Ranjeet01

In my observations, a lot of males will train individually or with a gym buddy particularly when you need someone to spot you. Females prefer group training, things like boot camp or circuit training. There are a growing number Sikh female personal trainers who offer these services.

I am bit of a science fiction buff and there has been a lot of books and films about Artificial Intelligence whether it is Isaac Asimov, Battlestar Galactica, Terminator etc. As the world advances technologically, it may be a matter of time before we have a sentient, intelligent being. Human beings would claim they created this and would claim they are God, but would it not be part of Maharaj's hukam. As a Sikh, it makes me wonder whether a potentially Artificial Intelligence would make a better Sikh than us humans because they may not be able to feel emotion and they may not be susceptible to the five vices. However, if they have no emotions how would experience Anand (bliss) from Naam. It is always claimed that only as humans can we break the cycle and achieve Mukhti, because we are the highest life form but will this be the case with an Artificial Intelligence that maybe able to overtake and transcend us. Your thoughts please.

I find that quite strange how in a Gurdwara how everyone is supposed to be equal and there should not be any segregation. Why do women of the subcontinent feel the lack of confidence to do anything that they need to be segregated yet at the same time demand equality? Join your brothers in the gym and train!

Nothing stopping the bibian from using the gym if they wanted to.

The question is then why does the Hindu value the Indian Muslim over the Sikh despite all the sacrifices that Sikhs have made. I guess the expression " Those that bites the hand that feeds them often lick the boots that kick them" comes into play with the Hindu mindset.

That is incorrect. The building was never pulled down because I know the trading estate in Slough very well. It is the same glass building it was when it used to be citreon. The building is owned by SEGRO if I am not mistaken and I think the building is probably been leased out. What they have done is refurbish from the inside. Because it used to be a head office, it was probably used to be open plan office which would explain why the Darbar Hall is so huge. The thing is though, the building is split into two sections. The part of the building that holds The darbar hall and langar hall is in the back section. The other section at the front I think they will use for courses such as City and Guilds.

Can you elaborate further how a sehajdhari or a new convert is not made to feel welcome in a Gurdwara? Is there someone stopping a sehajdhari or new convert doing seva or matha tekhing or sitting down in the darbar hall to listen to a katha or to kirtan or doing naam simran? Are they not allowed to partake in langar?

The new Gurdwara is not newly built, it is on the old HQ of Citroën. However, the Darbar Hall is huge, it makes Havelock look tiny in comparison.

Going back to the topic, here are some interesting views from a renowned economist Thomas Sowell (who happens to be black) about race, discrimination regarding blacks. https://youtu.be/V6ZPg6kOBkc

What the white does fear from the Asian is that we belong to an ancient civilisation and we have a culture of learning and intellectualism. The white man has been in the ascendency since they had their "enlightenment " where they no longer shackled to the church and were able to appropriate a lot of eastern concepts and digest it as their own. However I think they know deep down that the East will eventually take over and take their rightful place in leading the world. What can be learnt from the white man is their record keeping, attention to detail, organisation and efficiency.

We know that the Somali population is much higher. What would be interesting is to see the split between owner occupier and rentals (through private rental/social housing).

The Irish in the USA were not considered white in the 1800s. They were considered lower than blacks and we're compared to apes.

What proportion of the Muslim community in Southall is Somali? What proportion of Southall is made up of Asylum Seekers/refugees.

What you might notice is that Iver and Richings Park is East of Slough and Sikh residents from Langley and other parts of Slough will also be moving to Iver, what you will have is the joining up of the West London and Slough communities which would mean continuous stream of Sikhs along the M4/Bath Road corridor. The other factor that may potentially impact the Sikh community is the uncertainty over Heathrow Airport, particularly over it's future and the third runway. If the third runway is built, there is going to be a sixth terminal and there may be a major upheaval and movement of people in the areas north of the A4. How this will impact the Sikh community I cannot say.

Sikhs in West London send their children to schools outside their boroughs. I had a cousin in East London who sent her kids to school to another area. This is happening already.

I think a lot of Sikhs have a dilemma. 1.)There is a group of Sikhs who would think that having a Sikh stronghold or a highly concentrated areas of Sikhs where we would feel safer in numbers in case the sh** hits the fan. 2.)Then there is another group of Sikhs that would think that is not the right way and that we should spread out far and wide and mix and mingle. The propenents of the first point would think that the propenents of point 2 are spread far too thin and will leave themselves exposed and unprotected. I know that some prominent Sikh figures on social media have mentioned it would be better if the 15000 Sikhs in Paris were concentrated in one area rather than being spread out particularly after the recent attacks. The propenents of point 2 would argue that the proponents of point 1 are far too insulated and isolating themselves from the rest of society and this alienation will cause greater problems in the future. The Sikh answer to this dilemma is there needs to be some kind of balance. Though I agree with some of Dally's sentiments, I think that as a community we have moved on from that kind of thinking. My father and relatives were involved in the Southall riots in 1977 and 1981 and some of our people are still stuck in the 1980s, problem is that it is now 2015. That is over 30 years ago. Since then we've had new generations born in this country and they are not going to share those same views because those older generations have made sure that their children and grandchildren do not have to go through what they had to endure. We are no longer a working class blue collar community we are increasingly a middle class or at least an aspiring middle class community.

I think they get more hours of sunshine. Canadians are a friendlier bunch than the Brits on average. You can strike up a conversation with a complete stranger (even on public transport ), if you did that on the London tube people will look at you funny.

The types of Jews you mention in Stamford Hill are a particular type of Jew, the Ultra Orthodox Hasidic Jew. There are different levels of Jews and from conversations from some observant jews (though not ultra orthodox) say that these types of Jews do not like to mix with other types of Jews let alone with the Goyim. They do not take up normal jobs which would mean they would mix with others. However, it would interesting to study Jewish migration patterns. A lot of Jews moved from areas of East London to North London to areas such as Golders Green, Finchley and Edgware/Hendon. Now they seem to moving towards Hertfordshire to places like Borehamwood. One of the ways Jews keep their areas Jewish is when a Jew moves out of an area, the other Jews chip in and buys their house and then ensures that they sell the house to another Jew. Do you honestly think any Sikh would do that? There is an issue with the folks moving into areas like Hoxton, Brixton where areas are becoming gentrified which means that normal working class people who have lived in the area for years are being priced out. Then you have the issue (particularly in London) where these trendy flats get bought up by foreign investors and then they are left empty. To keep a Sikh stronghold like you mentioned, how would you structure the neighbourhood? I think having a Gurdwara would be central, what other factors would you need to consider?

Grey cloudy weather with no sunshine for days can seriously impact apneh in the UK. I suspect the lack of Vitamin D makes them more miserable.

Khoon My observation in when going to places such as Missassauga is that it is in fact a city in itself with over half a million people and parts of it are very condo-fied (high rise apartments/flats) particularly since it would be closer to down town Toronto. If there are any Sikhs living in Missassauga they would more likely live in the outskirts, suburban areas bordering towards Brampton/Peel/Vaughan. Sikhs don't do condos, they prefer proper houses with basements which they can rent out. The Pakistanis that move into these areas only are picking up Sikh hand me downs. It is a similar pattern you see in the UK. I think the other factor people forget that the Muslim population is made up of dozens of countries whereas Sikhs come from one predominately area. One of the advantages of Canada you have compared to the UK is that you have space But I think that Canada does integration a lot better than a lot of countries. Went to Yorkdale mall (in Toronto area) and there were a lot of youngsters around. Black, white, Chinese and Indian. They were all mixing, not a hint of segregation. Very refreshing to see.

I think most Western countries have a quite a lot of Somalis. I am sure the likes of Holland and Sweden probably have a good understanding of the Somalians population too. I am sure Sikhs in Southall and Hounslow would think they have a good understanding of Somalis, living amongst them for the past 20 years.There are a quite a lot of Somalis in Minnesota too and they are not looked upon very kindly. They are quite problematic particularly with the African American community. It would be interesting to see what Jamaicans in Toronto think of Somalis in Canada. I would guesstimate that their opinions would not be too different from their Afro-Caribbean brothers in London. I personally have no issue with Somalis, but having observed them for 20 odd years, there does not seem to be much progress in terms of their community and most of them seem to stuck on welfare. This is just my observation. I would agree that UK Sikhs can be a bunch of whining babies, but that is probably because we live in a country of complainers. I get involved with a few Sikh initiatives in my local community and you hear a lot of complaints but very few of these complainers pull out their finger and do something about it.

The UK for the most part have good race relations (in my opinion). The Sikhs in the Uk get on with everyone (as it is with our relatively open friendly nature). We have had problems with certain segments of the Pakistani population but then again who hasn't in the UK. When you bring your clannish behaviour combined with an expansionist supremacist ideology, it's going to cause problems. For a lot of Sikhs in the UK in many cases, living in an area with less muslims improves your quality of life. With Somalis, no Sikhs per say has any direct issues with them but they are even more disliked by other black populations (Afro-Caribbeans and West African such as Nigerians). They do not seem to be a progressive people, they are still stuck in their tribal ways. They do not share the same values as us such as a work ethic and to improve your lot. After 20+ years living in parts of West London they are still on welfare.

We are closer as a community when it is necessary to do so. I think familiarity breeds contempt in a lot of cases.

I did some survey/petition work at my local Gurdwara and it was quite interesting findings when we collected the data and did some statistic work. What we found was Sikhs in our local area tend to live in the suburbs and the outskirts/peripheries of town. You have several clusters where they may be slightly more heavily populated but it seems to be spread throughout. We do not tend to ghettoise ourselves too much as we think. What was also quite surprising is that there are still quite a few Sikhs living in what would be deemed as traditional areas (the clustered areas), these would be the more recently arrived Sikhs. The more established Sikhs (the second/third generation Sikh) would move into the more affluent leafy villages on the outskirts of town. What you also find is that some of the older generations prefer to stay in the older traditional areas because they are near the shops and gurdwaras, however their sons and daughters have moved out to the leafier suburbs and nearby villages. These are some of my anecdotal observations.

When you lose the white people in your neighbourhood (older ones in particular) you lose the sense of civic pride in the area. They are ones who would set up Neighbourhood watch, harass the local authorities to remove garbage, notify authorities when someone has parked illegally. Our people do not tend to do things like that, only when absolutey necessary. The problem you have with our people is that when they move on, if they can help it they would rather not sell and instead put the the place on rent. And if they sell to another apnah, it is strong likelihood they bought it to rent out. I think that is where the trouble stems from. If you are an owner-occupier you tend to have more care, but once you move out and rent, you just care about the money from the rent. You then think of it as a money making enterprise where you want to maximise profits, and housing associations offer more money to rent it out and you have unsavoury characters come in and the whole area goes to pot.