sitargirl

I cannot see any of the gatka pics... I really wanna see everyone's pic! We can get them together and make a members collage...or a mods collage.

Dear Miss Kaur

Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry you were unhappy with our File on 4 documentary on Sikh militancy. The programme was presented by an experienced and respected Sikh journalist and we were at pains from the outset to make it clear that we were focusing on the activities of a minority of people - so I would hope that nobody would be tempted to draw any broader conclusions about the community in general.

However the issues we reported are of obvious public interest both to Sikhs and to the wider public. I therefore think we were justified in raising the questions we did and in reporting information based on good sources both here and in India. As we said in the programme, the idea of Sikh militants being linked with Islamist groups is "particularly surprising given the traditional animosity between Sikhs and Muslims which was accentuated during the partition of India." However the various agencies and experts that we spoke to, both on and off the record, are adamant that this is what is happening and we had no reason to doubt them.

Yours sincerely,

David Ross

Editor, File on 4

What do I do next?

I wud love to do a sikh quiz. I waste so much time doing stupid personality, what colour ure heart is and other what flavour are u?..........sikhi quiz is just what I need. Can someone design one. Please....

BTW i searched google and did this quiz. http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz6538977f020.html That quiz is too easy!! Everyone do it....I lost one mark cos I wrote all sikhs wear turbans but quiz says boys...meh...

MULTI FAITH QUIZ - I like this quiz. You learn a lot more due to its descriptions. I got 21/30 http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_06/01JAN08/quiz.htm

Other things...sunflower seeds are the best. I love eating seeds!!

I always take nuts mixed together in prashad style too. lol. So this is some almonds, raisons and MISHARI!! (who doesn't like mishari?)

I don't like peanuts....they are like salty and don't mix well with the other nuts....especially that KP brand....but CHANA DHAL is wikid....especially when u add some lemon and make it into a salad. Thats the best salad....yum...

Also milkshakes are cool too....some people I know just buy a carton of milk and cookies....I never tried this but apparently its 'heaven'..maybe u can try that..

EDIT - I forgot carrots....when I was in 1st yr I lived off carrots....those ones u get in Tesco washed and sliced....'carrot batons'..

I would just take roti from home cos its more tasty, more filling and healthier. Honestly its the best thing u will do/ ALSO its not such a big deal as many people make out.

At uni - a lot depends on your campus and what selection they have...if they don't have much then speak to them and bring about change via the union!

The things u probably need to try out are these - Rice, vegetable curry, naan, samosa's, spinach pie (omg this is so the best. You eat it and feel like pop eye!), soup and bread. Also always buy a dessert eg yogurt, orange, apple to go with it. I really like pineapple and cherry's...lol Finally drink fresh Juice not fizzy! Ideally buy mineral water too!

Other things to consider

- sandwiches - different types as can be baguettes etc but can have houmous instead of cheese or some have chutney (this is yuk!), some just margarine on its own - Wraps - I prefer these...once I had onion bhaji.....and erm cheesy wrap!

- Junk food - pizza, pasta, wedges, burgers and fries

- Hot food - panini, jacket potato and beans, spring rolls

lol erm ok I lie...wednesday I take off.....friday afternoons I take off too..... So i only go in Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and I can come and go when I want. So normally I stroll in around 11am and leave about 2pm. I take an hour or more off for lunch too!

So i only study 2 hours a day. But then thats why i cram...

If you wear a smaller gatra the kirpan stays close to ure body. Personally thats what I would do....

Also I know this is bad but I tend not to mention what I am carrying cos that way no one can make a fuss.

Normally this works except one day I went to a job interview to volunteer at a nursing home. I was wearing my kirpan and I tucked it and the gatra into my clothes so you could not see it. I got accepted and then as I was leaving there was this *thud*. Can you believe as I was leaving my kirpan had fallen out????

It looked so wrong....almost like I was hiding a knife to kill all the old people or something......i quickly picked up my kirpan and the ladys face was like frozen....I was like I am so sorry this is my religious symbol. I just carry it...

Once she got over the shock she was okay. So I think they should be okay if you explain you will wear a smaller gatra as its close to ure body...or like veerji said put a tiny kirpan in ure dastaar.

I know someone who is a singh, wears a dastaar etc but smokes...they are not a bad person and they have tried to give up smoking but its so addictive and they started when they were young......

So i guess we should be asking how and why did someone take this picture and whether this person is addicted and finds it difficult to give up.....just a thought.....

Also smoking is clearly wrong but the sad thing is that addiction and habits are hard to break. Thats why we should form good habits when we are young and we should strengthen our minds via meditation to break habits.

http://sikhclips.com/

(Just thought I shud put a clicky link in since admin missed it out). This thing is like a sikh youtube. lol

I'm a student and although people think we're lazy I reckon we work really hard compared to people who just have a job. We students go to 9-5 lectures, take work home and then do all nighters....not many employee's will put in so much effort!

My main paid work is teaching GCSE Mathematics in an inner city state school. I also help students with UCAS and medical personal statements..

theres so many posts that say 'i'm not surprised' and 'it happens all the time'... but, isn't that the problem?

another thing as sum1 else mentioned... just because he's wearing a pagh, it doesn't make him sikh... being a sardar in india is more of a 'fashion' thing then a religious thing nowadays, it seems..

I agree with Heera

Bhai Gopal Singh Ragi. Any of his recordings take me back to childhood.

Whenever I hear "Jis Da Sahib Dada Hoya" by Bhai Gopal Singh I remember our long and enjoyable car journies to visit our relatives in Leeds and London.

I really like that shabad too!! Anyone know the harmonium notation for it??

yep thats the one! Here is a pic of the book cover.

There was also another really cool book I bought around the same time I think it was called warrior-saints....but cannot remember cos I am not at home

I've seen that painting of the guru. .... It was in a book called 'The Arts of the Sikh kingdoms'. I bought it when I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum about 8 years ago. I think people should buy the book cos its written in proper english and they have alot of cool stuff.

He's the only one wearing sandals tho...also if I am correct Saropa is when u are presented with the kapra in darbar sahib and they do a jakaara. If ure not presented with the kapra then its a hazoriya.

ah I see.....I'm the only indian name on there....I wish more indian people wud post otherwise everyone is going to know my name!!

Today I heard two of my childhood kirtan tracks. I remember being about 3-4 years old when I used to play them continously and I got so happy.

So I thought hey I bet other people have had the same thing happen to them and everyone goes through a stage where they repeatedly like listening to the same track. So here are my two favourite childhood tracks...

1. Darshan Dijiye Khol Kiwar - Gopal Singh

2. Sabhai Ghat Ram Bolai - Amarjeet Singh Taan

I signed it....

I was just wondering why there were no other sikh names on it.....or are people calling themselves things like Jane Simond....

About the food....I know sher-e-moreau seemed rude but honestly its so much easier, tasty and healthier to take roti and sabji wid you. Hospital food is expensive and disgusting and if ure at a hospital like me then its jacket potato all the time with the odd days you eat a sandwich. If you carry on eating like this then u then end up constipated cos u not had enough fibre. Also oh yea malnutritioned!

There are 3 things we veggie people must be careful about. So we must have the below in our weekly diet.

1. Protein = lentils, nuts etc

2. Iron = saag, spinach salad etc

3. Vitamin B12 = Milk, lasi, dhai etc

I've taken sabji and roti to uni and its not a big deal at all. Also since ure getting up earlier in the morning you have the time to fit it in....it doesn't add anything on ure day. And I have found I can save time by eg.not going on msn which gives me at least 30 mins more time plus things like facebook and removing yourself off forums....I honestly believe we have a lot of time but we waste it..

ghabraao nah...Sikh Sangat te announce jaroor karaanga :2singh2:

Mehtab veeji if ure gna have a proper bana wedding can I please come??

I been wanting to see a sikh wedding for ages....and everyone keeps inviting me to the boring normal punjabi ones..... I promise I will be the perfect guest and I won't eat so u don't need to worry about not havin enuf food....please remember to send me email invite yea.

I think its all about knowing how you should behave. The first people to be blamed are the adults since they teach the children. So actually adults are the ones who should switch mobiles off and sit in darbar properly.

When I was little I was told how to behave in a darbar. I remember wanting to walk around the stage like the other little kids. But my mum told me that I should sit next to her and not move as we had come to see maharaj..I used to go punjabi class and most kids would go langar hall and I saw all my friends in the langar hall however my mum did not allow me to go out until diwan finished.

The difference now a days is children are not being taught which place they can meet sangat. In darbar we are not there to socialise...we are there to connect...socialising etc can be done outside.

The thing is my mum explained. Even though at the time I complained loads like how my legs were tired, how I did not understand or how other people were not doing it. My mum instead ignored all that and decided to teach me how to sit, how to fold my legs, where to put my hands, my head, eyes closed etc. Even in ardas she taught me the right way to stand. The amount of adults I see doing ardas in the wrong pose still amazes me today....

Anyways when I was little we used to be the last people to leave we stayed all the way till SGGS ji was put to bed. Langar hall would be empty by this point, sometimes no one to serve.....looking back it was this disipline which made me a sikh. When i first went gurdwara I did not understand what they said as they speak a different style of punjabi.

Being told a discipline of you must sit and stay till end made me listen, which then made me understand....its like how some people can understand hindi from watching lots of bollywood films. Likewise from repeated regular watching and listening I began to understand katha and my mum made it into a game cos on they way home she would ask me to tell her the katha....but this all happened very slowly and only due to the intial discipline.

I therefore do think parents should encourage their children to be the better one who sits. Its just like how parents encourage children to go school. When children go nursey they tend to cry alot. No parent considers that forcing or being strict likewise the same applies for diwan...knowing how to behave in darbar means you learn more and become a better sikh...just like how each parent will tell their child off when they are not doing well at school.

The last thing...classroom = to learn from our teacher. Darbar = to learn from our guru. Outside of school = to play, Outside of gurdwara = to play. I feel the crux of the matter is our attitude and understanding of darbar. We learn from childhood how to behave in a classroom, meeting etc....darbar is no different.

i dont usually wear my turban into theatre, i will just have a keski/patka on, over the top i will put one of them blue headgear bandana things (lol im not sure what exactly they are called but i will check 2moro) they are tied at the back. like penji above said, i want to wear something over my keski/patka because i dont want any blood to get on it (just incase)

ive seen a plastic surgeon singh who had his hair in top knot and didnt have a keski, but put one of these same blue bandana like things on and tied it at the back.

Its called a surgical cap....

For people on sikhsangat its not an actual cap....its like a blue cotton cloth....You can see some pics of different types here. One of our consultant wears a mickey mouse one. lol. http://images.google.com/images?q=surgical...sa=N&tab=wi The blue ones I wear in theatre are disposable so u wear it and throw it away!

I don't think its a problem I cover my head with it. I don't take my keskhi off, I just put it on top. I think people who wear dastaar however take their dastaar off cos the cap is too small...but I am pretty sure u can order bigger surgical caps...

Basically its to do with infection. So you protect ureself and the patient. Like about 3 weeks ago I was pulling out varicose veins and blood went into my face. Thankfully I wore glasses so it did not get into my eyes but I would rather cover my keskhi than get blood onto it. Imagine me walking out with patches of blood....

Anyways I don't wear dastaar...I wear a keskhi so maybe the singhs like malkeet can tell us what they do..

I'm a medical student too. If anything I think infection control is going to be an issue since u cannot wear anything below the elbows. We get told off for wearing shirts or tops if they are full arm length. Everything has to be half sleeved. You cannot wear watches, rings etc so kara might be a problem....So far I have not removed it and no one has said anything but when I scrub up I feel terrible for keeping it on!

I actually used to wear one normal kara and one mala kara but I stopped wearing the mala one cos its impossible to wash! Kirpan is not much of a problem however I do think dastaar might be problem in theatre. I wear a keski so the blue caps fit over the top. I spoke to a locum doctor and he said most of the singhs just remove their dastaar and keep their underneath keski and go into theatre.....but with me I don't see the point of wearing a dastaar cos u go to all that time and effort to tie and then u only end up wearing keski. I might wear dastaar next year and see what its like but so far only wearing keski...maybe if they had bigger blue caps you wouldn't have to remove dastaar!

About the army they are pretty clued up on sikh things. If you join their student officer group so you get a taste of what it is like beforehand plus they sponsor you. I would therefore join up now rather than later. I actually considered joining the air squadron.

I've been to hemkunt sahib. Its not open all year cos the peak is in the outer layer of the earth which means its oxygen levels drop! Not many people know this but this is the reason you cannot stay in hemkunt sahib in the night cos it almost touches space. Basically in the winter and night there is not enough oxygen. So the first thing to do is check openings. I think its open from June to October.....I went ages ago when everyone used to walk from the first gurdwara (gobind ghat i think) to the second one and then to the top. Now a days people drive to the second gurdwara and walk a little bit. Anyways I deffo recommend walking all the way.

Also make sure you inform the gurdwara you coming in advance so you can a get room to sleep in! Don't only see Hemkunt Sahib cos there are so many other things to see on the way. Firstly just getting to the location is a mission and you pass so many hindu shrines which are worth visiting.

Also be careful cos when we went there was a landslide and rocks came tumbling from above. It knocked our van but the van infront got hit the most cos it went plunging into the ganges and they all basically died. Our van tipped but we never fell into the water. The landslide basically blocked everyone going to hemkunt sahib or coming the other way. I then had to stay with the mountain people who were so nice (I got to meet their Guru who wore like Orange clothes and I even saw a tiger cos the landslide had disturbed it) We carried on our journey by fixing the road with mud etc....we were the first van to test out if it was stable enough to drive on cos no one else wanted to risk seeing if it was okay. Kinda mean but we had faith. It sounds scary but it was so amazing. Also all the views are so magnificant! I cannot describe it to you but I never seen anything like it.

When you go hemkunt sahib make sure u pass the valley of flowers. The flowers only blossom at a certain time so again find out optimum timings....and then make sure you look up weather etc cos when you go to the top of hemkunt sahib you want to see the 7 peaks as described by guru gobind singh in Bachittar Natak...when we went we could only see 5 peaks.

Also when you walk up make sure you look out for the tree the baba stayed in when he went to find the location of Hemkunt (I think its at gobind dham and they got a marble plaque labeeling it and a fence around it. lol) Also right next to hemkunt sahib gurdwara they have a TINY hindu temple where the pandav's from Mahabharrat are supposed to have done bhagati! Make sure you visit that too.....and oh yeah the water in the lake around hemkunt sahib is freezing. The men are lucky they can wash outside cos the women have to wash in this cave thing and the water inside the cave is much colder than the water outside. You hear the men complain the water is cold but I washed in both and the women's water is much colder! My mum goes say waheguru....I get into the water and my waheguru was like a scream cos it was colder than ice! lol.

Oh other things....take water with you and food. They also have huts where you can buy things on the way. Also the weather is really random. One minute its sunny and the next its pouring down with rain. We even had hail stones hit us and I have never seen hail stones in India...oh u can see snow on the peaks and edges. I would wear a rain coat so ure clothes dont get wet and also it gets cold so take gloves cos my hands were freezing! This nice man allowed me to sit next to the fire they used to make roti's but not everyone is allowed!

And one more thing cos u are going high altitude the body has less oxygen. In this state some people get sick and throw up. I didn't get sick but some of my family did so take some bags with you. Also I don't like the donkeys people sit on...one of the donkey's went a bit mad and came running into the food tent.....actually maybe it was hungry. lol...anyways when I walked up I tried to avoid being close to a donkey and also I tried to not walk next to the edge. Someone actually stood near the edge to take a cool pic (the scenery is amazing) but yea the edge gave way so be careful!

But other than that its amazing. I dunno what its like now but when I went everyone walked up and was japping naam the whole way and it was such a beautiful atmosphere. Also we got to see waterfalls and I discovered a trail of water and made it into a stream using a leaf and drank from it. Seriously it was like a mini adventure but if you just sit and drive up you don't get that so make sure you walk! I wish I could go again - it was so much fun!