Good 'friends'

George Orwell and William Golding were writers with great insight into life. Their books are read today by millions of students all over the world. The ideas they presented were pure genius. Their thinking was so advanced for their time that the basic elements used in these three books can be applied to virtually any human situation. In BC high schools most students read Animal Farm in grade 10 and 1984 in grade 12 both by Orwell, in grade 11 Golding’s Lord of the Files.

If someone properly understands and applies the message from these three books they will certainly be human their entire life. Meaning they would learn from what each of the characters went through in the story and make their life better in almost every way. As with anything if you learn from what you go through, you come out wiser and better able to tackle even more difficult situations in the future.

Animal Farm was written by Orwell as an allegory (exact comparison of one even to another) to the Russian Revolution to highlight the terror, manipulation and hardships the common people faced at the hands of the elite. It’s a story using animal characters to represent the actual players in what later became the USSR.

Lord of the Flies by Golding is about the breakdown of society in tough times. The underlying message is that ‘Man(and woman) is evil’ and that this evilness is just waiting to get out and show the worst of human nature. Its about a group of British school kids who get stranded on a tropical island and try to build a society. The struggle for control leads them to murder their best friends in cold blood for no apparent reason but what could only be described as classic ‘punjabi partybazi’ - dirty politics to maintain control.

1984 is perhaps the best fictional work I’ve read in English. It was written by George Orwell in 1949. He warned the world would turn into what Orwell predicted in the year 1984. It’s from this book that the whole big brother concept came from. Even after 55+ years everything he warned the world about exists today. The sad thing is most people don’t even realize this is the case. The basic idea is that about 1% of the population is the inner-party(who have all the power) these people use the 20% or so of the ‘outer party’ members through what can only be called brainwash to control the remaining 80% of the proletariat or ‘proles’ who are at the very bottom of society. Most of the techniques the inner-party governmental machinery used to maintain control of people have been used time and time again since this was written.

There is an agenda behind what people teach you at school. They want you do be independent thinkers and make you smart, and do things the smart way and not be manipulated by petty men. But some people never read books and stay in the pathetic ‘prole’ state their entire lives. Yes, getting summaries off the internet can get you marks and ‘pass’ English. But you will always remain a prole no matter what. Next time you’re asked to read a book, actually READ it. It just may do you some good down the road and get you out of a Jam:

----------------------------------------------
August 3rd 2005 was a good summer day. I noticed some activity behind our house as usual and ignored it a few times. The neighborhood kids were playing on a trampoline for quite a while and making noise. Then at about 3:30pm I saw this:

The man in the red is Sarbhjot Singh and the one in the blue shirt is Harman Singh. The one in the white shirt is his cousin from Abbotsford Harbir Singh(I think). Both Sarbhjot and Harman Singh have had a Khalsa School education and are generally good people and don’t cause too much trouble.

Harman Singh and Sarbhjot convinced Harbir that he was obese and needed to loose weight and they can make him lose weight. The proposition seemed like a glorious opportunity too hard to resist. He agreed not knowing what was in store. First they made him do pushups in their ‘bootcamp’ then they tied a rope to his waist and the other end to an old skateboard with wrights on it. They made the poor guy go under the trampoline and back from the sides over and over again.

They seemed to have finished up and I thought it was over and went back to my room. Then I heard steps and a bike go over the concrete over my window every few minutes, by the time I looked out there was no one there. When I went outside there was poor Harbir singh running as fast as he could and Sarbhjot behind on a bike trying to get him to go faster and faster. Harman Singh was keeping count of how much it would take to complete one lap. As soon as Sarbhjot saw me he had the kind of look a rabbit has when a lions about to pounce on him. He threw the bike down and went running in the direction he came from twice as fast.

Harbir was sweating like crazy and out of breath with a red face. I brought him a bottle of water and made him sit in the shade. After a few minutes he was able to calm down and talk. Both the culprits were standing on the other side of the fence and taunting him, calling him a ‘motoo’(fatty) and that ‘he will never lose weight’ and ‘always will be fat’ no matter what he did. Harbeer Singh tried really hard to keep the tears back.

I tried to explain to him what they were really doing. He said “they were only trying to help me get in shape.” I told him that I would play with him. And we did for about 45 minutes, 1 on 1 volleyball. The other two just sat on the trampoline burning in envy. Finally they came over and we all played.

The point of this post is not to defame any of the neighborhood kids but to instead make you think how many times you got manipulated like this under peer-pressure and suffered in silence unable to do anything. When you have time, read the above books, you will look back at your life in a whole new light and who knows you might just become wiser next time you’re in a situation like Harbeer Singh and tell your ‘friends’ to find someone who used online summaries for English class to pick on.

ਅਸੂਲ # ੧

***You are your own best friend.***

suixmnimqRipAwirAwimluvylwhYeyh]
jblgujobinswsuhYqblguiehuqnudyh]
ibnuguxkwimnAwveIFihFyrIqnuKyh]1]
-(isrIrwgumhlw1],AMk 20)

Be your own best friend because you are the only person whom you can absolutely rely on every time. Only you can get yourself out of a bad situation. Better yet you can prevent getting into them in the first place. Most of the time others just can’t help you, no matter how hard they try- even if they really want to help, most of the time they’re not capable of doing so.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t have friends. It’s good to have friends. The world would be a very scary place if we didn’t have any to talk to. But it’s more important to have friends who you can actually rely on. You are the best person who could help yourself more than anyone else. You are available at your service 24 hours a day, learn to make yourself more useful.

We just have to learn to rely on ourselves a bit more and look within for the friend.

---------------------------------
I remember reading a story about two childhood friends who stuck together no matter what happened. One of them got wrongfully accused of murder and was sentenced to death by the king.

They took him to the city square and asked him what his final wish was before they were about the hang him. He told the king he wished to see his ailing mother before he was put to death. The king told him he would let him leave to see his mother if he could get someone else to take his place, and if he didn’t come back the other person would be hung instead.

His best friend came forward and told the king he would gladly take his place no matter what happened. The king was very impressed, but cautioned him if his friend did not return in one week’s time he would be put to death. He told the king it wasn’t a problem.

So the other friend went to see his mother. One week was about to pass and the crowd again gathered and the king asked the other friend why he was so foolish to take his friends place. The king ordered the noose be put around his neck. Just as the king was about to signal his death someone from behind the crowd yelled “I’m here.”

Everyone was shocked to see him show up. No one was more surprised to see him more than the king. The king was very impressed and let both of them go and rewarded them with money.
---------------------------------
Earle Birney was a great Canadian poet who wrote David, a fictional poem about two friends. We read this poem in English 10, discussed it and watched a video adaptation of the poem made by the National Film Board of Canada. This is one of the most powerful poems I’ve ever read.

Two friends, Earle Birney and his friend David go mountain climbing somewhere in the Rockies. David slips and falls back first about 20 feet. He’s alive but feels paralyzed with a rock lodged in his spine. David asks Earle to roll him over and throw him down the bigger cliff. Earle refuses and tells David he’ll get help. David asks him to end his misery and throw him over.

This poem is not about mercy killing, it’s about true friendship. If David got medical treatment and survived, he would have had a really bad life confined in a wheelchair. He wouldn’t be able to climb mountains anymore, something he lived for, and Earle Birney would feel bad going alone with him sitting in a wheelchair.
------------------------------------
Two even more powerful examples of friends helping out are of Saen Bhagat and more recently Sant Attar Singh Jee. In both cases Akal Purkh, the bigger friend came to their aid like no one else ever has.
------------------------------------
Bhai Gurdass Jee has written about Sudama Bhraman and how he met Krishan, who after many years still treated him with great respect in spite of of each others status. Read it here.
------------------------------------
Its worth establishing friendship with the big guy up top, it could come in handy one day...

Bad Drivers

If a teacher can’t teach properly they get fired(or don’t get to teach to begin with), if politicians don’t work for the people- they generally lose the next election, if hockey players don’t perform well their value goes down and are traded, and if a pen doesn’t work properly, you throw it in the garbage. For many years now I wondered why bad drivers still freely roam the streets with confidence and bravery and nothing’s done about them.

Would you feel safe boarding a plane if you knew the pilot would be flying the plane like a joyrider? Or if the guy behind the yoke would be drunk?

For the past few years I’ve seen more and more people who can’t drive, or don’t want to drive properly. There might have been bad drivers since cars became common, but these days it’s so bad that you don’t know if you’ll come home in one piece or not. Not only do bad drivers cause accidents and drive you nuts they cause billions of dollars in lost gas (petrol), productivity and time, not to mention the toll they take on the environment and other drivers’ health.

I think the car is too good of a machine. If you try to misuse a band-saw or a lathe you loose a finger or two. But with a car you get away with way more until something happens to a driver. Newer safety improvements give the drivers a false sense of confidence and so they do even more stupid things which they might normally avoid.

Since September 2004 I’ve had classes in Richmond 1-2 times a week. The first day of class I just passed Shell Road going on Alderbridge and a driver lost control, went over the curb and off into the bush. A few blocks up a Chinese lady rear-ended someone on a red light. This was on a sunny day too. There were other accidents after that day in the same area. That 5 minute stretch of road is the scariest driving experience I’ve ever encountered. Most Richmond drivers have good expensive cars and when they hit people they do a lot of damage.

Its really funny when you have a ‘behmarri’(bad driver) in front of you, when you pass and look back, the person turns out to be a Chinese lady. The passenger sitting beside you says: Cheeni can’t drive. This happens far too many times. I guess that’s what happens when people come from a nation of bikes then one day decide to sit in a car seat. I’m not generalizing but that’s just how it is. Ask any Punjabi they’ll say ‘cheeni’ cant drive.

Punajbis aren’t much better. Most of the traffic disasters that happen at Khalsa School 3 times a day could easily be prevented if a few parents had some common sense. Most of the Khalsa School kids’ moms have huge SUVs which they can’t easily maneuver. I’m not saying that ALL Punjabi women are bad drivers. Khalsa School has some really good woman bus drivers who drive better than most men. Some Punjabi women also drive trucks! So not all women are bad drivers.

Most drivers, no *all* drivers ignore the crosswalk signs posted on Punjabi dominated Surrey streets and seniors just hope for the long wave of passing cars to stop so they could cross. I sometimes wonder how people pass their learners when they don’t know the first rule of the road is to let passengers have the right of way.

The 4-way stop is the one place where you need to watch out for trouble. It’s amazing how some people can’t learn the first-come-first-go rule. This is another place where people don’t let seniors cross. It’s in these areas where selfishness shines the brightest. It seems most people haven’t learnt from elementary school that ‘budging in’ isn’t nice. Its absolutely appalling when someone just drives off out of turn.

16 year old punks are another category that needs to be tackled by the authorities. One thing that happens to me all the time now is when the oncoming driver turning left tries to beat me to the green light when they don’t have the green arrow.

In the winter some really smart drivers forget to turn their headlights on and become invisible at night until they almost hit you. Others have one light out and don’t bother to check it looks like a motorcycles coming at you.

Winter is a really good time to observe bad drivers at their best. Most people don’t change tires with worn out tread. The look on a person whose car’s doing a 360 on an iced road is a classic. Its fun seeing people with 4X4’s when they slide and don’t know how to use 4x4 properly.

One sure sign of bad drivers are people who keep yapping on the phone while driving. If you cant end a conversation in under a minute, you’re a showoff! These people give the wrong signal indication before turning or changing lanes. Others don’t signal at all. Some are so engrossed in their phone conversation they lose all sense and drive 30km shower than the posted speed limit. Some pretend the lights still red until the person behind them honks at them. Life existed perfectly fine before cellular phones became popular. It still can today. PEOPLE WONT THINK YOU’RE COOL when you talk and drive EVERYONE HAS ONE!!

I’ve driven over 30,000K’s in the last 20 months alone and have been driving the day I turned 16. My driving record is spotless. I drive carefully. Other people I know have got their licenses taken, legs broken and others lost their lives just because of risky driving.

If you really want to take risks and drive recklessly grab an XBOX.

If everyone followed the rules of the road there wouldn’t be any accidents. Because of a few wannabe thugs everyone’s insurance rates go up. its really hard for someone like me to afford a car even though i'm not a part of the problem.

YOU can make a difference and make the world a better place for all- just by being a good driver:
*Anticipate the flow of traffic well ahead of you
*Keep an eye out for upcoming lights and adjust your speed accordingly
*Look at the crosswalk ‘flashing hand’ to indicate when the light will turn red
*Make sure your vehicles tires are on the sensors- rectangles cut into the road, they make the lights change.
*Don’t forget to shoulder check before changing lanes
*LET pedestrians cross- your father does not own the road! But your father may be a pedestrian waiting to cross
*Drive the way you want others to drive
*Oh and don’t buy something you cant drive properly**

WIkkid Kirtan(i)!

Most... no all of the days I spent in Punjab in the 1995-1996 school year were mornings and evenings filled with two hours of Kirtan Live from Darbaar Sahib on the shortwave radio. I don’t recall much about the way the Gurbani was sung back then, maybe because I didn’t know too much at the time.

But today as I woke up from my evening nap I went into the family room area and there was Kirtan- just like a decade ago! So I grabbed the mp3 recorder and recorded it.

I didn't just record it to capture the WIKKKID! nostalgic sound, but the way they pronounced 'Vah' (which can also be translated into WIKKID in many instances.

The Ragi Singhs in the evening Kirtan Chaunkee(shift) sang
‘Vah’ as ‘Vah’ where almost everyone else would have said ‘VahOO’

This proves that there are indeed some (good) people in the world
who really think before they sing and put Gurbani before fancy handwork on the
vaja...

The complete Shabad can be found here.

The corect VAH VAH again.
Awsw]
hjhmwrIgomqIqIr]
jhwbsihpIqMbrpIr]1]
vwhuvwhuikAwKUbugwvqwhY]
hirkwnwmumyrYminBwvqwhY]1]rhwau]
nwrdswrdkrihKvwsI]
pwisbYTIbIbIkvlwdwsI]2]
kMTymwlwijhvwrwmu]
shMsnwmulYlYkrauslwmu]3]
khqkbIrrwmgungwvau]
ihMdUqurkdoaUsmJwvau]4]4]13]