TejS

Agreed. I've made that change to the list. Could you elaborate on what regions though?

This is my favorite rendition of Bhagat Farid's "Eh Doye Naina":

I basically said what you and a few others were saying, so I thought no point in repeating things over.

I'm from Canada, although live in the US. It seems that many Indian Sikhs from Punjab are coming to Canada by getting student visas by enrolling into community colleges such as Sheridan College for 2 year diplomas, and are able to secure PR (no greencard here) by working or getting married. That is the easiest way, and perhaps your only way. Look at the bright side though, you can continue on with your education, and perhaps start life anew in Canada.

retracted

The Path to a Sikh Renaissance I feel that we are in a dire need of a Sikh Renaissance, where Sikhs will be able to contribute to the world at their zenith. I believe we were heading to that point during Maharaja Ranjit's time but it dwindled from there on. I think that we as a community need a re-emergence, and realizing it and bringing it into reality should be our main and only priority for now. Hearing and seeing the Sikh youth in Punjab being gripped by drugs, and in certain parts of the Western world becoming unmotivated, and failing in life is disheartening to see. I think through the following steps, we can emerge as a powerful force, however it will take extreme strife. Here is what I think is needed: Sikhs need to spiritually reconnect with Sikhi Become entrepreneurial by creating new industries or by taking control of existing ones, as a means of gaining great economic resource which can then be channeled to the Sikh cause, think Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg type of entrepreneurial success and economic gain Put the Khalistan movement on the back burner for now, as it is only damaging and polarizing the community, and instead build ourselves up to a formidable level where we have a respected global image and can command power; and then bring back the movement through calculated ways and not martyrdom Refocus on being a Sikh, and not a Sikh-Hindu, and pledge allegiance to the Sikh cause by being a united community - agreeing on our future goals, this can only be done by having more parchariks like Jugraj Singh, and supporting them through economic resources which in itself can only be provided by entrepreneurial Sikhs mentioned in my second bullet point Having to set milestones and future goals such as Sikhs winning Nobel Prizes, Oscars, Pulitzer Prizes and etc. Encouragement for meaningful learning and education ( this is the need of the moment, why is it that most of the Sikh youth hates pursuing education, especially Sikhs from Punjab?); we need more Sikhs aiming for the Rhodes Scholarship Branch out into more reputable fields/industries - i.e. Science, Engineering, Medicine, Politics, Academia, Arts/Media, Technology, Business (this honestly is the crux of the Renaissance and I can see some of it already taking place in the Western world); I say this because most Sikhs join the Indian Army and most go for soldier as an occupation, but we need to step back and stop putting our lives on the line and instead need to focus on educating and securing our community through personal development Evolve and be more open - accept Sehajdari, Mona Sikhs, 3HO Sikhs, Sikh sects as a part of the community, the more the merrier, however gradually, with love, help them correct their ways Immigrate from Punjab to the Western world (however through legal means and with the intent of gaining meaningful education, i.e. studying at esteemed institutions in America/England/Canada and not some merit-less community colleges, and gaining reputable jobs), as this will allow Sikhs more global exposure and opportunity Increase our numbers through procreating more children or adopting children and raising them into the Sikh faith, and marrying out (i.e. bring spouses from other faiths/ethnicities into the Sikh fold through reason and willingness, not force like love jihad) Be clear in our focus, respect other communities, but do not advocate their causes (such as the Sikh Coalition standing up for Muslims and Hindus, this is not benefiting us) Reap the benefits of the system, and do not fight it or challenge it for the meantime, however retain allegiance to the Sikh cause (make use of the IITs in India, and Medical Colleges, and the student scholarships that send worthy students to Ivy Leagues); I think the Parsis have been most successful in this Become role models,and in turn inspire Sikh youth, and establish an encouraging network (often times the Sikhs that do attain success, are extremely averse against helping other Sikhs - this is wrong, as we need to create a community that encourages and supports individual success such as the Jewish people) Stop riding the coattails of our ancestors, and instead create new sagas of success in the present-day Uphold the warrior spirit, but put on a thinking cap so that communal decisions can turn out to be effective ones, and not ones that are conducted in the heat of the moment, which ultimately lead to little gain and more damage Revise Judeo-Christian influenced English translations of the GGS and translate the GGS into other major languages (Arabic, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish) and Indo-Aryan languages (Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Marwari/Rajasthani, Bihari, Nepali) to make Sikhism more accessible and understandable for those interested Removal of caste altogether (it has no place in Sikhism, and any pride on ones caste should be absolutely condemned and derided - more Singh/Kaur surnames, zero gotras, let's get out of this tribal thinking) Although I may have repeated myself a few times, this is what I came up with at the moment. Feel free to criticize, discuss and contribute your thoughts about improving the Sikh community. Apologies in advance, if I've offended anyone.

I think the greatest lessons to be learnt from the Khalistan movement are that we are firstly an extremely divided community, secondly an incompetent one, and finally that the movement is worthless in the present-day. Expanding on my first point, Sikhs don't know who they are! Sikhs face the biggest identity crisis in the subcontinent, even more so than Indian/Pakistani converted Muslims. How so? Well although Indian/Pakistani Muslims may claim they are descended from Arabs/Persians/Afghans, they are firm and sure on one thing, and that is that they're Muslim. Sikhs don't know what they are. Heck, my own extended family doesn't know what we are. They wear turbans, but celebrate Karva Chauth. They acknowledge the teachings of Guru Nanak, but accept that they are a branch of Hinduism. Until Sikhs don't align themselves with each other, no Sikh sovereignty related movement will flourish or go through. KPS Gill, Kuldip S Brar are examples of the confused Sikhs. My second point is one of extreme relevance. I think post 1947, Sikhs have become extremely incompetent. This is quite evident in the Khalistan movement. The martyrs were extremely motivated individuals, but lacked any communal support. There were no wealthy and powerful Sikhs to fund them, or any famous Sikh media personalities to rationalize and voice the Khalistani cause. This could be partly due to that fact that Sikhs are divided amongst each other, but I think its more likely that we didn't have any notable members in our community at that time, apart a from the odd one out, and still don't. We have no Sikh in academia, the arts and sciences, business, medicine. My last point follows my second point, the Khalistani seperatist movement, considering the current incompetent state our community is in, is worthless and should not be followed, promoted, or continued on with for the meantime. The problem with us, or perhaps its a quality of ours, is that we have always fought against the system, be it the Mughals, British and now the Indian gov't. Our community needs a breather. We need to rejuvenate, and come back stronger. I see so many of our youth waste their energy on the Khalistan movement, that I wonder had they done so much for their own personal development, perhaps they could have progressed further. We as a community are in desperate need of redirection, and I think that the direction has already been laid down for us, and that is the Jewish people. If you look at the Jewish diaspora, although it is half of our population, they command exceptionally far more power than our community, far more than the stalwart Christians, Hindus, and Muslims. They are in positions, and in roles in the US that not have only secured the socioeconomic status of American Jews, but has allowed them to make their voice heard. We need to emulate the accomplishments of the Jewish people, in fact apart from religious doctrine, we are not too different from them, we have been similarly persecuted as they are, and we've survived and that's what makes me hopeful that we can ultimately secure victory. We need to bring our arms down, and reconnect with Sikhi. Very few people are following the Sikhi enclosed within the Adi Granth. I saw Jugraj Singh as someone who was helping people to reconnect to Sikhi and its spiritual side, its unfortunate he left us so early. Getting back to my point though, is that we need more educated Sikhs, more Sikhs in power, not only in India (which I doubt ever happens, expect for puppets like Manmohan), but around the world that will allow our voices to be heard on the global stage. I see many Punjabi Sikh students immigrating to Canada, but most of them enroll into community colleges that give out degress that hold no merit. I honestly think Sikhs need to aggressively expand out of India, and settle in Western society where they can flourish akin to the Jews, however coming to community colleges won't help. I rarely see these students attend a top Canadian/American uni, very rare if none at all. Even Canadian/American born Hindus are far more educated than their Sikh counterparts, and this is worrisome for our community. We need Sikhs to branch out and attain power, and unfortunately I'm not wise enough to know how this will happen, but I do know this needs to happen. Sikh entrepreneurs, professors, inventors, celebrities, artists, physicians, lawyers, engineers will allow for more global exposure. Also, we need to be flexible. I often see us condemn 3HO Sikhs, or Nanakpanthis, however we shouldn't be doing that. We need to greet them with respect and love in order for their ways to be "corrected", and not just simply write them off. We also need to have more children, and I know many Sikhs are against this, but c'mon people, our numbers are dwindling. And for those that say the world population is already too much, well adopt children and raise them as Sikh. We need to increase our numbers by having more children, marrying out and bringing spouses into the Sikh fold through reason, and raising adopted Sikh children. Numbers go a long way in helping a movement be established. I hope I have not offended anyone with my perspective on this.