Reet Khalsey Di

[Laadli Fauj]

Fremont gurdwara's youth SIkh vidyarthis have been wrking on a play called "Reet Khalsey Di" for about 3 months now. Everyone is invited to come to our first performance at Tennyson High School in Hayward(haystack), California.

‘Reet Khalse De’ a revolutionary step in the world of theatre

Fremont, CA a group of 14 kids are busy with a theatre workshop that’s going to materialize into a play .Theatre is the most powerful medium that finishes an unfinished form live in front of the audiences and these kids are making the best use of this art. Its time that Sikhs start telling the world who they are and what could be the best way.

Media can be instrumental in monitoring the future of the Sikhs. It serves a multidimensional purpose on one hand it informs the world about Sikhs and Sikh History their traditions and lifestyle and on the other hand it boosts up the psychology of the Sikh youth when they see themselves portrayed in the right context. Theatre is the cheapest form of media and to begin with all you need is a concept, a performer and audience .If taken into the right direction it could have revolutionary effect.

The process to get the kids to the level of professional performance is a tough one. But theatre games inspired from the works of Bertolt Brecht, Constantin Stanislavasky, Grotowski and Peter Brook coupled with various psychological and physical exercises done over a period of time could have a miraculous effect on the kids.

The workshop began with brainstorming sessions about being a Sikh, how is it to be born a Sikh, given a chance what be an option to being a Sikh, what were the difficulties/pleasures that one faced being brought up as a Sikh kid and the most important being the future of Sikhs? And surprisingly the major response of the Gursikh kids was that they perceive that there is a possibility that there would be no Sikhs 100 yrs from now. That is when the real process---the journey to understand Sikhs—the present and future began which resulted into a collage of various episodes intertwined into a play called ‘Reet Khalse Di’ (Tradition of Khalsa).

The play is being directed by Ish Amitoj Kaur, the director of the film ‘Kambdi Kalaai’. Ish is doing a talent hunt for her new film and sees quiet a few promising Gursikh actors in the present cast. One can see an obvious change in the personalities of these kids who have undergone strenuous training sessions in the past four weeks. These kids have the best of Sikh Values imbued in them .For Ish these kids are very different from the kids she has worked with earlier—their values are deep-rooted and their love for their religion and community is real and not just superficial they are the real future of Sikhi. It was touching to see the wealth of Sikh values in the kids when one day they were doing a few concentration and memory exercises and we were discussing what topics to take up to play the game and Puneet Kaur came up with the idea of ‘Shastar’ and Gurmehar said ‘Kirtaniya’ instead of pondering over a bunch of Bollywood flicks.The tireless efforts of the kids their parents and the Gurudwara which provided the venue for the rehearsal coupled with the professional direction has made this play a real success.

When it came to selecting the venue of the school. Theresa Mc Ewen Principal of Tennyson High School, Hayward was contacted. She had visited the summer camp of the kids thrice this summer. It was then that we came to know Theresa had agreed to have a Punjabi language course in their curriculum but they did not have enough of the community to sign up yet . Language is a very important aspect of any community. Lately we can see that kids and even parents don’t converse in Punjabi anymore. Punjabi is a Sikh’s mother tongue and if that is what he is not in touch with what will connect him to his ‘Shabad Guru’?

2nd Sept gives a good opportunity to the Sikh community to come together and watch the play ‘Reet Khalse De’ at 7 p.m. at Tennyson High School, Hayward and support the cause of Sikhi and the Punjabi language. We have seen packed houses of ‘Bollywood Films’ and ‘pop-singer’s night’. Here is a chance to join hands with our own community to walk shoulder to shoulder with our inspired youth which is moving towards a brighter future. The tickets of the show are available at San Jose and Fremont Gurudwara for $5 each (it’s priced at $5 just to make sure you value what you watch).

[Laadli Fauj]

could the admins make this a sticky or something?

[Laadli Fauj]

bump--no response?

[waheguru_fateh]

thats great bha ji :TH: :T: