Remembrance – The Sikh Story

[West London Singh]

even in the west coast of the US and Canada.....

These people were in Canada and the US not due to any Brit favours. so again you've simplified history too much.

Yes they were. You're getting famous on the message board Dal Singh for knowing sweet fanny adams about sweet fanny adams, so it doesn't surprise me that your version of Sikh history in the west starts when your own family history started in the west...i.e the 1960's. I have many many relatives who are part of the 'old' familes from early last century in both Canada and especially rural northern California. One thing they all have in common is that they came to the west coast of the Americas directly...NOT from Punjab....but from active service in the British Army in places such as Shanghai....Hong Kong....and mainland China. Every last one of the early pioneers was an ex-British Army serviceman in the far east.

Again, that is a very idealised way of looking at it. The reason they pushed the Khalsa identity was because they believed it was the source of the strength and discipline of Sikhs they had just fought with. They wanted to harness that for their own imperial agenda. Not because they loved Sikhi

Difference between me and you is that you are a negative person. You can then start to question the motive in the background of everything in day to day life. When you reach the other side of the road to get to your house....start being negative and morbid again.....start analysing how the only reason you had to cross the road was the discriminatory practices of successive elitist governments who deliberately knocked down houses and built ring roads in the poorer parts of town just to kill off working class communities. :rolleyes: Perhaps the British should take a leaf out of your own book...becoming as depressing and negative as you and start top realise that my Sikh forefathers, while professing loyalty and love for the union jack, were actually just in it for the money and the glory......the chance of a job....the chance to move to better places. Perhaps, it was us using them as a stepping stone ?

The fact of the matter is that the British and especially their army were the greatest thing ever to happen to Sikhs, Sikhism and the Punjab (since the fall of the Sikh Kingdom).

[dalsingh101]

The fact of the matter is that the British and especially their army were the greatest thing ever to happen to Sikhs, Sikhism and the Punjab (since the fall of the Sikh Kingdom).

That just says it all regarding your 'balanced' evaluation of the matter.

They own you mate.

Perhaps the British should take a leaf out of your own book...becoming as depressing and negative as you and start top realise that my Sikh forefathers, while professing loyalty and love for the union jack, were actually just in it for the money and the glory......the chance of a job....the chance to move to better places. Perhaps, it was us using them as a stepping stone ?

So you do get it a tiny bit. This is about opportunities - not becoming blindly loyal attack dogs for goray and their agendas. Maybe your family has little transferable skills they could use in the global world, then speak for yourself. Mine have never been in that boat. We come with skills to support ourselves, not blind loyalty.

You idolise these people to an embarrassing extent. Seriously. Have some dignity. No one truly likes a sycophant. Not even the people who are being sucked up to.

Truth is we get the most respect when we stand up as equals. Not deferential babbus submitting to other's orders.

Go knock yourself out and become a storm trooper for these guys. I don't care, just don't expect me to applaud you or think that you (or anyone else) is anything special because of it. You don't know what you are talking about by the way. The empire is over. I'm sorry no one sent any sort of official notice informing you of this. Maybe you need to wake up to the 21st century world and realise much has changed and is rapidly changing in the world around us?

We need independent minded Singh leaders now. Not more servile ones.

[Pyara]

I think we need to really analyticaly study our history and not end up in a romantic state thinking all was rosy under the British regime. As pointed out by others, we should be aware that the Sikhs were disarmed both physically and mentally by the British Colonial regime, our Kirpan was banned in Punjab, the blue bana, the bunga/dumalla, other shaster/symbols of the Khalsa

At the same time the British army tactfully promoted a manufactured controlled Sikh warrior ideology within their regiments. In short we developed the slave mentality we still posses today.

Many Sikhs died in the Anglo Sikh wars and immediately after the war many of our great influential mahapurshs and other Sikhs were exiled to Rangoon and Singapore or were imprisoned for life.

Today we Sikhs are oblivious to the fact that after the first Anglo-Sikh war, the Granthis at the Akal Takht sahib were slaughtered in cold blood, by the British armies. This link is to this historical article on the UKPHA website taken from Illustrated London News on November 20, 1858 . Refer to the the paragraph titled 'The Akalis Tower, Umritzir'.

Jalliawala Bagh was played down in the documentry.

And how can we forget the child Maharaja Duleep Singh who was brought to the UK and groomed into Christianity and Maharani Jindan Kaur whoe died blind in exile from her Sikh homeland. All this was done to surpress the Sikh psyche.

[Dalvir]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone would be able to record the documentary and upload it for the sangat? I live in Canada and, obviously, won't be able to watch it. Though, it'd be great to see how the Sikhs contributed to the first and second world wars.

Thanks!

[SikhRoots]

^ You can watch it online by going to www.sikhroots.com

[whyhellothere]

The Indian army destroyed the Akal Takht with Tanks and burnt the Sikh reference library and organised the masscre of Sikhs in Delhi and other places. The question is should the same logic be applied that some have mentioned that Sikhs should today withdraw from any Indian govt service?

Yes why darned not?!!

Why not demand apologies, justice and compensations and help for the widows of 1984?

Why not demand our holy state back before we fight for a govt that has wronged us so.

Just because the PM wears a pagh, he is a hindu govt asslicking fool put there to keep us sweet, us sikhs of whom 1 can destroy an army of 125,000.

We could start up a sikh army instead like we are actually supposed to until they are willing to give us back punjab and put the perpertrators of 1984 including Amitabh mor-on Bachan behind bars.

[sall]

WJKK WJKF

Do we know that the deal for India's independance was for her give the UK millions of men for the war?? Have we not woken up to this fact, so in the end it was for India as well as for the British.

Harjeet is spot on I wouldn't it past them for their world order that they want, these farangees are so powerful they created Africa/ and are now making the middle east the next Africa. They create crashes, recsssions,depressions,and recoveries. But I must admit a truth and that is they learn from their mistakes very quickly and adapt and change.If they created the slave trade, they were the first also to bring in human rights law, not India or anyone else out there.

We as Sikhs we should be just proud of our forefathers and that is it period!!! instead of bickering whether it was right or wrong for them to join the army.

Cause and effect...learn and adapt to such theories in advance is their policy.

Sikhroots- great sewa can always rely on you guys for your efforts.

[dalsingh101]

We as Sikhs we should be just proud of our forefathers and that is it period!!! instead of bickering whether it was right or wrong for them to join the army.

On one hand you are talking about the benefits of being reflective and adaptive on the other you seem to suggest blind deference and non evaluative reflection on our recent ancestors choices.

Surely the two don't mix?

It's like someone once said to me. You Sikhs have won so many other people's battles for them i.e. the English, India, but not your own. Plus where is British loyalty? Have they made much noise about 1984? Or have they stayed quiet so as to not rock the boat with their own economic interest in an emerging India?

It is crazy not to be careful of being used in other people's schemes. Look at the mad situation in WW2. The same people were funding nazis and the west, and our own simple people were slap bang in the middle of it without a clue.

We are never equals with firenghees, we are just tools for them to use for their own agendas, some of which are pretty nasty and insidious not to mention immoral. If you fight for such causes, sure you can be called a soldier but NEVER a saint-soldier.

[sall]

We are never equals with firenghees, we are just tools for them to use for their own agendas, some of which are pretty nasty and insidious not to mention immoral. If you fight for such causes, sure you can be called a soldier but NEVER a saint-soldier.

How utterly disrespectful, they gave their lives for the cause which they may not have fully known about but they gave their livelehood. And all you can do is give you utter rubbish of an opinion on these forums with complete disrespect for SAINT SOLDIERS OF THE BOTH WORLD WARS.

Let me ask do you always know what your doing and have fully known about it before hand ???? if you answer yes then your an even bigger THICKhead then i can EVEN begin to imagine!1

[punjab5]

How utterly disrespectful, they gave their lives for the cause which they may not have fully known about but they gave their livelehood. And all you can do is give you utter rubbish of an opinion on these forums with complete disrespect for SAINT SOLDIERS OF THE BOTH WORLD WARS.

I think its right to reflect on the role of the British Empire and its oppresion. In fact the reality is that what put 'Great' into Britain was the ravaging of the natural resources and raw materials of the Indian subcontinent, that were used to develop products in Britain, thus driving the economy and employment and then sell them back to the people of the sub-continent at a huge profit. So it was this and the working sweat of our fore-fathers that made this country powerful, so we do own it or are a part of it.

In terms of WW1 & WW2, irrespective of who the Sikh were fighting with, the important point is that they were fighting for humanity against oppression and tyranny of the Naziz, exactly what the Gurus taught us. So lets show some respect for them.