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Dalvir Kaur and her friend Balvinder Kaur don’t mind cleaning up the dirty dishes in the large kitchen of a Queens gurudwara.

“I want to do more work,” Dalvir Kaur said with a smile.

A few feet away, Daljit Singh is drying dishes with a hand towel. The 38-year old construction worker, who wears a turban, says that this type of work makes his “heart happy.”

The three individuals are just some of the devout Sikhs who volunteer their time at the Sikh Cultural Society’s “langar,” or free kitchen, located in the Queens neighborhood of Richmond Hill. They assist in the preparation of thousands of free meals a week at the Sikh temple, or “gurdwara,” where food is served almost around the clock.

Every Gurdwara in the world, no matter how large or small, has facilities to distribute free meals to the community. It is considered to be an honor to help cook and serve food to anyone that enters the langar.

At the Sikh Cultural Center–a sprawling complex in a city that is home to one of the largest population of Sikhs outside of India–Indian lentils, flatbreads, rice and colorful curries (all vegetarian) are served from gigantic pots onto individual trays. Attendees sit side-by-side on the floor and eat with their hands.

Balbir Rathor, a retired mechanical engineer, told NBC News he travels every week from his Long Island home to the Richmond Hill gurdwara to worship. Eating langar here puts him in a spiritual state of mind, he says, and is an activity he looks forward to.

“Eating langar is even more special than eating at home with my own family,” said Rathor, 73, as men around him poured water and heaped dollops of lentils and basmati rice onto his tin tray. “Eating langar is a blessing.”

There are currently about 700,000 Sikhs living in the United States who, like Rathor and the volunteers at the Sikh Cultural Society, have built their lives and careers across the country for decades.

But according to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), Sikh Americans have often been targets of discrimination, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

SALDEF notes that it has been difficult to know the true number of hate crimes against Sikh Americans because specific statistics were unavailable until recently. In March, the Department of Justice and the FBI announced it would begin tracking hate crimes against Sikh Americans, as well as against Hindu and Arab Americans.

The largest hate crime to take place against Sikhs on American soil happened three years ago on the morning of August 5th, 2012, at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.

What started off as an ordinary day as local Sikhs gathered for service and prepared for Sunday school classes turned deadly when a gunman opened fire, killing six before turning the gun on himself.

A group of women and children were later found hiding inside a pantry in the kitchen where they sought cover.
The women had been busy before two terrified children ran to the kitchen, alerting them about the gunman. They were hard at work preparing the day’s langar meal.

‘I Volunteer Here Only to Please God’
Langar is about more than just eating free Indian food: the tradition of the community meal is as old as the Sikh religion itself–a religion that originated in the Punjab region of present-day India and Pakistan.

As the story goes, a young man was given 20 rupees by his father with the expectation that the son would use it to turn a profit. Instead, he used the money to feed hungry people he met, proclaiming that there was no venture more profitable than feeding his fellow man and engaging in selfless service.

The man’s name was Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, which is now the world’s fifth largest religion. His unselfish act is considered the first langar meal in the Sikh tradition.

Many poor and hungry people come here to eat,” Gurmeet Singh Gill, a manager at the Sikh Cultural Society, told NBC News.
“We do not ask anyone any questions,” he said, adding that some non-Sikhs also come to the gurudwara to eat, which is an expression of the Sikh principle of equality.

The langar institution, which is paid for by donations made by congregants, is based on the three golden rules of Sikhism: to earn by honest means, to give to charity, and to remember God at all times.

“If I work with my hands, then God will keep my family healthy and happy,” Dalvir Kaur said of her work at the Sikh Cultural Society. “I volunteer here only to please God.”

Source- NBC News

Volunteers stayed up all night preparing thousands of roti wraps for refugees camped in Calais.

About 5,000 wraps along with clothes, toiletries and dry food, were then distributed by volunteers from Singh Sabha London East, High Road, Seven Kings.

The group also donated to a temporary kitchen at the camp after distributing essentials outside a temporary mosque and church.

Organiser Mandeep Singh, 30, said: “It was a really good experience, but there’s still a lot of help needed. “It was quite humbling to help people in need and at the same time see their conditions – it was quite difficult.”
The police officer from Seven Kings said it was all about sharing the principles of Guru Nanak – one being “kirat karo” which is all about sharing. “To have such an opportunity to be involved in such a seva [selfless service] is very special indeed,” he said.

“Being able to help and speak to those in need in Calais makes me appreciate how lucky we are.”

In charge of preparing the food was Mandeep Chahal, 40, from Seven Kings.“There’s always lots of volunteers that want to help,” she said.

“I haven’t done an all-nighter before but the younger members stayed up with us and there was a lovely spirit in the kitchen.

“We were like machines,” she said. “It’s lovely to know that it was going to a good cause.” Volunteer Makhan Singh said the group hoped to return to Calais in the near future.

He said: “Compassion is a big part of the Sikh philosophy, so when we know these people are suffering just around the corner from us, we have to do something to help.”

~ Source – Ilfordrecorder.co.uk

Father Joshua Lickter, who is Christian church in California, USA, regularly prays for the current tense situation in Punjab, India. He makes it a point to include it during the prayer service at church.

“Things are pretty heated up there right now in the state of Punjab,” he says before leading his congregation in prayers for peace, justice, and protection for peaceful protesters.

“We’ve been praying for India, and have been involved in human rights advocacy in India. Things are pretty heated up there right now in the state of Punjab right now. “There are some peaceful protests that are going on because some of the Sikh scriptures were desecrated by just Hindu nationalists or people that were trying to cause a ruckus. And as the Sikh community was protesting it, the police have come in and are blacking out certain areas. They’re taking down the internet and not letting people post on Facebook what’s happening. The government’s getting involved in censoring these peaceful protests about this so a lot of the details and information aren’t coming out, but a lot of people are getting beat up, and hurt, and a few have been killed already by it. “So we just want to pray for peace in that situation, and for justice, and also for protection for people that are speaking out against it.”

~ Source: Sikh24.com

Australia has now set up it’s own version of a Sikh Helpline for Sikhs in the country, as an avenue for seeking counseling and advice for numerous issues that commonly effect the community.

A statement released by the service providers has been published below:

“With the aim of providing much needed support platform for Sikhs in Australia, the Sikh Helpline service is launched by Red Khanda Inc. The Helpline sewa run by volunteers will provide Australia-wide sangat confidential counselling, information and help on various issues in Punjabi and English.

“Presence of Sikhs in Australia can be traced back to early settlement periods but the number of Sikhs in Australia since those periods had not grown much until the end of 20th century mainly due to white Australia policy and Sikhs from Punjab favouring Canada, UK and USA over Australia. This scene has changed in last 10 years when young Sikh students and skilled migrants shifted their focus to Australia and made down under their home. The Sikh Australians are positively contributing to growth and development of their adopted country.

“While Sikh Australians report their experience in Australia en masse as good, the challenges faced by Sikh Australians cannot be pushed aside. Living away in a foreign land and as minority immigrant in adopted country is never easy but for Sikh Australians the incidents like 9/11 and Martin Place siege bring alive realities of racism and hatred. Adults and children come face to face with bullying, harassment and discrimination on day to day basis. Some can deal with situations on their own, others need some system of support to gather a response to these problems.

“Then there are our in house issues which need to be attended. Although Sikhi propounds abstinence from intoxicants and mandates equality, but the harsh truth is that some Sikh households do suffer from domestic violence, addictions etc. Due to stigma attached with such issues the victims don’t want to discuss things openly and need community support. Growing up in high pace modern materialistic societies either gives one less exposure to Sikhi or sometimes causes confusion and conflicts within about ones faith and identity.

“Above are some examples of situations and circumstances when one needs to seek help and guidance. With a view to help fellow Sikhs in need to help in such situation Sikh Helpline Australia is being launched.”

The confidential service has now rolled out and is available as a community run service throughout Australia.

Sikh Helpline can be reached at inquiries@sikhhelpline.com.au

~ Source: sikh24.com

Taranjit Singh, a digital designer based in the UK has an impressive portfolio of Sikh related digital designs. His latest Endeavour, however is worth particular attention as he produces impressive figurines of the famous Bhai Garja Singh, companion of Bhai Bota Singh, hailing from the 18th century.

Taranjit Singh creates an inspirational hero from Sikh history, Bhai Garja Singh. Taranjit Singh creates an inspirational hero from Sikh history, Bhai Garja Singh

A successful Kickstarter campaign has seen the pledged goal of £11500 being surpassed in but a few days.

The 3d prints of the small statues are described by Taran Singh as follows, “The sculpture will be 12 inches tall and will be cold cast in resin bronze. There will also be a real bronze version which will be limited to 10 casts only. I have researched and carefully crafted each and every component in 3D.

“Sikh history and art are my passion and I have always been inspired by stories about the brave Sikh warriors who rose to forge their own Sikh empire in Punjab during the 1700’s. I wanted to create something that would remind people of their bravery and celebrate their inspirational sacrifice. This is my way of sharing their story with the next generation.”

Bota Singh and Garja Singh are famed for their single-handed challenge to the oppressive ruling regime of the time. Keeping their swords in their sheaths and arming themselves with only staffs, they fought off the cavalry and infantry of a 100 man contingent.

They eventually succumbed to their injuries and laid down their lives, but not before propping their broken-boned bodies against each other, back to back, to spend their last few breaths dealing a few more deathly blows to the shocked soldiers who had come to ‘arrest’ them.

~ Source: sikh24

In era of Modern Age, where even a short power cut tends to disturb our entire day, there are so many villages in India that have never even experienced electricity. Rural electrification is a big issue in India and more than 18,000 Indian villages still await to be electrified.

Such was the fate of Naro ka Kheda a small village in Rajasthan with 76 households until Prabh Singh, a Sikh student who pursued his higher education in Durham University Business School in England, took it upon himself to bring electricity to the village. His ‘Project Kiran’ electrified around 76 households in that village.
Until then, the villagers had to walk 7 s just to charge their mobile phones.

This project costed around 7 Lakhs, which was crowd-funded by the villagers and contributed by North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR), an autonomous society in the Indian government.
Prabh decided to stay while implementing his project with the villagers to experience their lifestyle & get a sense of benefit his project could bring.

The ‘easy to install and service’ electricity kit created in this project comprises of the following things.

A solar panel
Three light bulbs
A strip light
A charging socket

This ensured that the initiative was accessible to residents in remote locations.

Prabh Singh wants to take this project to other villages too. “I am in talks with an Indian central government agency to replicate the same project in 50 remote Indian villages based on the similar kind of revenue and service mechanism,” he said.

“The happiness and the amazement which I saw in those villagers’ eyes after they used electricity in their house for the first time is unmatched to any professional accomplishment that I could ever imagine achieving.” Added prabh Singh after turning their Dream into reality!

~ Source – huffingtonpost.co.uk

Sikh Solider who survived a Japanese bullet through the jaw serving in the British Army during Second World War celebrates his century in Hitchin.

Pritam Singh, from Meadow bank, had his family around him to mark the milestone, including a number of his five children, 12 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Mr Singh, who came to England in 1962 after surviving a bullet through his jaw fighting the Japanese with the fearsome 16th Punjab Regiment during the war – worked at Bowmans in Hitchin and Ickleford.

His son Jas Phurgura said: “Dad feels blessed.”

Via: GT1588