD SIKH NEWS

When he would sing a lilting lyric, he made many cry; next he would hit a happy note with a chirpy song and the audience would dance in a frenzy.

Hope and icon of the Sikh youth, Ishmeet Singh, VOICE OF ALL OF US, is no more.

Ishmeet Singh (20) drowned in a swimming pool at a resort in Maldives at around 2000 hours Indian time. He had gone to Maldives to take part in a concert. Gurprinder Singh Sodhi, father of Ishmeet, who shot to fame by winning the Star India TV Voice of India contest in November last year, said at their home in Ludhiana that the event management company, which took his son to the Maldives, informed him at around 8 pm that the singer died due to drowning in the swimming pool of the hotel where he was staying.

An honour, and the queer feeling!

Only months ago, Ishmeet Singh was honoured by ghazal samrat Jagjeet Singh and his wife Chitra with an award in memory of their deceased son who had passed away in an accident. It was difficult not to cry. And just months later, Ishmeet has also left us all. It is heartless to tell someone not to cry.


Ishmeet was a student of B.Com second year at the MNC college in Mumbai. His father said he had no idea whether his son knew swimming. He said Ishmeet had left Ludhiana on Monday for Chandigarh from where he went to Mumbai on way to the Maldives.

The news of Ishmeet Singh's death left the world, his millions of fans, South Asia's TV audience and the diaspora which followed his progress song after song, week after week, shell shocked.

The Sikh community had celebrated worldwide his achievement at becoming VOICE OF INDIA through a popular TV contest where millions kept faith him, his voice and his loving and polite personality, voting for him all the way right to the top last year.

None other than the planet's goddess of singing, Lata Mangeshkar, had blessed Ishmeet Singh. Since then, Ishmeet Singh had been in demand and even months after the show ended, TV channels would keep pulling him in one or the other program to boost their audience figures.

Forever shall Ishmeet Singh be known as the man who made being a turbaned Sikh the trendiest hairstyle statement, inspiring many Sikh young men and women to follow the ways of the Guru and keep unshorn hair. Being turbaned became synonymous with being beautiful and smart.

Perhaps Ishmeet Singh was always closer to God. The day he won the biggest contest on Indian TV in November 2007 was also the day of the Guru. It was Guru Nanak Dev Ji's gurpurab.

Ludhiana, from whose noisy and industrial lanes Ishmeet Singh had risen to become the brightest of the stars on Indian glamour horizon went into a total shock.

Sikhs who had celebrated the event from California to Calgary to Christchurch to Chandigarh were frantically calling to confirm whether the sad news was indeed true.

Ishmeet Singh was honoured by Sikhs worldwide, by even the highest of the high Sri Akal Takht.

Forever shall the Sikh community remain indebted to this young man who made us all feel proud of our identity.

At the World Sikh News, we pay homage to Sardar Ishmeet Singh, and pray to Akal Purakh in this hour of grief to give his family and friends and fans the strength to cope with the immense loss.

29 July, 2008

Sikh News Update - Victory and Great Sadness

It is hard to believe that two such different stories could be breaking at the same time.

First, the tragedy.

Ishmeet Singh is dead. Our strong, handsome young lion prince drowned in the swimming pool at his hotel in the Maldives. Here is the latest, as I write from the online magazine from Maldives, The Furaavaru:

LATEST UPDATE 23:20 Maldives Time

An exclisive interview given by the Assistant Manager to TheFuraavaru.com Stated that Ismeeth and his coluge friends whom any one dosent know how to swim and was given a baby pool for them to enjoy. Also was requested not to go to Adult pool which was very deep, but ismeeth went to the adult pool. As a result an unconssisous incidence was happed and his friend reported to the resort managment. Said Robert the A.Manager of Chaayaa dhonveli to TheFuraavaru.

"We understand that he did not know how to swim and had been advised by his friends not to get to the deep end," a hotel official said to

Stay tune with us. TheFuraavaru reporter is covering is reporting us live from ADK where ismeeths dead body was kept for further investigations. His coluges are still in a deep shock and they are inside the room with ismeeths body.

We are trying to get the pictures of the resort. We will upload the pictures from the hospital as soon as possible

After that, I suppose none of us really feel like celebrating, but we did win a large victory today.

Sarika Singh has won her case. She was the young lady in Wales who refused to remove her kara in compliance with her school's dress code. Here is what I just read in The Langar Hall:

Moments ago, the BBC reported that the UK's High Court affirmed her case, stating that the dress code unfairly burdened Singh's freedom of religious expression. Both advocates and the court expressed frustration with the school, stating that the issue had been clearly defined in U.K. statutes and case law for over 20 years. This judgment opens the door for students of all religious backgrounds; in addition to the banning of the kara, other UK (private) schools have moved to ban the crucifix, the hijab, and the yarmulke. Against this "confining" interpretation of secularism (an interpretation more common on the European continent), the UK courts have clarified the intent of the country's inclusionary and anti-discriminatory legal framework.

This comes from Times OnLine:

Sikh teenager Sarika Watkins-Singh wins right to wear bangle
Frances Gibb, Legal Editor

A Sikh teenager won a legal battle yesterday over her right to wear a bangle that she holds central to her faith.

Sarika Watkins-Singh, 14, had been excluded from school for breaking a “no jewellery” rule by wearing the bangle, known as the kara.

But the ruling by a judge in the High Court means that she can return to Aberdare Girls' School in South Wales in September wearing the kara, a slim steel bracelet.

Her lawyers told Mr Justice Silber that wearing the kara was “extremely important”, just as it is to Monty Panesar, the England spin bowler, who has been pictured wearing the bangle.

Related Links
Huge case over small item bodes
Yesterday the judge condemned the “seriously erroneous attitude” of the school, which had equated the wearing of the bangle to displaying the Welsh flag - ignoring its religious importance.

However, Martin Ward, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that he was disappointed.

“The school had offered the student reasonable alternatives to accommodate her religious beliefs, such as wearing the bangle, but not so that it was on display, and it is frustrating that the courts did not find this acceptable.”

The ruling appears to run contrary to recent rulings that give schools discretion on religious dress or items of jewellery. However, it is in line with a 25-year-old law lords ruling allowing Sikh children to wear faith items, such as turbans, to school.

Jack Rabinowitz, a lawyer and expert in education law, said: “We have had a House of Lords ruling in favour of a school that would not allow a girl to wear the full Muslim veil and also a ruling in which a girl lost her case against being banned from wearing a chastity ring.

“The House of Lords said that schools needed to have very clear guidelines but subject to that, there was no reason why they could not ban whatever they wanted to.” That ruling still stood, he added.

Mr Justice Silber made clear in a summary yesterday that the case was specific to its own facts and did not involve a wider issue of “whether the kara should be permitted to be worn in other schools”.

Sarika, from Cwmbach, near Aberdare, who is of mixed Welsh and Punjabi origin, was at first taught in isolation and was excluded eventually for refusing to remove the bangle, in defiance of the school's policy, which prohibits the wearing of any jewellery other than a wrist watch and plain ear studs.

The judge upheld her claim of indirect discrimination on grounds of race and religion and declared that the school had failed in its positive obligation to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations.

He said that there was “an enormous difference” between rulings allowing schools to ban the Muslim niqab (full veil) or jilbab (long coat-like garment) and the “unostentatious” and “very small” bangle.

After the judgment, Sarika's mother, Sinita, 38, said: “It is just such a relief.”

Sarika said: “I am overwhelmed by the outcome and it's marvellous to know that the long journey I've been on has finally come to an end.”

She added: “I just want to say that I am a proud Welsh and Punjabi Sikh girl.”

Anna Fairclough, legal officer of Liberty, who acted for the family, said: “This common-sense judgment makes clear you must have a very good reason before interfering with someone's religious freedom.

“Our great British traditions of religious tolerance and race equality have been rightly upheld today.”

After being permanently excluded last November, Sarika was enrolled at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School, where she was allowed to wear the kara. The judge said that the Aberdare school had offered to take Sarika back.

The judge said the school's governing body accepted that the way it conducted the appeal was unfair. He refused the school permission to appeal, although it can still seek permission from the Court of Appeal.

The kara is one of the five Ks of Sikhism, the others being the kesh (uncut hair), the kanga (wooden comb), the kaccha (specially designed shorts) and the kirpan (sword).

The governors and head teacher of the Aberdare school said they would take time to consider the judgment. “The decision to defend this action was taken after careful consideration by all concerned, and in good faith. It was not taken lightly. We regret that this action became at all necessary.”

If Sarika wished to return, she would be offered help and support to reintegrate her.

Oh, yeah, I bet she'd really be welcomed back with open arms! *rolls eyes*

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

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

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