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Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Vaisakhi Massacre 1978

It’s surprising how fast history is forgotten. It seems like no one remembers what happened on Vaisakhi of 1978, well no one outside the realm of a few internet forums which make one relive important historical events from time to time.

Recently I went up to 10 people who grew up in India and would have had good memory of the event at the time in ’78. Only 2 people recalled event without any help. And how can the whole ‘adherlay born’ bias be explained? The people coming from India today are many times more spiritually devoid than anyone can imagine…

This exactly explains why people like badal keep getting elected time and time again. The best way to explain this day in history is this keertan.org speech of Bibi Harsharan Kaur Jee from New Jersey from a few years ago.

A word about Bibi Jee: she lived a long with with Bhai Sahib Bhai Randheer Singh jee, which explains her outlook and poise. When she talks the most important people from all spheres listen and don’t dare talk in front of her. In this speech she clearly lays the entire blame on Parkash Badal, in denying justice to the shaheedhs.

One thing I’ve noticed is anything which you listen repetitively and don’t get bored of listening, is something special, not like the geet which ‘becomes beha by the mid-day’ I must have listened to it about 10 times today and its still resonating deeply.

Bibi Harsharan Kaur is the only women in the past 40 years of her caliber, I dont see anyone even closely matching what she is. She isn’t a puppet like other politicians, when asked about what she has acheived, she always attributes all that is her to the sangat of gursikhs like Bhai Shaib Bhai Randheer Singh.

See also this Fort: Panthkhalsa article

To listen to the speech click here

To download the speech click here

Loose Transcript is given below:
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… From April 1978 onwards ones who have done ardass to defend the honor of the living joyt of the ten Gurus, Sahib Shri Guru Granth Sahib Jee to stop the slanderous procession by laying down their lives. Open ground… no support, no wall, no defensive position, just a straight open road… On the one side the entire bustling Nirankari town from there their bullets raining down from the other side the police sending a hail of bullets at the Singhs. Because the police did not want Bhai Fauja Singh and others to interfere with the Nirankari program.

Fauja Singh was such a personality… I have spend a lot of time with both of them. The one who you call Sant Jarnail Singh jee, he used to call me a mother-like elder sister. I had always known him as my younger brother. Because he was my elder daughter’s age. Whatever he did something, he would call everyone and have a discussion about the matter at hand.

My benti to you, the sangat is: Shaheeds cannot be divided, Shaheeds are commonly shared throughout time. However we sometimes make one soul so great that… Like Shaheeds like Baba Deep Singh Jee, that shaheedi has not become old Khalsa Jee. We can make historical additions, but we should not take earlier historical events and start from a newer chosen beginning. Shaheedhi day of Shri guru Arjan Dev Jee, without talking about them…. Where have we learnt about the concept of Shaheedhi? We haven’t learnt this ourselves. It has been passed down to us by Shri Guru Arjan Dev Jee himself. Why were Sikhs scalped alive, sawn in half, cut limb by limb? Shaheedhi was passed down to them.

By becoming shaheeds neither do we die or reach a higher plane, the greatness is the Guru’s. The guru who has given us amrit through the Khandhaa and Bata. The Khanda is two-planed and thus it ensures that you live in maya by being detached from it; it has enabled you to live while having your head chopped off.

My benti to you today in regards to shaheedi is to present the history of shaheeds in its entirety from beginning to end so that our children can understand the whole story.

If the April 1978 massacre never took place, I’m telling you that the following Morchai, protests, massacres would have had no room for them.

The story of Bota Singh and Garja Singh: they heard soldiers saying that we have killed off all Sikhs now. They decided to prove to them that Sikhs were alive and well. So they blocked off the road and declared that its Khalsa trerritory and began to charge tax of 1 taka for a donkey and 1anna for a cart. They stood there back to back attained shaheedhi while they fought the army. No one asked them to be shaheedh, no one told them to get shaheedh.

The thing is that the each and every Sikh has inside of them the same drop of Amrit which makes their thinking the same: that the Panth must live even if it means that I die. Besides this there has never been any other thinking or concept.

My benti to you is that there is nothing more beautiful than the history of Shaheedhs. Children must lean who we are and how we live. But this history must be told from the start. Just like in ardass how it begins and ends in the same manner, the story of shaheedhs must be told in the same chronological order.

These shaheedhis started in 1978. 87 or 88 were wounded, the first shot that hit Bhai Fauja Singh went in from the left eye and blew the entire skull from the back side. He went behind a truck and took his dumala and tightened it with dripping blood shouted only one Jakara and said to the singhs that no one should leave.

Badal’s boat has sunk! I fought the 13 cases of the shaheedhs against the Nirankaris DSP Joshi, was used in the court case and he took .5Million and the case that we had won, we lost.

Today kathavachaks come here and say that Baba Deep Singh Jee could not have fought as he did…

…The entire Khalsa Raj in within this Bata of Amrit. The drop of amrit is the only thing that will make the Panth stronger. Whenever you talk about anything start from the Guru.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Cadet Japnaam Singh

Royal Canadian ArmyCadet Bhai Japnaam Singh in the national cadet magazine 'Proud to Be' vol. 8, spring 2000

Citizenship and football

Reaching out to their community and to their country is all part of the citizenship so highly valued by cadets across Canada.

Cadets in Pacific Region paraded their citizenship before hundreds of thousands of Canadians last fall when they unfurled the Canadian flag during Grey Cup 99 in Hamilton, ON. How did they get there? The cadets from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island forged a partnership with the B.C. Lions football club last year, unfurling a 40 by 20-metre Canadian flag at the opening of every home game. The flag, held by 70 to 100 sea, land and air cadets, filled half the field. They did the same at Grey Cup 99.


The cadets’ affiliation with the B.C. Lions football club represented the first affiliation of cadets with a professional football team for the entire season, according to Capt Judith-Ann Jarrett, area cadet officer (air) with Pacific region. “We will be campaigning to encourage these kinds of affiliations of cadets in other cities with professional sports teams,” he says. “It’s terrific tri-service exposure for the cadets and a fitting way to pay tribute to our country and display the citizenship values cadets learn in the movement.”

The cadets have been such a hit, they’ve been asked to return this season.

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Saturday, April 07, 2007

Jaloose '07: first impressions

I had the good furtune of experienceing about 30 minutes of the Nagar Social. My First Reaction: WOW.

What a difference a few years and power shifting makes. It was a few years ago that the Club D heads did not wish to upset the government and have pictures of Shaheeds displayed on floats or even in the langar hall. Yes I'm talking about slogans of Khalistan too, oh and also pictures of Shaheed Bhai Talvinder Singh Babbar. That year I wasnt feeling well enough to attend but i could hear the roar of helicopter blades overhead for almost the entire day, while i did 5-6 Sukhmani sahib paaths. That year the beizati level had reached an all time high. Khalsa School floats were taken out of the procession as a protest measure.

Anyway, just one picture is enough to illustrate the change of stands of the club D management.


more later....

Friday, April 06, 2007

Jaloose '06

Since at 2005 Nagatr Social was presented on this site as a series of pictures, this time around I’ve decided to use the wonderful world of words of illustrate the happenings of the Surrey Nagar Kirtan and the things behind the obvious layer of simplicity. So here goes; I’ll attempt to go through everything as best as I remember and in the most accurate way possible. Since I DO have very good memory I believe that pretty much all of what will be presented in the following parts is as accurate as it can and did get.

As the morning rain, cleared up white grey puffs of cloud hung abreast the glistening blue sky just above the tree-line. As a looked out of my room through the south facing window, rays of light were piercing through the remaining cloud covering the lower reaches of the horizon. It was April 15th and not just any other Saturday, but somewhat special this time as Surrey and Vancouver were bracing themselves for a concurrent Nagar Social jaloosefest.

Unlike the 2005 Nagar-Socials where both of them took place one week apart, this year in 2006 they decided to outdo each other by the media coverage alone, which is always open for dispute; spectators like us would not have the chance to actually go see the two different jalooses in person, see, and conclude ‘which one was better.’ So while the Surrey Nagar-social-jaloose was set to happen, across the Fraser, the historical ‘Nagar Kirtan’ turned Street-bhangra-Classic was preparing to launch out of the Ross Street Gurdvara. At both places the mood would be celebratory and inflated spirited chardhi kala greetings would be exchanged along with the usual, “Veh halsa Veh Fateh’s”

To be honest I have never been a keen Nagar Kirtan participator for many reasons, including the most creative ones listed below:

1) (Unleashing of maha-pakhand, for just one day) ≠ (chardhikala)
2) When the media questions someone what they like today: definitely the FOOD & MUSIC .
3) Wearing of Kesri(saffron) ≠ [panthic jazba]
4) Roadside stalls of food ≠ [langar]
5) Politics of which float will lead ≠ [panchic unity]
6) Singers singing ‘dharmik songs’ ≠ [dharmik person]
7) Commercial aspects, Vasakhi sales etc. ≠ [Celebration of Vasakhi]
8) Unfit entities hitching a ride on floats defeat the entire purpose of the ‘kirtan’ part
9) 400db of loudspeakers blaring out CD tracks making you deaf in your tracks
10) The Shaheed police trying to stop certain pictures from going up on floats, so much for
freedom of expression under the charter…

Knowing just how much chardhi kala would be on the measuring block I decided that for this Vaisakhi Nagar Social day today I must not merely go into the mela as a normal nagar social goer in garbs of a ‘chardhi kala sikh’: Navy Blue gurmukhi-Kurta pajama, navy Blue Gurmukhi Dastaar, white Hazooria without any kadhaayee, but make a statement like everyone else. Why? Why not? Nagar social gear is what I wear everyday, so to capture the true essence of the mela hype I thought for once I should do something khutti.

Looking out the window I pondered how the costume predicament should be best handled. Should I go with a costume like everyone else or was there a plausible reason why I could defy convention and dress the way I really wanted. After deep thought lasting a few seconds I decided to go with something I hadn’t worn in quite a long time. Actually about six years or so, not only was it something close to my heart, it also was a collective article of clothing which forged the Davinder Singh as is today.

So this mystery bana was actually the uniform of the Royal Canadian Army Cadets’ Irish Fusiliers. It would be a great injustice to not mention the Irish here. The cadet experience and why I was involved with it is simple, it was like anything else everyone does when they’re in high school, everyone I knew From Khalsa School was in it, and just because of that reason, and maybe because being a fauji seemed cool, I was inclined to join the Irish Fusiliers cadets. Commitment of Tuesday evenings and sometimes weekends compared to the rewards of free skiing trips, repelling exercises, winter excursions, camps and possible chance to make serious money during summer camp not to mention the chance to get 2 high School credits, the overall lure was just too much. Almost everyone I had known at the time were in the cadets among them: Bhai Jagjeet singh, Daljit Singh, Arvinder Singh, Khushminder singh, Amrit Singh, Manjot Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Ricky Sahota, Panesar, Sukhminder singh and Bhai Karamjeet Singh was the officer stationed who oversaw ‘the klan’ and kept everyone in check. Another obvious reason was to be able to get arms training, shooting targets with serious firepower is a chance of a lifetime for many.

At about 8:00am I went into my room and got the tunic, shirt, pants, belt and everything else but the tie and kalgi. Yes, we did wear a kalgi when going to cadets, and a green one too.
We had some singhs from our of town who stayed over just so they could attend the nagar kirtan. Really, I had already had enough of the drama from nagar social 2005, it was the singhs pushing me and my thinking that they had come all the way just so they could watch it, so I agreed.

At about 8:30 we were all ready to leave for the main gathering area, near Dashmesh Darbaar ~ 128th street & 84thh Ave. We left and went to Bhai Jagjeet Singhs house to pick him up. Afterwards we made out way out to 132Street north. Along the way we could see almost everyone flocking towards khalsa school, to catch a free bus ride, so they wouldn’t have to take their cars. Almost everyone was dressed in either blue or kaisri(saffron).

As we turned onto 132 Street we could see the huge line of traffic backing up more and more by the second. It took about 15 minutes to pass just half a block. When we reached about a block before the 80th Ave intersection I had enough of waiting in line, so I got out. Even with about 20 cars in front of us we could see the mismanagement of traffic by the traffic lady hired for the day. Anyone could see that she was deliberately obstructing traffic. I had a word with her and told her to call up another traffic person, until the other person arrived I directed traffic coming from all 4 sides.

For anyone whos been to a Surrey nagar Kirtan will know that it doesn’t take much to clog all routes leading to Gurdvara Dashmesh Darbar, and it starts getting bad at about 8:00am. In the past years I’ve been fortunate enough to reach the Gurdvara at around 7:00am or so. So from there as the traffic situation improved I in full cadet uniform walked west on 80th Ave.
It’s worth mentioning here that the cadet uniform worn by the Army cadets is very similar to the uniforms worn by the Canadian Army. So for the laypeople who have no knowledge about the two uniforms, they think that the we, the Irish were really the Canadian Army.

One thing I knew about cadets was that Army cadets were way more fun than air or sea cadets. The people above were all full fledged cadets before I decided to go. But the things they talked about on exercises were unreal and were what finally convinced me to join. Most of all the cadet program was next to being free, you got to go places and the skills learnt were transferable to other scenarios not to mention the natural JUTT-FAUJI connection. Its worth mentioning here that if you know anyone who’s under 17 and meets the enterence age of ~10years I highly recommend the cadet experience. With a few years under their belt, the Canadian cadet program makes one a better person, a leader and many times stronger from the outside-in to the inside out.......(chaldha)