November 1st: Punjab Day

[SanmukhKaur]

The Punjab as we know it today is officially is 44 years old. Majority of Sikhs live in Punjab, India and even the most sacred Gurudwara, Sri Harmandar Sahib Ji, is located there. One can say it is the home land of the Sikhs, a land they paid for with many sacrifices. Years of battling the Indian Government and showing bravery while fighting the Pakistanis and only then did we get our homeland. But where is this Punjab heading? Punjab is drowning in never ending killing of the girl child, massive drug use, and is quickly losing its identity.

The Sikh Guru Sahabians made women and men equal but yet, the home of Sikhs, Punjab leads in the most number of girl children's killed. What is the fault of the girl, that she wasn't born a boy? Girls are equal to boys in every manner and we need to acknowledge that. We can only acknowledge that when we quit comparing them to boys and appreciate girls for themselves. Girls don't have to be the son, they just have to be themselves (daughters) and make their parents proud. Instead of killing your daughter because of future dowry, kill the practice of dowry. Erase the black stain on your reputation by educating and loving your child, instead of erasing it from your life. Killing the girl child is not the answer to any problem and is ruining Punjab.

Your killing your daughters while your sons are getting addicted to drugs and killing themselves. The Indian Government doesn't want Punjab to be prospers state and will not do anything to get our state drug free. It is up to us to make our home drug free and save our families living in Punjab. That is only possible if we quit sending money back home and instead use that money to help our brothers and sisters set up businesses and earn money. By giving them free ride we are enabling them to create and afford such bad habits, as drinking and doing drugs. Also by shuffling money in and not expecting an output, we are widening the gap between the poor and rich. Frustrated the poor youth is also turning to drugs. We are ruining many homes and our Punjab. We need to shift our focus on getting our children off drugs and into productive lifestyles. We have the money, lets put it to the right use. We can't afford to wait for the government any longer.

The longer we wait the further we drift from our identity. Our children are growing up speaking English and Hindi, over the language of the Guru's Punjabi. Some might argue that it is necessary for our children to speak those languages to keep up with the fast moving world but I ask you what is stopping them from learning two languages? If we allow Punjabi to die out, we lose our home. The states of India are divided by language, each language has its own state. But what happens when one of the states no longer speaks native language? What is stopping India then from merging us into our neighboring states and cutting up an already cut up Punjab? We lose our language, we lose our identity, we lose our state. Forgetting our past is not the key to a brighter future, it is the key to opening the door for history to repeat it self. Learn Punjabi, teach Punjabi.

We are killing our daughters, losing our sons to drugs and our identity is quickly disappearing, how long will we celebrate the birthday of Punjab? Please defeat all odds and allow Punjab to celebrate many birthdays in the future. Spread the word of equality, work together to rid Punjab of drugs and speak Punjabi every chance you get. Refuse to speak anything but Punjabi with people of Punjabi origin. Remember with Punjab in ruins there is nothing to make Khalistan out of.

[NeverForget84dotcom]

Remember with Punjab in ruins there is nothing to make Khalistan out of.

Sant Ji said give us space to stand, we'll sit ourselves. In the same way...give us our land and resources we'll sort out our problems also.