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This month, November 2004 is going to take us from Sydney up north to
the towns of Armidale for a concert, to a small inland town of Barraba for
an 'Indian' theme carnival, and then a long return trip south through
Sydney to Melbourne and back to Adelaide. Then it is off to Singapore and Malaysia
for two weeks and then back to Adelaide for a UNESCO concert in the last
week in November! Might even spend a few days in studio as a good friend has
sponsored a full Asa-Dhi-Var plus a gutka along the lines of our very
popular Nitnam pack.
We were accommodated by my good friend Ajmer and family in Sydney for
the weekend programs (last weekend in October) at Parklea and Revesby
gurdwaras.
Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday - I was in bed again with flu. Need to shake
this off!!
SYCA (Sikh Youth Camps Australia) had a meeting towards next year's Sikh
youth camp in Sydney. I applaud this team for their dedication towards
the youth of Sydney. It is up to parents whether they want to send their
children, but those who do, do find a positive change in their
offsprings.
'Indian' parents worry about the fact that their sons and daughters
might 'spend time' with Sikh youth of the opposite sex. Something which
confounds me! In Malaysia, as I was drowing up, it was OK if I was seen talking to
a non-Sikh girl BUT, alarm bells used to ring all over town if I was seen
speaking to a Sikh girl!! Aren't our offsprings going to marry a member
of the opposite sex, and hopefully to a Sikh, one day?
I have come across some very strange reasons from seemingly sensible
Sikh parents for not sending their kids to camps. Below are some classics:
a. you tell children to keep hair
b. you do not put enough emphasis on the keeping of hair
b. you tell children to partake of amrit
c. you do not put enough emphasis on taking amrit
d. you do not do all five banis for Nitnam in the morning
e. you do too much Nitnam in the morning
f. children find it difficult to get up at 5am.
g. you allow boys and girls to talk to each other
h. you tell children they can eat meat
i. you make them sit too long in diwan
j. you talk of other religions
k. you DO NOT have meat dishes for the children to eat at camp Dhan Sikhi!!!!
Next camp's theme was decided as 'I choose to be a Sikh'. There will be
some dialogue/discussion/presentations on the other main religions and
comparisons made with Sikhism and why 'we' choose to be Sikhs besides
the fact that we are born Sikhs. Sewadhars are expected from Singapore and
Malaysia to help us with about 200 youth and sewadhars. Parents are
encouraged to attend too, to assist and also learn. After all, we are
all learning all the time.
3 Nov. We (Dya Singh group/jatha) set off by road north from Sydney to
Newcastle and then to the inland New South Wales university town of
Armidale where we presented a full concert (Friday night) to the Armidale Jazz
Club.
The concert was sold out and I think we gave them value for money. We
have been invited back any time we are in the area! There was great interest
in Sikhism after the concert and I was able to talk to a small interested
group about our basic beliefs and features of the faith. An exhilerating
experience. No Sikhs around of course!
Next day - Saturday 6 Nov. One of the most amazing experiences in our
lives - attending an 'Indian theme' carnival in a small inland town
called Barraba. For one week, Indian artistes - dancers, percussionists,
painters etc. had been brought in to interact with town folk especially the
school children and youth to take part in Indian dancing, cooking, decorating
and dressing, to put up a show on the Saturday we were there! Unbelievable
and very pleasant to see all townfolk deeply involved. The Main Street was
closed off. All shops on the Main Street had put up 'Indian theme'
displays for prices. Floats of the same theme were built and workshops were held
in meditation, religion, percussion, dancing etc. Woolgoolga Sikhs had put
up an exhibition of Sikh migration to Woolgoolga from the turn of the
century - not a bad effort!
I was asked to stand-in for the Indian-Consul who was unable to attend
at the last minute, to declare the carnival open. I even put on an Indian
accent to good measure. They even put on a traditional garland on me!
We presented 'tabla percussion', bhangra dancing and Sikh music
meditation workshops during the afternoon followed by an indoor concert of one and
a half hours. We were also the main act on stage in the main street at
night to bring the carnival to a close. A very exhausting but fulfilling day.
It is so heartwarming to see a whole 'white' town taking on an 'Indian'
theme and every town member involved in tying sarees, turbans, cooking Indian
food, learning Indian dances and performing! What a beautiful day! God
bless Barraba!
By the way, mention was made by the town mayor that he had heard an
interview on our National Radio of a Sikh from Sydney who had made some
very complimentary remarks of our work in the mainstream and also amongst
youth.
If anyone knows who it was or that person reads this, in the near
future, please get in touch with me so that I can thank him/you personally!
Second time this has been mentioned. Interview happened in September 2004 I
think.
We drove back down south on the Sunday first to Newcastle, then through
Sydney to Bateman's Bay (on the east coast, off Canberra) to spend an
evening and the night with friends and then drive on the coastal highway
back to Melbourne, by Tuesday. Great country drive on the coastal
highway from Sydney down south to Melbourne but, if you do this trip, do spend
at least a night enroute as it is a long drive - over 1,200 kms.
We arrived back in Melbourne on the Monday. Five days with my
grandchildren in Melbourne!
Back to Adelaide by Sunday afternoon so that I could be in studio on
MOnday and Tuesday.
Asa-Dhi-Var : One days' initial recording of ADV with Tarlochan (Bobby)
Singh on tabla. Bobby is arguably the best Sikh tabla player in Australia.
I was interested in his 'Nanaksar' style open handed tabla 'bols' and he
obliged. My personal sadness is that Bobby decided to cut his hair
because his Sikh image is not of any assistence to him in his pursuit as a
professional tabla player. He gets no assistence of any kind from the
Sih community, only ridicule and criticism and he is better off without his
hair in the professional world of music. He is the third 'Sikh' tabla player
of international stature, who has cut his hair due to lack of interest from
Sikhs and non-support.
Great initial recording before Waheguru Ji allows me to do the real
recording which is going to be traditional and leading into the 21st.
Century. Most ragi jathas do a rather mellow type of ADV. I believe ADV
should have some 'fire and brimstone' as the messages of ADV suggest.
For exampe - 'Nanak phikai boliyai, tan man phika hoe!!!' (Talk
negative/foul language/ill of other people, and your whole 'being' becomes 'ill'.)
Can't go mellow when delivering such hard hitting messages, can we?
SINGAPORE
Thursday 18th. to Singapore for the Esplanade Indian Music Festival.
Three wonderful evening concerts partially in the open by the harbour with the
famous Singapore 'Merlion' as the backdrop. Sikhs made a half hearted
attempt at getting us to do a concert at the Silat Road 'Samadh'
Auditorium but ...as i said, it was half-hearted with no interest from the
committee. More important things to do like collecting 'charges' on Akhand Paths
and 'chedava'! Silat Road gets plenty of that!
A great weekend in Singapore.Programs in Malaysia were cancelled because
I am not feeling too well. A special THANK YOU, to young men, Prabhjit
Singh and Harminderpal Singh for assisting us in sale of cd's and generally
hosting us. It was also a pleasure to catch up with Ash Singh of Toronto
who happened to be in Singapore. Waheguru give him himmat and Cherdhi Kala
in his futuristic cyber ventures! He runs sikhpal.com for a start. Great to
see such enterprising young 'Sikhs' like Prabhjit (Marketing), Harminderpal
Singh (a future potential President of Singapore, besides being highly
qualified and a great motivational speaker!) and Ash, a promising
upcoming entreprenuer of the 21st century!!
We flew back on the Wednesday (24th) and recorded a three minute piece
for our ABC to promote Multifaith Day which is to be celebrated at the St.
Peters Cathedral on the Sunday as start of a UNESCO Conference. Quick
dash to Melbourne for three days before Sunday's Multifaith Day in Adelaide
as I would not be seeing my grandchildren for the rest of the year. I am on
my way to India in December!
Back on Saturday and a break from her family for my eldest daughter
Jamel!
I must make mention that an elderly Sikh gentleman from Sydney, who
makes it a point to write quite often in cybersangat chat lines, in the Sikh
Review etc. and liberally gives his humble opinions on one and all matters,
sent me a bulky wad of notes on Sikhi for my further Sikhi enlightenment for
which I am grateful BUT, he also threatened to report me to our Tax Department
for selling cd's at the Parklea gurdwara - (religion/bani must not be sold!)
and also to report me to SGPC for having non-Sikh members in my 'jatha'. I
follow the maxim that if I do not respond and keep very still, such,
unwarranted criticism and threats will go away. I hope he reads this and
gets the message. I am only trying to get more Sikh youth interested in
their 'roots' faith Sikhism and more non-Sikhs to discover Sikhi. My
role is to propagate the universal truths of Nanak in any possible way and I try
not to break any rules which might offend. Unfortunately, there will always
be those who will always be looking for 'faults'. It becomes their second
nature. From my part, 'sarbat dha bhala' (goodwill to all).
Sunday 28th. AM - Celebrations of Guru Nanak Sahib 'Gurpurb' (birthday)
in Adelaide and I also threw in Martyrdom celebrations of Guru Tegh
Bahadur.
Great program. Harminderpal Singh of Singapore joined us in kirtan and
discourse. He is here at our invitation to attend the conference.
PM - start of UNESCO Conference on the introduction of 'religion and
moral values' in schools. Three French delegates, incidently, are attending
too.
So, we expect to give a strong show of turbans especially for their
benefit!
The 'launch' of the Conference was with a Multifaith Service at the St.
Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide City centre on Sunday.
All major faiths gave renditions on 'shared values'. As happens most
often, the key note speaker gave sayings from various faiths about 'shared
values' without any offering from Sikhism. Well we have a bilingual 'rendition'
based on Sikhi called "IF YOU DO NOT SEE GOD IN ALL, YOU DO NOT SEE GOD
AT ALL!" Our rendition, I am sure, rankled some 'religious faithfuls' but
generally it was applauded by most! Also, it was a joy to hear the call
of the Muezzin in a cathedral!! Christianity, Islam, Budhism, Hinduism,
Indigenous,Judaism, Sikhism and Bahaiism were represented. It was a very
moving and joyful experience and mentioned by delegates all day Monday,
at the conference.
Monday 29th. Conference - a Saran Singh MP from India was supposed to
offer the keynote speech BUT, failed to turn up. It was interesting that our
own invited delegate, Harminderpal Singh from Singapore, was asked to
deliver a speech in Saran Singh's place. Harminderpal Singh is a highly educated
and multitalented young man. A Gursikh who is also an inspirational and
motivational speaker. The whole conference 'came to life' at 6pm
listening to him after a hard day of forums, speeches etc. AND, for our benefit, a
keshadhari Sikh delivering a key note speech! I am not even sure if
Saran Singh is a Sikh!
Well, I shall close here for this month. Sikhs of Adelaide are hosting
the delegates at our Gurdwara Sahib on Thursday night and our group is doing
one hour of kirtan. We look forward to that. So, more next month...
I am off to India in a few days...
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