Friday, September 22, 2006

Technology Review - TR35 - Sumeet Singh

A family friend of ours gets tapped for one of 35 Young Innovators of the Year by MIT's Technology Review magazine which is a popular cutting edge technology power magazine! Great to see him make so much progress in such little time, and another sabat surat in the technology field.

http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?Cand=T&TRID=426

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/awards/tr3506.asp

Monday, September 18, 2006

Advanced Gurmat Class - Camp Chardi Kala

It was 2.5 hours every day with an older group of kids (17 and above) or those from the younger groups who are proficient in the basic tenets and thoughts and that are serious to learn more. In addition to the standard lessons that I had prepared before hand, we had free flowing discussions. I was quite amazed at the kinds of topics that were on the kids minds. In retrospect, there is no need to be amazed. I was a teenager once and it really depends on the environment and experience that one is being brought up in. The topics were: dating, inter-religious marriage, homosexuality and Sikhi thoughts on the subject, Death, inequality of women in our culture - is it Sikhī or is it Panjabī culture, etc. Since there was an ammrit sancār at camp we obviously discussed some aspects of ammrit as well.

So just to be complete here is the syllabus for the Advanced Gurmat Class that I facilitated at Camp Chardi Kala this year was:

1. Sikh Sovereignty (2 sessions)
- Sikh Sovereign Identity through the lens of bānī, tvārikh and rahat. This is my standard presentation/quiz/workshop in which we go through the development of Sikh Identity and show that it was inherently distinct, unique and sovereign.
- Creation and Purpose of the Khalsa (reading/discussion). This is a reading and discussion oreiented workshop and the reading is by Prof. Puran Singh. Excerpts are from the book Walt Whitman and the Sikh Inspiration. It is available online. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/Sikhism9.asp

2. Sākhī Bābā Gurbakhsh Singh Nihang
- Will review the secondary text at high level of Rattan Singh Bhangu - Panth Parkash
- Will have them read and react to actual sakhis written up in the original language from this book
- They will learn some aspects of the language and the imagery of "marriage of death" and also be mesmorized by intriguing history of the Khalsa

3. Ardas - mandatory reading prior to class
- Reading - The Sikh Prayer - Principal Teja Singh
- Full review of all sections of Ardas
- Hands on session of learning to recite their own free flowing ardas (birth, death, bought house, thanks, prayer for success etc.)

4. Rāmkalī Sadu - Death in Sikhī
- Gurbānī review of Rāmkali Sadu by Bābā Sundar jī from Gurū Granth Sāhib
- What is death in Sikhi? When someone dies how are we to react? What does the Guru say?

Saturday, September 16, 2006

ਪੁਕਾਰ - pukār

Intense spiritual yearning... Posted by Picasa

Photo courtesy Hartaarn Singh, Toronto vālā.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Oh yes...

Prague was great this past weekend. Haven't uploaded pics yet. The city is amazingly historical!!

Khālsā Bolī

In Advanced Gurmat class at Camp Chardi Kala we read the sākhī of Bābā Gurbaksh Singh Shahīd as written in Panth Parkāsh by Rattan Singh Bhangū. So I had to discuss a little bit about the language of the Khālsā or as some of you would say purātan Sikhs. For example, milk is called samundār (ocean). The words sound kind of funny but the whole point is the carhdī kalā nature and tactical ways to scare the enemy. The Khalsās had become like legends and the enemy really started believing that the Khālsā drinks oceans! On the other hand tea (cā) was known as dhidh phūknī (stomach burner). The context of the sākhī was how Bābā Gurbaksh Singh and other shahīds creatively reinterpreted the marriage barāt (janj) ritual and actually dressed up (as if getting ready for their "marriage with death") like the lārā and the sarbālās to meet with the mighty Mughal army that attacked Harmandir Sāhib. Those of you that are familiar with Bābā Jarnail Singh and the episode of the attack on Harmandir Sahib in 1984 may know that some Singhs dressed up as sarbālās when the final moment came when Bābājī and other Singhs stepped out of Akāl Takht Sāhib for the final battle. Anyway, it was a great lesson, the kids didn't fall asleep...I think!! :-)

Back to the Khālsā bōli, here is a quote by Principal Teja Singh in his essay "Humour and Sikhism" regarding this language.

As a result of this brave spirit, there grew up among the Sikhs a peculiar slang, which was called the Vocabulary of Heroes. In it the things connected with difficulties of life were expressed in terms of such cheerfulness and bravado, as if for the Sikhs pain and suffereing had lost all meaning. Death was familiarly called an expedition of the Khalsa into the next world. A man with an empty stomach would call himself mad with prosperity. Grams were almonds, and onions were silver pieces, while rupees were nothing but empty crusts. A blind man was called a wide-awake hero, and a half-blind man an argus-eyed lion. A deaf man was said to be a man in the upper storey. A baptised Sikh was called a brother of the Golden Cup, which, by the way, was only an iron vessel. To be fined by the community for some fault was called getting one's salary. The big stick was called a lawyer or the store of wisdom; and the speak was to roar.
Sirdar Kapur Singh has some examples of this vocabulary of heroes in his writings too. But by and far the most extensive dictionary of Khālsā bolī that I have come across is available in the Mahān Kosh by Bhāī Kahn Singh of Nābhā. I just went through a few of them. Full interpretation and what is the context of the words used has not been done (yet!). Hopefully some of you will research some of the words...send me your thoughts!

Akaldān – sotā, stick – lit: that which graces wisdom or common sense

Arang barang – to lie down, to go to sleep

Samundar – milk

Savāiā – little bit – lit: “quarter more”!

Sava lakh – one – lit: 125,000

Sava lakh fauj – one Singh/Kaur – lit: army of 125,000 men/women

Shīsh mahal – roof with a hole in it – lit: house of shining glass

Subedār – Sikh who is brooming/cleaning – lit: a military rank

Sūrmā – blind man - lit: wide awake hero, brave one

Sodhnā – cleansing a wrong doer, freeing land

Harā karnā – to finish, empty – lit: to make green, to blossom

Kājā – hungry

Kājī – chicken - lit: qazi - muslim mosque official

Kābulī kutā – ahmad shah durrani – lit: the dog of Kabul

Anna – extremist hindu – lit: blind person

Kanna – extremist muslim – lit: one eyed person

Kesar – haldi/tumeric – lit: saffron the spice (haldi is cheap spice, saffron is expensive..get it?)

Kotvāl – chākū – knife - lit: jail official

Gopāl ladū – eggs - lit: ladoos of Gopal

Gangā jal – alcoholic drinks – lit: water from the Ganges - ie. no water is holy!

Carhāī – to die – lit: an expedition - charhāī karnā is to wage a battle

Chāl mārnī – to fall - lit:to jump

Dharamraj dī dhī – sleepiness - lit: the daughter of the messenger of death

Dharamrāj dī dhī nāl judh karnā – to sleep – lit: to battle with the daughter of the messenger of death

Thānedār – donkey - lit: jail keeper

Deg masat – to run out of langar - lit: the kettle is tipsy - masat is from mastī

Langar mastānā - to run out of langar, langar not being ready – lit: langar is tipsy

Panjakha – one-eyed – lit: one with five eyes

Basant kaur – makki – corn

Badām – dry grams/chick peas – lit: almonds

Bhūtnī – rail, train – lit: female ghost, witch - train was result of British. Nihangs hated the British!!

Mithāī – sweet potato – lit: Indian sweets

Ransinghā vajāunā – to fart – lit: to play the ransingha, a panjabi wind instrument - I am not joking!!

Lakhnetrā – one eyed - lit: one with hundred thousand eyes

Lakhbahan – one armed - lit: one with hundred thousand arm

many more...consult the MahanKosh!!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Amrit - Just chhak it

As I said. 30 years of Camp Chardi Kala this year. It was quite an emotional camp this year. It is purely the Grace of the Gurū and Gurū inspired effort of Sardar Ujagar Singh (Daddy ji) and Late Sardarni Gobind Kaur (Ami ji) and their immediate family and friends and sevādārs that has brought the camp this far. As Ujagar Singh uncle told us, it started kind of ad hoc and just grew and grew and it is now a deeply ingrained tradition that is part and parcel of the NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA Sikh community. But this year was doubly special. It was the first time at Camp Chardi Kala that the Khande kī Pāhul ceremony was conducted and three campers boarded the jahāj (ocean liner) of the Khālsā Panth. To them I say - "Welcome Aboard!" (and now get to work...don't ask what can the Panth do for you, ask what can you do for the Panth!)

The Gurū is ever present in spirit as well as body at camp. The spirit of the Gurū Granth Sāhib blesses us with a hukam in the morning and the body in the Gurū Khālsā Panth as some campers and staffers have already boarded the jahāj and act as sevādārs and role models. But this year, with the Panj Piāre and the Gurū Granth Sāhib - the bestower of amrit - during the amrit sancār (amrit ceremony) it was actually the "ephemeral presence of Gurū Gobind Singh" that was there.

So, while the ceremony was going on, the campers were in their regular classes. We were all told that 15 minutes prior to the end of the ceremony we will all collect in the main divan hall and then the Panj and the Guru Granth Sahib will come out followed by the new initiates. (this is a customary end to many khande kī pāhul ceremonies). Classes went quite well but I can assure you the atmosphere while the ceremony was going on was electrifying, and it came to a climax after the ceremony was over and the panj regally installed the granth on the throne in the main divan hall.

My friends, that day the "rider of the blue steed, the keeper of the white hawk, the wearer of the royal plume..." graced the campers and staffers with his presence in the form of the Granth and Panth. It was a mesmorizing experience that no camper or staffer will forget.

The cool thing was there was preparation for this and the official camp T-shirt this year relayed this anticipation through a creative (completely copyright infringed) design. "Just Chhak It" from Nike's "Just Do It". Well...here is the jpeg image of the T-shirt. Simple, sweet and to the point!


There were rumors of controversy as some narrow minded ones thought that such a T-shirt was a sacrilige to the sanctity of amrit. To them I say: "C'mon dudes - Open mindedness - Just Feel It!" But in all seriousness I think it is a creative and refreshing design. If any one has problems with it...comment away!

Next - Advanced Gurmat Class and then Khālsā bōlī!!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Pillow fights, sākhīs and preparation for the Guru's crown!

I'm back from a hectic 3 weeks in Canada/USA. All my belongings are now officially moved back from Toronto to Boston (actually Chelmsford, MA). After almost exactly 3 years and 9 months I am going to head back to jajji ghar of sorts (ancestral village home...actually Kobe, Japan is my hometown originally, but Chelmsford, MA is the place where I bought my first home in the States..I came to the US in 1987 to Massachusetts, never really left).

Anyway, 1 week in TO to pack up and pretend to work as well. 1 week at Camp Chardi Kala in the Catskills, NY. 3 days in Boston/Chelmsford cleaning up for my move, 4 days in TO pretending to work, 3 days in Chelmsford receiving my goods from across the border. Throw in a couple of business dinners and early morning conference calls while I was pretending to work. It was a hectic 3 weeks

The stuff I will write about in the next couple of days is primarily Camp Chardi Kala. Surprise...you didn't think I would bore you with the exciting new stuff happening at work eh?

First this was the 30 year anniversary of Camp Chardi Kala. I have been volunteering there since approx. 1997 and had a few years hiatus due to personal reasons. This year we had 180 kids, I had a cabin full of about ten 8 and 9 year olds (boys)! That was quite an experience - I can now wash their hair, turn on and off the showers for them, of course tie their patkas, remind them to go take a pee before they go to bed, tell them sākhīs at night, allow them to do pillow fights even against the other cabins and say "We won" even though we got clobbered, play the panjabi game with them, listen to their jokes, not understand anything about the tv shows they watch (I just learnt about sponge bob!!), and soothe them when they felt homesick ("You are the son of Guru Gobind Singh aren't you!? Then why are you crying!?"). But for the life of me, I could not tie a tight jūrā on their heads which one day will don the crown of the Tenth Master. I know how uncomfortable I feel when my jūrā is not tight and secure...so I just could not let them be with untidy and loose jūrās, so I had to use rubber-bands. I don't get it! When my mom did my jūrā as a little kid she didn't have to use rubber bands to secure it...why can't I do it. After I comb their kes then I would have to hand them over to an auntyji or bhainji. I can do a gut (braid), but somehow the jura is never tight. Anyway, cabin duty for the young ones was a good (frustrating at times) introspective learning experience. Thanks Sandeep and Livleen Singh!! Anything but the 18 year olds!!

Here are some pics
Cabin #1 rocks! This is the table where my little guys sat for meals. The shatān one has to jump up last second and destroy the pic!

Click on pic for larger view. One on left is one of my kids. His jūrā is huge! I combed his kes, but could not do a proper jūrā for the life of me. Oh yeah, the one on the right, that's A Kaur's son..."umm....Yo A!...he's having a bad patkā day....AGAIN!
"Guys..where's M Singh!"..."I saw him playing foosball!!" This little one's sister was homesick so the parents came and took her home. He said he's gonna stay....he liked camp so much!
Kīrtan, Gurū Rāmdās lulaby and Sohilā. It ran late so a couple of my kids fell asleep...woke them up for milk and cookies then it was..."Uncle, can we have a pillow fight tonight!!??"