SikhRoots

Photos from a brilliant divaan in Ilford which took place on Friday night...

Sant Anoop Singh Jee (Una Sahib Wale) will be performing keertan in the UK during next month. For a full schedule of events, please see below or go to www.sikhroots.com

It will be quite an emotional tour for him as his mother passed away around the same time last year whilst he was in the United Kingdom.

SOUTH

Friday, 11th June 2010

Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Park Avenue, Southall 19:30 - 20:30

Saturday, 12h June 2010

Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Park Avenue, Southall 19:30 - 20:30

Sunday, 13th June 2010

Ramgharia Sikh Temple, Woodlands Ave, Slough 11:00 - 12:00

Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Park Avenue, Southall 13:00 - 13:45

Guru Nanak Darbar, King Street, Southall 15:00 - 16:00

Khalsa Centre, Upper Tooting Road, Southall 19:00 - 20:00

Monday, 14th June 2010

Singh Sabha, Havelock Rd, Southall 18:30 - 19:30

Singh Sabha, Alice Way, Hounslow 20:00 - 20:45

Tuesday, 15th June 2010

Singh Sabha, Havelock Rd, Southall 18:30 - 19:30

Singh Sabha, Alice Way, Hounslow 20:00 - 20:45

Wednesday, 16th June 2010

GNNSJ, Martindale Road, Hounslow 9:15 to 10:00

Singh Sabha, Alice Way, Hounslow 11:00 to 11:45

Singh Sabha, Park Avenue, Southall 1:00 to 1:45

Guru Nanak Darbar, King Street, Southall 15:00 to 16:00

Singh Sabha, Havelock Rd, Southall 18:30 to 19:30

Sikh Centre, Drayton Bridge Rd, Ealing 19:45 to 20:45

Thursday, 17th June 2010

GSGSS Havelock Rd Southall 18:30 to 19:30

Nanaksar Satsang Sabha. Knightsbridge Cres 20:00 to 20:45

Friday, 18th June 2010

Singh Sabha, Havelock Rd, Southall 18:30 to 19:30

Saturday, 19th June 2010

Singh Sabha, Park Ave, Southall (Morning Simran) 4:00 to 5:00

Singh Sabha, Havelock Rd, Southall 18:30 to 19:30

Sunday, 20th June 2010

GNNSJ, Martindale Road, Hounslow 11:00 to 11:45

Singh Sabha, Park Ave, Southall 13:00 to 13:45

Guru Nanak Darbar, King Street, Southall 15:00 to 16:00

MIDLANDS & NORTH

Monday 21st June 2010

Gurdwara Glasgow 19:00 to 20:00

Tuesday 22nd June 2010

Newcastle (same Gurdwara Last yr) 19:00 to 20:00

Wednesday 23rd June 2010

Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Sheriff Brae , Edinburgh 19:00 to 20:00

Thursday 24th June 2010

Sikh Temple, Chapeltown Road, Leeds 19:00 to 20:00

Friday 25th June 2010

Central Gurdwara, Derby Street, Manchester 19:30 to 20:30

Saturday 26th June 2010

Gurdwara Sri Guru Harkrishan, Kenilworth Dr, Leicester 14:00 to 15:00

Ramgharia Gurdwara, Graham Street, Birmingham 18:30 to 19:30

Guru Nanak Gurdwara, High St, Smethwick 20:00 to 20:45

Sunday 27th June 2010

Gurdwara Sahib, Tachbook Park Dr, Leamington Spa 10:15 to 11:00

Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Sedgley St, Wolverhampton 13:00 to 14:00

Nanaksar Thath, Mander Street, Wolverhampton 19:30 to 20:30

FINAL DIVAANS (SOUTH)

Monday 28th June 2010

Singh Sabha, Wilbury Way, Hitchin 19:00 to 20:00

Tuesday 29th June 2010

Ramgarhia Sabha, Hadrians Drive, Milton Keynes 7 to 8 pm

Contact : info@sikhroots.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please note the updated poster which reflect a few changes. Timings have been added where possible.

Please note the changes for this weekend as below :

Fri 21 May

8 - 9pm Gurudwara Singh Sabha, Ilford IG3 8SX Sikh Naujawan Sabha

Sat 22 May

10 -12pm Khalsa School Wexham Road. Slough. Berkshire. SL2 5QR

Sun 23 May

1pm - 2pm Sikh Centre Ealing Gurdwara, Swayers Lane, West Ealing, W13 0JP

3pm - 4pm Guru Nanak Gurdwara, King Street, Southall, UB2 4DQ

6pm - 7:30pm Guru Nanak Darbar Kent Kirtan Soc. Clarance Place Gravesend. DA12 1LD

Mon 24 May

(Evening) Gurdwara 2-8 Park Ave

We can also confirm that Bhai Sahib will not be at Hitchin Gurdwara on Mon 24 May / Tue 25 May 2010.

Unfortunately, due to a last minute rush for visas etc, the schedules are being finalised in the next few days. We will aim to keep updating sangat with the latest updates as much as we can.

Quite sad that it went un noticed.

Yes but you dont get the range of people on this forum to be able to use it as an credible source. It's like going to an atheist forum and asking them if God rules the world or not. Most of the people on here are "God-conscious" and if you refer to this forum as a source of such an opinion poll, people will laugh because they know what kind of people will already be on here and what their mindset would be. You would have to do a similar poll on a Punjabi forum like punjab2000 to be able to collate a credible opinion poll. Just some advice for you anyway.

Of course it should be amrit dhari Gursikhs and vast majority of Gursikhs and "moneh" will agree. Just dont see the point of the poll.

pointless

With the grace of the True Guru, Bhai Gurpreet Singh Shimla Wale will be in the UK in the next few weeks. Please see poster below - timings will be updated asap.

Facebook Artist Page : Click Here!

Final Poster for the event has been uploaded to sikhroots. This will be the only khulla-pandaar smagam this year in the United Kingdom as it seems EMCG will not be doing one in Loughborough this year. So please do try and attend and spread the word.

After Maharajs saroops were burnt in Bow, London last year, Sikhs around the UK and the world responded by protests and special sanskaar ceremony for the burnt saroops. What is happening here??

http://www.kolotv.com/news/headlines/93642249.html

Investigators say the fire that destroyed a Sikh temple in Reno Monday night may have been set to cover up another crime. For it's members loss of the building itself is only the beginning.

Fire engulfed the cinder block structure late Monday night leaving an empty shell.

Investigators believe burglars broke into the temple and a nearby home then set the fire to cover up their crime.

The next morning members of the small congregation gathered to survey the damage.

There was little left. The building gutted. Those who worshipped here for years suddenly lost without a spiritual home, but the cruelest blow was the loss of the temple's sacred books which Sikhs regard with special reverence. One temple member likened to it losing a beloved relative.

"You can't explain it," says Balwinder Singh. "It's like when my mom died several years ago, when I heard about this it hurt more. Other losses are recoverable through our insurance. This special loss is not."

New books will be escorted from another temple in Sacramento by a committee with considerable ceremony in the coming days. Their eventual destination is, for the moment, up in the air.

There is another Sikh Temple in Reno, but Singh says this congregation of 30 to 40 souls wants to stay together and there will be a Sunday worship. Just where that will happen still isn't known.

"Community halls, a friend or a members home. We don't know."

Among the offers of help received by the congregation--the use of a Unitarian Church in south Reno.

Eventually plans are to rebuild on thie Second and Locust site, perhaps using a temporary prefab building in the meantime.

One way or the other, Singh says, the community will stay and worship together.

Secret Witness is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible. Their number is 322-4900. Callers may remain anonymous.

The protest ended shortly before 12.30pm today. Kamal Nath did not turn up as the India Business Forum did announce yesterday. The turnout of protestors was 100+ we have been told. Not a bad turnout considering it was day time during the week, however, could have and probably should have been a lot more. But well done to the organisers of the protest for a successful campaign to stop his attendance and thanks to London Business School for respecting the wishes of the Sikh community, although they have not stated that it was for this reason that he did not attend.

Sikhitube was brilliant, have to admit. And was so popular.

A selection of audio recordings from the event are up on http://www.sikhroots.com

http://www.sikhroots.com/zina/Events%20and%20Programmes/2010/0509%20Jorh%20Mela%20-%20Annual%20Barsi%20of%20Jathedar%20Baba%20Chet%20Singh%20%28Southall%2C%20UK%29

It USED to be on Sikhroots veer jee! We just havent restored it after our servers went down.

If you want you can download it by going to www.sikhroots.com/requests and clicking on the video link.

Enjoy

Photos from the event : http://www.sikhroots.com/

Some beautiful keertan and great katha from chardi kalaa Nihang Singhs.

Just to add, I didnt see anyone there come to question the Nihang representatives as to why Santa Singhs barsi was being commemorated as Jagmeet Singh stated above. Too many internet warriors nowadays...

Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa. Vaheguru ji ki Fateh.

On BBC Watchdog show this evening (6th May 2010), they showed a "Rogue Traders" case where they went undercover to expose a guy who had been illegally clocking cars. This guy has been going around calling himself "Ashley Singh" - who you would think is of Sikh origin... but his real name is Bilal Ahmed - a MUSLIM.

I'm glad BBC Watchdog did expose them though as it showed them for what they really are. Trying to disgrace the name of Singhs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2010/05/car_clockers.html

Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa. Vaheguru ji ki Fateh.

Its seems the Behzti play which was banned after violent protests almost half a decade ago is coming back - with the backing of British theatres and media. It was an embarrassment for British theatre and now it looks like they will use the Behzti play to get back at censors. Why is Gurpreet Bhatti so hell bent on causing more distress and chaos with Sikhs? The resolve was simple - base your play in a Community Centre or other place rather than a Sikh place of worship which is sacred to millions of Sikhs around the world. People think Sikhs love picking up their swords and causing violence but we don't. We simply want to protect the sanctity of our faith and our Guru - Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee - which resides in every single Sikh Gurdwara.

How many times do you hear of rape at a Sikh temple? How many such cases have ever been reported or heard of? Maybe isolated incidents have happened but very few and very rare. There is no justification for this play at all and Sikhs need to begin a legal challenge NOW rather than getting to a point we did those few years ago at the REP theatre in Birmingham.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/may/05/behzti-no-longer-taboo

Behzti Is No Longer Tabboo

Last Friday, British theatre took a small step in the direction of free speech. At the Soho Theatre, in the heart of London's west end, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's Behzti was performed in the UK for the first time since it was controversially cancelled in 2004.

Let us be clear: this was no great stride for freedom, more an anxious shuffle. The performance was a rehearsed reading, not a full production, and received no publicity whatsoever. It was completely absent from the theatre's website, and was only advertised to those who had been to see Behud, Bhatti's most recent play. Buying a ticket felt a little like purchasing bootleg liquor from under the counter, and the atmosphere in the auditorium was, I imagine, how dissidents must have felt in the 1640s, when religious puritans closed the theatres and drama was performed illegally. Proper free speech has to be more open than this.

However, at the start of the performance, it became clear just how necessary and important this toddler's step was to those who lived through the panicked, abrupt cancellation of 2004. I was surprised to hear Janet Steel, the director of the original production, say that she "thought this day would never come." To an outsider, this modest reading was hardly radical. But to those who were threatened, who witnessed the picket lines first-hand, it is as if the cancellation happened yesterday. The first impressive thing about Friday's reading was how many of the original cast had turned out to revive the script.

The performance revealed just how essential it is to the piece that it is set in a gurdwara. The rapist, Mr Sandhu, has built the temple, and is responsible for extending it. His office is his lair, and he derives his power over the other characters when he is in it. Choose any other setting (as some have suggested) and the key dynamic simply doesn't work.

Behzti is often referred to as "that Sikh play", a phrase which suggests a comparison with "The Scottish Play" (indeed, it has a lot in common with Macbeth, including a heightened realism and off-stage murders). This label suggests that it is for the Sikh community alone to determine its worth and relevance. This is a mistake – sexual abuse is, sadly, universal. For example, scenes from Behzti were mirrored in Two Women, which has just finished a run at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. In that play, too, we see the complicity of women in the perpetuation of the abuse cycle. And we all know that child abuse and even murder within a church setting is a long established theme for drama. Behzti is a visceral play that the British public, all of us, deserves to see.

Six years after its abortive first production, Behzti still feels current and relevant. The actors turned in a robust delivery with very little time to rehearse, as if they were picking up where they left off. They have reinforced the artistic case for a proper revival.

Over the past five and half years, all other barriers to a remount have also crumbled. The blasphemy argument is as incoherent now as it was then. Even in 2004, there was no consensus among Sikh commentators as to whether the play was an insult to the religion. Since then, the very idea that blasphemy is a reason for censorship has been discredited. After Behzti, controversies over the Danish Muhammad cartoons, and the protests surrounding Jerry Springer the Opera have tested the public's patience on the issue of "offence". Public opinion is now firmly against censoring art for religious reasons, and it is now broadly accepted that faith remains strong even when religion is criticised. Even the hotheads who might disagree in principle know that, in practice, peaceful protest and counter-speech are more effective than threats. The violent demonstrations outside the Birmingham Rep are a thing of the past.

Moreover, the police have shown unequivocally that they are prepared to guarantee the safety of the theatregoers at controversial performances. For Behud in Coventry, the West Midlands police force took this issue extremely seriously, and allocated their staff accordingly, at no charge to the theatre. They have offered to do the same for future controversial productions.

Most importantly, Bhatti herself is positive about a revival of Behzti. In past years, she was (understandably) reticent about new productions. But on Friday evening she said to me that she "would love to see a new production".

For too long, the British theatre community has been embarrassed by the Behzti affair. Its response to the crisis was positive but far too slow. Half a decade later, theatre directors can no longer wish the play into obscurity – its continued censorship is a boil that must now be lanced. The only barrier that now remains is the British theatre community itself, which needs to purge itself of the cowardly and ignorant assumption that the play is still "off limits".

No more of this apathy. Let it be known that, as of last Friday, this excuse of last resort has been demolished. Behzti is no longer taboo. It can be performed, properly and publicly. What are we waiting for?

The Matrix Trilogy. The entire trilogy is just amazing.

Audio Download : http://www.sikhroots.com/?p=Events%20and%20Programmes/2010/0424%20Kirtan%20Darbar%20%28Woolwich%2C%20UK%29&option=com_zina&Itemid=51

Photos :

VJKK VJKF

We noticed the links above do not work. Therefore SikhRoots sevadars have uploaded the english version of "Se Kinehiya" (Biography of Sant Baba Harnaam Singh Ji) online.

You can listen to the audiobook chapter-by-chapter : http://www.sikhroots.com/?p=Audiobooks/Se%20Kinehiya&option=com_zina&Itemid=51

OR download the book in PDF : http://www.sikhroots.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=73&Itemid=76

vjkk vjkf,

All the photos/Audio from the Vaisakhi Divaans yesterday, are up online here:

http://sikhroots.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1241:vaisakhi-day&catid=8:featured

aman are you funding sikh tv through your connections in GOI, RAW, RSS, Illuminati and <insert-other-conspiracy-theory-organisation-here>?

Haha oi u, I wasnt the one accused of running an RSS site lol

but yeah, me, GOI, RAW, RSS, Illuminati, Taliban, Al Quaeda and the ones who killed Princess Diana all decided to form an alliance Our adventures will soon be published in a comic book series too.

lol if u do, u know more than me bruv. I'm surprised it took someone this long to start up a new sikh tv channel. Expect many more to come, im sure ...

lol@AvnitK ... yeah sorry man. busy times in this dark age. its a shame though sikh channels are only coming out now near the end of the television era when 3DTV is around the corner. Better late than never?

aman, u wont guess who i am? remember when u came to record harbans singh at gng smethwick , for sikh channel live... im that "photographer"

ok now back 2 topic

Ahh. NO idea bruv. It dont ring a bell at all. I cant remember everyone I meet lol. I need to download some brain training games I think

lol if u do, u know more than me bruv. I'm surprised it took someone this long to start up a new sikh tv channel. Expect many more to come, im sure ...

lol@AvnitK ... yeah sorry man. busy times in this dark age. its a shame though sikh channels are only coming out now near the end of the television era when 3DTV is around the corner. Better late than never?