Seperation Amongst Our Community

[cute_kaur]

Hi,

I have today been having a discussion with a guy who I would of said is the same as u or I!!!

But he was saying that he is not the same, his people have been beaten up cause of what he is, goin back to his great great grandparents, great grandparents, grandparents and parents have been treated.. That even now in this present day bot he and his people are being treated in the same way. They are beaten, there women are killed and raped. :o His father was told to sit in the corner of a langar hall cause he was seen as "diffenrent"..

I was mortified to what i was being told and immediatly felt that i needed to justify my own actions, I had to sit back a bit and think I have said nothing bad to him and still respected what he had to say.. i asked him if he should be seen different to me??

"under the umbrella of sikhism which has beeen a failure to my people i am seen as what i preach to younger ones as a '2nd rate sikh' , so if i said im sikh...im different (chumar are indigenous people)"

I asked him if they go to the gurdwara and he said he goes to the temple... I was sooo confused....

What i was trying to expalin to him was what i understood abt Sikhi and those that abuse and reject ppl arent infact sikhs they are jus mere punjbais... at the moment i could go on and on talking abt this...

But for now I would like to hear from sangat in ther views as I have never heard of any such thing occuring,.. I alwayd thoughtthat everyone was equal.. then why has this individual got soooo much hate... ???

I applogise for anything that i may have sed thats out of line...

[guptveer1469]

This is soo common... Especially in our area of Doaba in Punjab and Doabi people... They r so racist people...

now that many sikhs are in west and many are immigrating to west, this problem is much less here... in india (punjab), howhever there are still seperate cremation places, gurdwaras and streets for chamars and the high caste!

[Nehmat]

waheguru...

I think I know your feelings that you must have "currently"...

These feelings will just leave you exhausted and frustrated...nothing else...

You'll begin to hate Sikhs whom you referred to as Punjabi people...

Bibi not all people are the same...just try to understand this...

If you really feel bad for this "guy" do Japji Sahib for him 5 times, at least...

[cute_kaur]

but why is this,.. i havent seen this here in the uk or is it because i dont look at sumones caste that it goes ober my head... surely there should be something that can be done not to have such segregation ????

[Matheen]

If he's telling the truth then what happened is wrong. Sikhi preaches equality and those who discriminate according to caste aren't following Sikhi.

Saying that, how was his father identified as being 'chamaar' when told to sit in the corner of the langar hall? Sikhs and non-Sikhs eat Langar everday in Gurudwaras across the world and they sit in Pangat with everyone else. Why would his father be any different?

[cute_kaur]

Yes i am currently really gob smacked because i dont understand this!! It just doesnt happen is all i can think.. and in regards to his dad it was in a village in india/punjag god knows... this guys dad actualli told him he isnt sikh... i mean what on earth how disturbing is this..

[apne]

Maybe he was some dera follower or christian convert, u never know, these people are real sell outs and can do anything to dis-credit Sikhs. Obviously there is a social division among people, but it is based on financial status. But it's present in each and every part of this world and not just Punjab. You can't expect a rich person to socialise with a daily labourer. But to say things like mentioned happen in Langar hall is a bit difficult to digest, for me atleast. Did his dad bathe properly and brushed his teeth and was not drunk on some country made liquer before going to langar?

[Singhstah]

The people who do this need beats big time.

[Heera Singh]

I think separations in communities have been around for thousands of years. Unfortunately its become a part of human nature. It seems to be a lot worse in some areas as compared to others; India is a good example of that. But I think History has played a big part in that... especially when u look at the number of different cultures, religions, ethnicities etc... that are co-mingled in india... and not to mention the cross-breeding and all that stuff... there must've always been the 'status' thing where one group says to another 'I'm better then you' or 'I have more power' etc... I think its something that will alwayz be there and its something that we shud try to fix to the best of our ability.... even within Religions there's sects and sub-sects who treat eachother like crap... in Sikhi its relevant even between different sangats/jatthas .... "caste" and all that stuff also plays a huge role in this as welll