Jump to content

Harrow in London - North London Sikhs 'left behind' as they have to drive 10 miles to pray


Premi5
 Share

Recommended Posts

Any of Sangat from the area ? I know it only  a little, and in my mind it's Gujarati and Tamil  dense. Should UK be making more Gurdwaras ?

North London Sikhs 'left behind' as they have to drive 10 miles to pray

By
Adam ShawLocal Democracy Reporter
  • 13:54, 5 OCT 2021

The community said younger Sikhs are 'gradually fading into oblivion'

A North London Sikh community is on the lookout for its own community centre as members face travelling almost 10 miles to their nearest place of worship.

Harrow Sikhs have called on the council to support their bid for a designated cultural space to celebrate religious festivals such as Diwali and Vaisakhi.

Former Harrow councillor Narinder Singh Mudhar said the Sikh community in the borough is “at risk of being left behind” as younger generations have fewer places to learn about their heritage.

He said: “I came here in 1965 and ever since then we have been trying to find somewhere permanent to meet.

“Now our youngsters are gradually fading into oblivion – you sometimes don’t even recognise them as Sikhs.

“We need somewhere to plant our flag and are really out on a limb. If we’re not careful, we will lose all sense of belonging and identity.

“I’m an 81-year-old man, I’ve been there and seen it all. But it’s very important for our children’s generation.”

Harrow’s Sikh community, which at the time of the last census was just under 3,000 strong, has been forced to travel outside of the borough to celebrate and pray regularly.

Narinder explained how going to Brent Sikh Centre, a gurdwara just over the border in Kingsbury, was manageable for some people but did not have the same appeal as a Harrow equivalent.

He said: “Most faiths have places to go to in Harrow – you’ve got huge places like Harrow Mosque but also lots of temples and churches.

“Unfortunately, we don’t yet have a place we can call our own and we think it would do us the world of good.”

Narinder explained members are often left scrambling around trying to hire church halls to host festival celebrations.

He argued there is an appetite from Sikhs in Harrow to fund their own centre but, given the community’s size, called for outside assistance when it comes to finding a space.

He described the patch of land in West Harrow which housed a former church building as an “ideal spot” for a new centre.

Plans for almost 200 homes across nine buildings at the site were recently rejected by Harrow Council and Narinder suggested it should be reviewed as a potential new home for the Sikh community.

He added he mentioned the situation to the borough’s current mayor, Cllr Ghazanfar Ali, who gave him assurances that he would support any bid for a dedicated space.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/north-london-sikhs-left-behind-21767357

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

Should UK be making more Gurdwaras ?

 

Yes, but in certain areas. I grew up in a small E. London town with a relatively small Sikh population which still had it's own Gurdwara from the 80s. It was a short walking distance from my mom's house. 

What I find sad right now, is that I'm living in a brownish area, which has a significant Sikh population and there is no Gurdwara in walking distance, although I noticed a new maseet is being built as I write this.  

Also Gurdwaray should be built in areas where there is enough sangat to protect them too. We should avoid building them in places where they can be targeted and the population isn't strong enough to look after them.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MisterrSingh said:

It's like 15th century Punjab all over again. Approach the district Mughal officer for permission to construct a kaffir house of prayer. ?

Most of you think this is going to be indefinitely sustainable going forwards into the future. It won't.

We need to get more Sikhs in powerful positions, if possible. 

There's plenty of well educated Sikhs who could take those positions

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, dallysingh101 said:

 

Yes, but in certain areas. I grew up in a small E. London town with a relatively small Sikh population which still had it's own Gurdwara from the 80s. It was a short walking distance from my mom's house. 

What I find sad right now, is that I'm living in a brownish area, which has a significant Sikh population and there is no Gurdwara in walking distance, although I noticed a new maseet is being built as I write this.  

Also Gurdwaray should be built in areas where there is enough sangat to protect them too. We should avoid building them in places where they can be targeted and the population isn't strong enough to look after them.  

I'm not sure more are needed really. I don't know many which are 'busy'; many are not filled well most of the time. Being cynical/sceptical other than being able to run Gurdwaras to break even, I wouldn't be surprised that the motivation to build new Gurdwaras are sometimes to do with individuals wanting to have power or profit. 

And I agree that if the Gurdware are not 'busy' they can be targeted easily. Any Sikhs who are into 'training' and/or have a good physical presence could be hired as security guards - I'm sure plenty could be doing this as 'moonlighting' if not full time. I think also that an intercom system should be more commonly used to restrict entrance and screen the sangat.

So many times I have seen in Gurdwaras in E London/SE London/Kent a 'who is this /wanted' poster with some troublemaker who has been nicking shoes or causing other trouble .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gurdwaras in my opinion  in the UK are coming across 2 types of Sangat.

The weekday walking Sangat and the driving in weekend Sangat. 

Typically the weekend Sangat are the more social event types (akhand path/sukhmani path/anand karaj)

Future Gurdwaras have to take these two types into consideration. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/5/2021 at 6:30 PM, Premi5 said:

Any of Sangat from the area ? I know it only  a little, and in my mind it's Gujarati and Tamil  dense. Should UK be making more Gurdwaras ?

North London Sikhs 'left behind' as they have to drive 10 miles to pray

By
Adam ShawLocal Democracy Reporter
  • 13:54, 5 OCT 2021

The community said younger Sikhs are 'gradually fading into oblivion'

A North London Sikh community is on the lookout for its own community centre as members face travelling almost 10 miles to their nearest place of worship.

Harrow Sikhs have called on the council to support their bid for a designated cultural space to celebrate religious festivals such as Diwali and Vaisakhi.

Former Harrow councillor Narinder Singh Mudhar said the Sikh community in the borough is “at risk of being left behind” as younger generations have fewer places to learn about their heritage.

He said: “I came here in 1965 and ever since then we have been trying to find somewhere permanent to meet.

“Now our youngsters are gradually fading into oblivion – you sometimes don’t even recognise them as Sikhs.

“We need somewhere to plant our flag and are really out on a limb. If we’re not careful, we will lose all sense of belonging and identity.

“I’m an 81-year-old man, I’ve been there and seen it all. But it’s very important for our children’s generation.”

Harrow’s Sikh community, which at the time of the last census was just under 3,000 strong, has been forced to travel outside of the borough to celebrate and pray regularly.

Narinder explained how going to Brent Sikh Centre, a gurdwara just over the border in Kingsbury, was manageable for some people but did not have the same appeal as a Harrow equivalent.

He said: “Most faiths have places to go to in Harrow – you’ve got huge places like Harrow Mosque but also lots of temples and churches.

“Unfortunately, we don’t yet have a place we can call our own and we think it would do us the world of good.”

Narinder explained members are often left scrambling around trying to hire church halls to host festival celebrations.

He argued there is an appetite from Sikhs in Harrow to fund their own centre but, given the community’s size, called for outside assistance when it comes to finding a space.

He described the patch of land in West Harrow which housed a former church building as an “ideal spot” for a new centre.

Plans for almost 200 homes across nine buildings at the site were recently rejected by Harrow Council and Narinder suggested it should be reviewed as a potential new home for the Sikh community.

He added he mentioned the situation to the borough’s current mayor, Cllr Ghazanfar Ali, who gave him assurances that he would support any bid for a dedicated space.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/north-london-sikhs-left-behind-21767357

Done a quick Google map. The distance between Harrow and Brent Sikh Centre is like 4 miles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many gurdwaras are there in the UK? 10 miles is legit nothing. That's like 16km. My closest gurdwara is almost 10 miles away from my house and before lockdown we used to go twice a week. Some of my family and mates live 20 miles from the closest gurdwara, and they go once or twice a week as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/7/2021 at 3:54 PM, Premi5 said:

Any Sikhs who are into 'training' and/or have a good physical presence could be hired as security guards

The best tactic is to have a good quality gym there that is run by strong types and regularly frequented.  When I was younger training of some kind was always part and parcel of Gurdwaray.  I think in part, some of it was in reaction to the race attacks that were taking place. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • yeh it's true, we shouldn't be lazy and need to learn jhatka shikaar. It doesn't help some of grew up in surrounding areas like Slough and Southall where everyone thought it was super bad for amrit dharis to eat meat, and they were following Sant babas and jathas, and instead the Singhs should have been normalising jhatka just like the recent world war soldiers did. We are trying to rectifiy this and khalsa should learn jhatka.  But I am just writing about bhog for those that are still learning rehit. As I explained, there are all these negative influences in the panth that talk against rehit, but this shouldn't deter us from taking khanda pahul, no matter what level of rehit we are!
    • How is it going to help? The link is of a Sikh hunter. Fine, but what good does that do the lazy Sikh who ate khulla maas in a restaurant? By the way, for the OP, yes, it's against rehit to eat khulla maas.
    • Yeah, Sikhs should do bhog of food they eat. But the point of bhog is to only do bhog of food which is fit to be presented to Maharaj. It's not maryada to do bhog of khulla maas and pretend it's OK to eat. It's not. Come on, bro, you should know better than to bring this Sakhi into it. Is this Sikh in the restaurant accompanied by Guru Gobind Singh ji? Is he fighting a dharam yudh? Or is he merely filling his belly with the nearest restaurant?  Please don't make a mockery of our puratan Singhs' sacrifices by comparing them to lazy Sikhs who eat khulla maas.
    • Seriously?? The Dhadi is trying to be cute. For those who didn't get it, he said: "Some say Maharaj killed bakras (goats). Some say he cut the heads of the Panj Piyaras. The truth is that they weren't goats. It was she-goats (ਬਕਰੀਆਂ). He jhatka'd she-goats. Not he-goats." Wow. This is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard in relation to Sikhi.
    • Instead of a 9 inch or larger kirpan, take a smaller kirpan and put it (without gatra) inside your smaller turban and tie the turban tightly. This keeps a kirpan on your person without interfering with the massage or alarming the masseuse. I'm not talking about a trinket but rather an actual small kirpan that fits in a sheath (you'll have to search to find one). As for ahem, "problems", you could get a male masseuse. I don't know where you are, but in most places there are professional masseuses who actually know what they are doing and can really relieve your muscle pains.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use