Jai Tegang!

I think they had little option but to surrender given hardly anyone is coming out in solid support, all groups seem to be soft-peddling around. Without wanting to dimish their service, I think the nihangs shouldn't have individualized the act, they should have let it be a mob act ( I believe they have a similar law like the one you mentioned for UK). It's a sad repeat of Jan.26th aftermath when Deep Sidhu and Lakha were made scapegoats. These kisan leaders are true to their commrade roots and never stand with the panth when it matters.

Very humbling observation brother. I appreciate your perspective.

No kidding bro. Any future potential jobers are going to instictly rub their wrists in the future.

The BJP and indian media are spinning this to be a dalit hate crime....completely ridiculous. The fauja are by and large made up of Mazabi Singhs (Dalits). The fauja don't live in fear of the corrupt law, they answer to a higher authority. They own very little and don't have the same economic considerations when taking these kinds of actions. Another thing, that lakbir mentioned there were a total of 20 of them hired to instigate and cause beadbi, im sure the remaining 19 won't want to carry through now. This beadbi trend is out of control simply beacause we have a huge tolerance level. Why this beadbi doesn't happen at hindu mandirs or at mosques, i wonder? Each time a culprit is caught, he/she happens to have "mental illness". I wonder why. I bet the beadbi inccidents are about to come down now.

I think you’ve zeroed in on the bullseye there. If you look at all of our current anxieties and problems, the root is stagnation of effort and inability to constantly adapt and recalibrate our strategies. We keep trying to do the same thing and expect same outcome while those at the forefront of power have moved miles ahead. Same type of parchar methods aimed at uneducated rural folks. Non utilization of Gurdwara institution for village level learning. Why are sikh parents in punjab aspiring to send their kids to convent or DAV schools when the Gurdwara should be the center of learning? You see the same in agriculture. People keep planting the same devastating crops, which the markets don’t even want due to excess production, and howl and complain when the inevitable happens. Then we complain that Punjabi hindus control the cities. Well, they get educated and join the market driven economy and prosper, while our village kids pursue an entitled fairy-tale lifestyle with devastating consequences. It’s a cold harsh truth, all the more evident when these same kids make it to the west and start pursing the exact thing they scoff at back home….hard work. I’m often reminded of Dashmesh Pita’s hukam to the sangat for the best in weapons and horses. The best in literary pursuits, the best in war strategy. Guruji made efforts to make their founded cities as economic hubs by building simple structures for shopkeepers and even providing start-up capital for trades people. They had an excellent collections system to fund the fauj. A system pointing to long term prosperity and security, even if requiring immediate sacrifice. We just need to stop falling behind now and wake up to where the world is, especially our people in Punjab. It’s all doable stuff. Like @dallysingh101 you've pointed out, we’ve made it through far worse periods. We should be at the forefront of weapons technology, economic models, social policy.

^^^ It solves a few problems doesn’t it. Sikhs get to channel their warrior energies for india’s security. Getting killed by islamists helps keep the cross-border bhaichaara in check. More sikhs getting killed doesn’t hurt to lower the demographics of these pesky “jarai pesha kaum” aka criminal tribe.

I hope he has an old fashioned wooden seat instead of the metal ones at some of our rest-stops on the highways.

Plus, white dress makes them look darker, so they like the colors.

French clergy sexually abused over 200,000 children since 1950, probe finds https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/france-clergy-abuse-1.6199877 Sexual abuse of children by the "religious" is more common than many would naively believe. Well intentioned people feel their own group is immune to this kind of stuff and end up putting themselves or their children in harms way. They end up worse than non-religious or semi-religious people and really struggle to make sense of faith, divinity, culture. I've seen the havoc it unleashes on decent people. I'm very sure there are plenty of sukha singh types lurking around waiting their chance. I think it's a multitude of variables around these types including suppressed homosexuality, unfulfillment of sexual desire for those coming from celibate denominations, being away from the wife too long on their preaching tours?, unable to find a suitable spouse while being surrounded by fawning youngsters. We need to get over the shock aspect. This is man's dark nature in play. It happens, has happened, and will continue. It would do us a world of good to actually read CP [after reaching age of maturity, lol] and come to terms with the dark side.

@dallysingh101 Thanks for that link. I might also start using kindle reader or something considering the savings and ease of sharing, like you mentioned. I know what you mean about the small number of prints, it's very common for Panjabi books. I knew an acquaintance who studied literature in a punjab college and he says there have been good punjabi authors with decent material that will never go beyond the college libraries. These authors have to gift their books because there is no audience for it.

Other than the pdf link, is there a print version available on some site? I guess I'm still old skool with a preference for hard copy.

It would be a great to have an internalized, well networked, match-making service available for all ages and lifestyles within our community. Something that goes beyond shaadi.com and instead becomes an essential first step to finding a suitable partner. Better matches and fewer frustrated singles.

Manoj Singh Duhan makes excellent points. Western UP, Haryana, Northern Rajathan have received great exposure to Sikhi ideals in action thanks to the farmers protest. The farming communities in these states can coalesce around a distinct socio-religious identity and become a major force of power in India. Having Punjab+Haryana+Western UP+Rajasthan in some type of alliance, with Sikhi being the long term glue, would be a game-changer.

It will sound controversial, but I think our biological age for pairing, the late teen years, is the ideal time for getting married, or at least roka/engaged. The couple can live together, study, work, and eventually start a family by the time they reach their mid-twenties. Instead of fighting the tide, it’s better to surf it. Kids spend their prime sexual years engaging in wasted pleasures that still leave them at square one when they hit their late 20’s. All that time could have been spent maturing and satisfying their urges in a controlled and fruitful bondage. The older we get, the more difficult it is to pair up. Our expectations keep getting more refined and unreasonable, and past sexual adventures only screw up emotional pairing further. The other benefit I see from early hitching is that family can re-enter this traditional space like the old days and find matches for their children. I think the western model of chance is bullc&@p. We had better success in the old ways. Now you have kids and families with increasing anxiety as the kids edge towards their 30’s with no end in sight. We’ve changed the starting line way too far up.

I’ve never come across an apana that brings any trade skills from Punjab when they come over either as students or through marriage. Driving a tractor-trolley is probably the only skill they can transfer over to, perhaps, trucking, lol. They don’t really value quality trademanship over there from what I’ve seen. You get hacks and jugaadis doing odd jobs around the pind with more artistic trades being brought in from other states (at least that’s what I saw from the few villages I visited). I didn’t see construction companies comparable to even the small-sized ones apaney often start here in Canada, and probably same for UK. The bigger construction projects like roads and towers (in Mohali) appeared to be run by non-punjabis, including the labor. Vast number of apany fall into trades when they arrive here, yet they never bother learning these skills from back home, instead they pursue useless degrees that have no value here or in their native place. There’s no career counselling and diversification in the schooling system. Kids go through the system for the sake of it, not to actually pick up skills they could use in their local economy

That is THE most contributing factor for reduction in children, in combination with the lower stigma with using birth control in our community (relative to other Indians). Also, partition terminated the Jatt expansion in the canal colonies and left us with smaller land holdings and less fertile options (like Rajasthan). This meant we could only squeeze out 1-2 generations post-partition of large families with secure land holding transfers with expansion potential. The situation now is that most land holdings are already quite small and farming families know there is no chance of maintaining their economic status without finding a job in the city. So, whether they have 2 kids or no kids, their fortunes are stunted unless they create businesses or expand their skills. In this sense the other castes are doing quite well in fact. They have their businesses that are generating decent steady incomes and easier opportunities for growth (easier to open up a small shop than it is to purchase enough agri land for sustainable income). I’ve seen in my own ancestral village where the dalits have opened up small shops in front of their homes or have ventured out into nearby townships and started small businesses. Quite remarkable actually as they’ve managed to eclipse the stagnant jatt families.

Having 3 children families is very attainable for our community and would reverse our downward slide. We have to create a social acceptance and hold it as the ideal instead of the current 2 child norm most follow. Having more kids would also increase the social networks that will otherwise shrink quite dramatically after the boomers go boom. More populated families bring a certain rejuvenation and ripple affect that sort of alleviates certain pessimisms that are plaguing our more isolated and diminishing households. I’ve seen this both here in the west and back in Punjab. Bigger the families, the more camaraderie and optimism.

The pragmatic and balanced lifestyle that encompassed a spiritual grounding coupled with razor sharp wits to engage with your actual social environment is what I’ve come to see as the ideal Sikh from studying the lives of Guru Sahibaan and early Sikh lives. Guru Sahibaan never left spirituality in the abstract domain. It was practiced in a practical manner through all of life's tribulations (more so than many of us will ever encounter). We seem to have skewed our focus by failing to contextualize outlier historical occurrences and this has led to all sorts of dead-end efforts where we feel like things just haven’t worked out in spite of following the xyz of this or that parcharik/baba. A whole business has spawned to cater to this offering of an unbalanced, dependant, fear-induced, a-historical, and frankly weak version of the Sikh as opposed to the fear-less, independent, visionary, spiritually fulfilled Sikh built over two centuries by Guru Sahibaan.

Just thought I would translate some of the highlighted parts from these snapshots. -Sikhi is diminishing and very few practicing sikhs will remain in the future -There will come a time when over four new ideologies will emerge on a daily basis. Sikhs will jump from one ideology to the next. Be it Bhasauria, Radha-Soami, Kuka, Communist (as examples). -People will be easily lured away from their religion -Master Tara Singh is misleading the Sikhs, just like Gandhi. Also, we don’t call him Mahatama as he has no such quality. The people that are blindly following Gandhi and hoping for indepednece will lament one day and feel the British Raj was comparatively better. -These Topi waley will not let you [sikhs] cause any commotion (meaning they will suppress you) -Naam is becoming rare. Hold on to it for your survival. It will flourish one day in the future -Don’t align with any political party -With time, a great man will come who will, with his shakti (power) make these [Indian rulers] bow down. After this a long-lasting rule will start [of the Sikhs]. Gurmukhi letters will be supreme. The counting of 13 will commence [ I believe this refers to a benevolent social structure]. The Parkarma at Harmandir Sahib will be expanded 2 or 3 times its; current width [ hinting at a surge in new Sikhs]. Even the lighting lamp posts will be adorned in gold.

I was under 10 when I came here. I always found the non-religious gurmukhi literature very simplistic and difficult to engage my interest with, so i mostly stuck with Gurbani, steeks, sant-books.

inbetweener. I was a native speaker who migrated early and completely forgot it all. Re-learned it from scratch in later years. Developed a great deal of love and admiration for Gurbani's poetic value and grammar. The contemporary Punjabi works feel too dry and dull and appear as an attempt at "aglicizing", or almost mentally translating, the Punjabi style of writing, imho. if that makes sense?

there are quite a few gramatical errors, not sure if this is just the rough draft? Sounds very bland and simplistic, tbh.

Promotion of promiscuity, inter-religious marriage of a minority group’s women is an ideal way of obliterating their demographic growth and leading to eventual assimilation. Bollywood loves to show sikh women with turbaned fathers and brothers falling in love with hindu men through daily soaps and films. There was an outcry from the left-media in India when that Kashmiri sikh girl was rescued from her pedo muslim neighbour who had been eyeing/grooming he since she was 14 ! What this Simrin Kaur has sung is not exactly the smoothest way of confronting this social danger, but nonetheless, it’s her own blunt and best effort and needs to be supported for the right reasons. I don’t like most of the music bhangra movies from Punjab, it all looks sounds garbage to my senses, but the issue is important enough that we should have intelligent arguments in place. There are hordes brainwashed apnay apania [including in punjab] who have jumped on this liberal wagon and are blindly headed for the cliffs. These people need a serious jolt of intelligent confrontation to knock some sense back in.

Do you think that was the case for that Amir Dhaliwal fella above? It's almost like he was just distracting with the sikhi saroop, perhaps as part of a plan with his fellow perverts.

The Pakistanis in Canada are not the same composition as UK. As far as I know, the UK has a large percentage, if not majority, being mirpuris, whereas here in Canada it's mostly punjabi pakis. Also, Calgary has a large ahmadyyia muslim population, which is a more docile and integrated group. The pakistanis in Canada also appear to have come from a more educated class (based on my own personal and business interactions) as compared to the UK. Definitely need to keep our collective guard up with them, no doubt. This predatory behavior has a basis in their religious doctrine and culture; the right circumstances brings it out. We need to maintain our reputation and drill it down that our girls are off-limits.