After a sensational month in USA, from Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego to Atlanta, Washington DC (including the Smithsonian Institution for a SALDEF concert), San Francisco Bay area to Dallas and Houston (ASP concert) we continue into May in Florida and then Toronto to complete the overseas leg of this tour.

Sunday 1^st - we fly back in the morning from Houston to Dallas after a very satisfying concert at the (ASP) American Sikh Professionals Conference dinner last night (April 30).

Final program at Garland Gurdwara Sahib, Dallas at noon and a last program for Texas at the Montessorie School arranged by the sangat of Renno (Dallas). A very exhausting finish but a very satisfying one.

Monday 2^nd - free day in Dallas. We went into town to do some shopping and take in the site of JFK's assasination. 'X' marks the spot on the main road leading out of Dallas. There is no monument erected in his name. But, one can sense that a great tragedy took place here ... Touts flog 'conspiracy theory' papers for 5 dollars. We fly to Orlando, Florida that night to be picked up by our good friend Navtej Singh Khalsa at 2am (Tuesday morning) from Orlando airport .

Tuesday 3^rd - Navtej drives us to Miami for an evening program at the Miami gurdwara. There has been a 'change-of-the-guard' at this gurdwara. The new young committee are trying hard to do the right thing and one can sense enthusiasm in the sangat.

Very simple really.
(1) When kirtan is being done, the sangat sings along as often as it can.
(2)When the 'ardaas' (standing final prayer) is done a vibrant sangat enthusiastically says 'WAHEGURU' when Waheguru is invoked by the 'Ardasia' (one doing the ardas). In a formality sangat you barely hear a murmur at that point. Attend a western dharma sangat gurdwara and you will know what I mean! Simple observations by my daughters! At one gurdwara program, my daughter turned round with a mock look of indignation and said - "Dad, the ladies are singing louder than me!" and smiled. At another program she said - "We might as well be singing in a morgue!"

A well appreciated program here in Miami. We stayed overnight with newfound friends Raj.K Singh and family. I think a great bond has been made. His older brother Lawyer Manny Singh is also very encouraging.

Wednesday 4^th - a private spiritual evening at good friend Deepak (and Sheila) Kapoor's in Melbourne, Florida. A small audience mainly of non-Sikhs enjoyed a low key evening and dinner. Deepak is like a father to Jagjit Singh of Jagjit/Chitra fame - one of the Indian singers whom I admire very much.

Thursday/Friday - two small programs at Navtej and younger brother Ranbir's abodes. Navtej and Ranbir, incidently, are younger brothers of Harbinder Singh, former Jathedar of the Sikh Naujawan Sabha, Malaysia. Mrs. Ranbir (Shinder) is expecting - may Waheguru see them through safely with a happy addition to the family.

Saturday May6 - 'One day' Sikh Youth Camp at Oviedo/Orlando gurdwara. Over thirty youth with parents also arrive from Miami (250 miles away!) and altogether about 120 youth and parents and sewadhars attended. Raj K. Singh and family have come up too. An absolutely wonderful day with everyone learning a little more about the faith we belong to with plenty of laughs during the round-up quiz. (One parent quipped - 'thank God, the parents were not being asked the questions'! Spirituality should be fun and joy and I think youth like that. I was especially happy with the response from youth and parents on the discussion on 'Setting the bar' within Sikhi. Miami youth are planning a Youth Symposium in September. Hope the 'elders' can see their way in giving them wholehearted support.

Sunday 7^th Noon program at Oviedo gurdwara and a 7pm. program at the western dharma yoga ashram in Orlando attended by about 80 enthusiasts. We do not mind small or large attendences - as long as they come with enthusiasm and leave having enriched their lives (and ours) in some way.

Monday 8^th am - We leave for Toronto - our last stop overseas for this tour.

A Tuesday program in Toronto got cancelled but we did not mind as we are pretty tired by now and I can feel a virus within. Toronto is a great place for some well earned R & R and our dear dear friends - the Kohlis of Forest Hill are tops! We spent Wednesday doing a TV interview and also a newspaper (The Voice) interview. Thursday we recorded three shabads for OMNI TV. I had the honour of meeting Bhai Sahib Bhai AVTAR Singh Ji of Bangla Sahib at the TV station. They were being recorded immediately after us. What a gem! His son Kultar and tablist Swaran Singh are also very divine beings and very very loving. I can proudly say that Bhai Sahib is my mentor in kirtan. It has always been of great benefit to me whenever I have spent time in his presence. He now accompanys his gurbani kirtan with a 'taoos' - a stringed instrument reputed to have been invented by Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj. Absolutely stunning. I urge you to listen to their kirtan whenever they are in your neighbourhood. It is true kirtan in traditional form.

Friday - a private kirtan evening at the Kohli's. A select sangat of 'about fifteen different nationalities' - according to Kawal including Nigerians. French, Iranians, white Canadians, Sikhs, Hindus, Moslems etc. attended.

Saturday - a private program in the morning followed by the big concert at the Missisauga Entertainment Center as part of Heritage Month celebrations. It was heartening to note plenty of non-Sikhs attending. The organisation was great - including good sound and stage preparation. I wish more concerts were this well organised. Their marketing was down though as more numbers were expected. I did not see much publicity about the program.

Sunday - three programs, my voice is cracking with the strain and and the virus is surfacing! But, we got through all three programs. A laid back program at the western Dharma ashram gurdwara followed by a gurdwara program (Oakville) and finally a private program with good friends Shamit and family in the evening to round off our short stay in Toronto.

Once again good friends Kawal Kohli and family looked after us and we had a great time in Toronto. It was also great to meet up with friends like Sher Singh (lawyer). Keith and I were also able to have a lunch date with officers from Austrade - the Australian Trade office in Toronto. We like to play our part as unofficial cultural ambassadors for Australia whenever we can.

Monday May 16^th The usual mad rush to repack for the flight - this time a very VERY long one! TORONTO,Canada - CINCINNATI , USA - LA, USA - SYDNEY. We were on the move for almost 30 hours and in the process 'lost' Tuesday May 17 due to time change! We landed on Wednesday 18th. and drove 400 km to a small northern New South Wales town of Tamworth where Dheeraj had a tabla workshop - THAT NIGHT. Talk of globe trotting! This part of our 'country New South Wales tour has been organised by our violinist Andrew Clermont. Thursday 19th. Dorrigo Arts Club - a drive of about 200 kms. from Tamworth. A lovely small program and great hospitality. My good friend John (Zorawar) Singh Khalsa from Woolgoolga was catering. Also met good friend Angadh Singh (a white Australian just turned to Sikhism a year ago) and an old mate Jerry from Adelaide So there were people there from as far as Woolgoolga (about 100 kms.) and also Bellingen - about fifty kms. away.

Friday 20^th - three programs! Two in schools - in Barraba and another small town Mimbi, close to Tamworth. Three schools got together for a lunch time concert at Barraba whilst the school in Mimbi only has 48 students. But with parents and grandparents swelling the crowds we produced a carnival atmosphere and with good jolly country hospitality got stuck into scones and jam and home made cakes afterwards. We drove over 100 kms. after that to do a double concert at Armidale Jazz Club. Armidale is a university town and we have a healthy following there amongst jazz fans. Another full house!

Saturday 21^st - Tamworth Bowling Club. This program proved surprisingly successful as Tamworthians are notorious for their high-browed attitude to music, even though Tamworth plays host to Australia's most prominent country music festival, but they loved us! Also sharing the stage was Australian didgeridoo 'great', Mark Aitken.

Sunday 22^nd - Wauchope Arts Theatre. A lovely drive through cattle/sheep country and rough grassland to rainforest - from the hinterland (Tamworth) eastwards to the coast. Wauchope is a totally new stop for us. About 150 fans in a very small town enjoyed a two hour concert. John (Zorawar) was there with food again. Bless him! Always a boon to us when we have one of our own catering the food.

We drove back with Zorawar (John) Singh Khalsa to his place in Woolgoolga (250 km. north from Wauchope) and stayed with him that night. We had a pleasant following morning in Woolgoolga - a town I like very much as it has reputedly the best climate in Australia! There are two and a half (One belongs to a 'sant' - so qualifies as half!) Sikh gurdwaras there but the Sikhs are mostly first generation from India and do not take to us very well - so we stay clear of them but their youth are starting to come to our concerts.

We then drove to Clunes, about 200 km. northwards to Jeff and Kathy's place. Jeff and Kathy run Hatchling Productions - a documentary producing company which has shown interest in our background and hope to do a documentary on our family and group as an example of dynamic multiculturalism in Australia and the Sikh diaspora worldwide. We stayed the night in the idyllic environment of their home in 20 acres of mainly rain forest. Kathy (Henckel) was on hand to film our performance at the Royal Albert Hall last year.

Tuesday - we drove northwards past Brisbane to Woodford to meet with Woodford festival director Bill Houritz and other organisers. Woodford is my favourite folk festival as that was the first festival to recognise our group. It is located in idyllic country in Queensland and is being lovingly 'nurtured' by the organisers into an oasis of the future.

Bill, the organiser and director of the Woodford Folk Festival and multicultural director Sim Symonds and I have been talking about growing an Indian sandalwood tree at the festival site on behalf of the Sikh community. I had mentioned sandalwood - 'Chandan vaas venaspath...'. A line in a shabad which we sing which says - be like a sandalwood tree in a forest - giving fragrance to all and in fact giving the whole forest a lovely fragrance.

We were at the site of the festival when Sim rang to say that he had located, not one, but 100 Indian sandalwood trees in a nursery! So now the excitement has risen. It is no more one tree but 100 and a place within the festival tentatively called the 'Forest of Tranquility' where anyone can come and sit and meditate. Hopefully the project will bear fruition. It is like a dream come true for me - well almost - until it fully materialises.

Two lazy days at Sim (and Pats) place in Nambour off the Sunshine coast close to the lovely glasshouse mountains.

Thursday - evening concert at the Sunshine University Theatre organised by the Multicultural Development Centre of the university. A 'surprisingly great' response for a weekday concert! It was a magical evening - my voice is on the mend and I croaked only a few times! No one seemed to mind. The organisers led by Dept. head - Narayanan, were over the moon. We did a short version of our Sukhmani Simran as an example of kirtan simran - so we sold an unusual amount of our cd of that name.

Friday May 27^th The big one in Australia for this tour. QPAC - Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane. For me, even more momentous because all three of my girls - Jamel, Harsel and Parvyn are going to be on stage together after almost a decade! Jamel and Parvyn were flown down from Melbourne and we had one of those concerts which will go down as momentous. The organisers - BEMAC and NEXUS, the two multicultural music organisations of South Australia and Queensland have organised this concert and we delivered! Sale of cd's always reflect on a performance which went well and we sold a great many.

We did a 'crazy' that night. After a wonderful dinner enforced by Vijay of the 'Taste of India' Restaurant on the Boardwalk in Brisbane, which ended at about 1am we drove all the way back to Woodford to sleep at the festival site. Accommodation had been prepared by Bill Houritz for us.

The joy of waking up just as the sun is coming up and climbing to the top of one of the hills for Nitnam is an experience which cannot be appropriately described. The trees grown on site - over 1000, are now growing. The grass is green during winter - it is now the beginning of winter here and so there is a nip in the air but pleasant. The fauna has started coming back - there are wallabies, even some deer, iguanas, a family of dingoes (Australian wild dogs), wild ducks and even geese and a riot of colour of birds - paraquets, galas, kookaburras, magpies, crows amongst those I can recognise and many more which i cannot. We headed south for the Gold Coast after a hearty breakfast in Woodford village. Thank you Bill!

For those interested - Woodford Folk Festival takes place from 27Dec. to 2January.

Saturday - Gold Coast program. All three girls are still together and we had another high powered concert at the famous Gold Coast to a full house.

Sunday - Bangalow, Byron Bay. The one last concert for this tour and I must say - I have had enough for this round! This was a low key concert to a small but enthusiastic audience. There were actually people from last night's concert at the Gold Coast. They would have driven two hours to get here! Drove south to Zorawar (John)'s place in Woolgoolga that night. We are now headed south for home. The tour is OVER. I can rest my weary voice and body.

Monday - long drive from John's place in Woolgoolga through Sydney to a motel in Gundagai in NSW for a night stop. We dropped Keith off in Sydney. Dheeraj has already driven back to Brisbane. So it is just my daughter Harsel and I. All in about 900 km.

Tuesday. We drove the final 500 km from Gundagai to Melbourne - now home! It is May 31st. If memory serves me well, we did our first concert of this tour on March 31st. at the Riverside University of California in southern California! WE HAVE DONE OVER 50 PERFORMANCES IN JUST OVER 60 DAYS (TWO MONTHS) IN THREE COUNTRIES ! It has been a very fruitful tour spreading the word of Nanak and touching thousands of people - Sikhs and non-Sikhs. Waheguru is very kind to me. I am having a wonderful journey in this lifetime ...

A grateful 'thank you' to Bicky and family, Shalini and Vijay in southern California; Chani, Gugi and family in the San Francisco Bay area; Dr. Inderpal and family, Jai Hari and Navneet in Atlanta; Ramneek and family in Dallas; Navtej, Ranbir and families, and Raj and family in Florida; Satwant and Hubert Bell and family in Washington DC; The Kohlis in Toronto; Zorawar (John) and family in Woolgoolga and all the wonderful white Australian families in Armidale, Tamworth and Dorrigo; Sim and Pat in Nambour; Bill for allowing us to stay one night on site at Woodford and ALL THOSE WHO HELP US IN SOME WAY OR OTHER ON THIS MAGICAL JOURNEY OF MUSIC AND SPIRITUALITY.

Especial 'thank you' to Bicky Singh and sikhpoint.com; the Dept. of Arts South Australia and Australia Council who made this tour possible.

More in June. I think we have a showcase concert at Parliament House in Canberra for the politicians to show how multiculturalism is working in Australia! I look forward to that and also completing the Asa Dhi Var. Cherdhi Kala!