Bole so nihal ...

Punjab, to be precise Golden Temple happened to be in news recently for not so good reason. And am sure lot of people would have cracked another ‘Sardar joke’ on this. But I felt very sad about the whole thing , could not have imagined people actually fighting with their swords and kripan in the temple premises, place were we had been to recently during vacation and was so impressed to see the way the community works. Infact I was writing a blog on what anybody (including people from Punjab) irrespective of region, religion and social status can learn from Sikhism and their community work ..  

One has to be in Golden temple and spend time just watching how people of this community work  - from providing drinking water, to ensuring discipline, people get space to rest and peace to pray , to making sure everybody and anybody who comes hungry gets to eat, – their ‘lungar’ and how the community works to cook, feed, clean, service and pray through the community service..

Just a day before this incident I had read another article on Punjab – ‘Bhindranwale reborn’ http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/bhindranwale-reborn/article6079108.ece, did not feel comfortable reading the article. When I hear ‘Punjab’ the image which comes to my mind is  ‘Beautiful place, lively energetic people, colorful dress, with abundance and variety of food, vegetables , fruits, smart magnetic army officers, music and dance ‘ though I did have quite a few disappointment during Amritsar visit this time (crowd, population, pollution, haphazard development and chaos) but interaction with one young well educated, very grounded Sikh lady did help me to believe in the image I had in my mind about Punjab and Sikhs.

Its sad that Sikh community (we do have other communities in India) which contributes a lot to country’s agriculture, dairy,  industrial growth and defence services  is not well understood  and many a times  mocked for their look or simplicity in the way they do things.

‘For young Sikhs in the diaspora, often at the receiving end of racism, the idea of a homeland where they can belong also continues to seduce ‘  -- from  Bhindranwake reborn