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The story of Bhai Subeg Singh and Bhai Shahbaz Singh is a unique chapter from Sikh history. Bhai Subeg Singh was a denizen of village Jambar which was a few miles away from Lahore. Bhai Sahib was a true Gursikh who possessed a very high moral character and had high Sikh values. He was an elite scholar of Farsi.

He was a government official at the time of Khan Bahadur Zakaria Khan. He was a highly respected official as he possessed a very high moral character and was adept at his work. He was respected by the residents of Lahore and by the Governor Zakaria Khan.

Bhai Sahib made great efforts to unite the atrocious rulers of that time and the Singhs who were revolting against them. He tried hard to make their relations cordial. At many other instances also Bhai Sahib had done great favors to Zakaria Khan.

Bhai Sahib had a very obedient and very capable son, Shahbaz Singh. He was a very good looking and charming young man. He was taking the education of Farsi from a Qazi in a madrasa (school). Qazi Sahib was very impressed with the intellect and the very high moral character Shahbaz Singh possessed. Qazi wanted to convert Shahbaz Singh into a muslim and he had intentions of marrying his daughter to him. To accomplish his mission Qazi started inspiring him towards Islam by telling him the attributes of Islam but Shahbaz Singh was very proud of his Sikh faith and it’s rich heritage and history.

When Qazi was unsuccessful in his motives of converting him to a muslim even after trying for a long time he started threatening Shahbaz Singh. When Shahbaz Singh was not intimidated by his threatenings he complained to Zakaria Khan that he had used derogatory words for the muslim prophet Hazrat Mohammed Sahib and he also find faults in the religion of Islam. He instigated Zakaria Khan against Bhai Subeg Singh and Bhai Shahbaz Singh. Zakaria Khan forgot all the favors done by Bhai Subeg Singh and ordered the arrest of Bhai Subeg Singh and Bhai Shahbaz Singh.

Both were kept in different jails and were asked to abandon Sikhism and accept Islam. They were told if they do not accept Islam they will be given a very torturous death. Both father and son said we love Sikhi more than our lives. We can tolerate tortures but cannot part with our Sikh faith. The royal Qazi gave Fatwa that both father and son should be killed in front of each other and on opposite wheels.

They were tied tightly on opposite wheels. The wheels were rotated. The sharp knives tied to the wheels pierced the bodies of both Singhs and tore them apart. The blood started oozing from the bodies of the Singhs. The wheels were stopped in between and they were asked again if they accept Islam and their answer was we will never abandon our Sikhi and we will never accept Islam. The wheels were rotated again. Both Singhs kept on reciting Gurbani and their consciousness was immersed in their Guru. They faced the hour of great adversity and torture with great courage. They happily accepted martyrdom for their Sikh faith with great valor

Their life is an impeccable example of their immense and profound love and respect for their Guru and their Sikh faith. Their love for Sikhi was above and beyond this world. They lived for Sikhi and died for Sikhi. Such is the life and the precious treasure trove of Gursikhs.

-Ramneek Kaur

ਕਲਗ਼ੀਧਰ ਟਰੱਸਟ ਬੜੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਕਿਸਮ ਦੇ ‘ਗਰਲਜ਼ ਨਸ਼ਾ ਛੁਡਾਊ ਕੇਂਦਰ’ ਦੀ ਸ਼ੁਰੂਆਤ

ਸ਼੍ਰੋਮਣੀ ਪੰਥ ਰਤਨ ਬਾਬਾ ਇਕਬਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਦੀ ਅਗਵਾਈ ਹੇਠ ਬੜੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵਿਖੇ ਪਹਿਲੇ ‘ਗਰਲਜ਼ ਨਸ਼ਾ ਛੁਡਾਊ ਕੇਂਦਰ’ ਦੀ ਸ਼ੁਰੂਆਤ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ।ਇਸ ਨਸ਼ਾ ਛੁਡਾਊ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਨੂੰ ਚਲਾਉਣ ਲਈ ਮਾਨਸਿਕ ਰੋਗਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਾਹਰ ਡਾ. ਕਰਨਲ ਰਾਜਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਅਗਵਾਈ ਵਿੱਚ ਬਾੜੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵਿਖੇ ਇਕ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਟੀਮ ਵੀ ਤਿਆਰ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ ਹੈ ਜਿਸ ਵਿੰਗ ਦੇ ਇੰਚਾਰਜ ਡਾ. ਪਰਮਜੀਤ ਕੌਰ ਹਨ।

ਬੜੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵਿਚਲਾ ਇਹ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਮਰੀਜਾਂ ਲਈ ਦੂਜੇ ਪੁਨਰਵਾਸ ਕੇਂਦਰਾਂ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਵਧੇਰੇ ਲਾਹੇਵੰਦ ਹੈ ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਇਥੇ ਮਰੀਜ਼ਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਕੁਦਰਤੀ ਤੇ ਵਾਦੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ-ਨਾਲ ਰੂਹਾਨੀ ਵਾਤਾਵਰਣ ਦਾ ਆਨੰਦ ਮਾਨਣ ਨੂੰ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਹੈ।ਇਸ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਿਖਲਾਈ ਪ੍ਰਾਪਤ ਸਟਾਫ ਦੀ ਖਾਸ ਸੁਵਿਧਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਇਥੇ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਨਰਸਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ ਵੀ ਹਨ ਮੌਜੂਦ ਹਨ ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਮਰੀਜ਼ਾਂ ਦੀ ਦੇਖ ਭਾਲ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਭੇਦਭਾਵ ਤੋਂ ਕੀਤੀ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਹੈ।

कि किसी मरीज की इलाज और दवाइयों की कमी के चलते सांस की डोर नहीं टूटनी चाहिए। जब बात किसी की जिंदगी की हो तो यह सरदार पैसे की परवाह भी नहीं करता। इसी जिद्द को पूरा करने में वे दिन-रात लगे रहते है। यहां तक कि अपने व परिवार की इच्छाएं भी सीमित कर ली। पेशे से बिजनेसमैन एसपी ओबराय अपनी सालाना कमाई का 98 फीसद करीब 20 करोड़ रुपये एजुकेशन और मेडिकल क्षेत्र में बेहतरी के लिए डोनेट कर रहे हैं। प्राइवेट और सरकारी अस्तपालों को एंबूलेंस, दवाओं समेत इलाज के लिए सैकड़ों जरूरी मेडिकल उपकरण व मशीनें वह अब तक दान कर चुके हैं। मरीजों की वन टाइम हेल्प के अलावा उनकी सर्जरी तक का सारा खर्च ओबराय ही उठा रहे हैं। पंजाब यूनिवर्सिटी जैसे बड़े संस्थानों की मदद में भी पीछे नहीं हैं। वर्ष भर दर्जनों स्टूडेंट्स को वह स्कॉलरशिप मुहैया करवा रहे हैं।

27 हजार मरीजों की आंखों की मुफ्त में सर्जरी करवाई ओबराय अब तक 310 आई कैंप लगा चुके हैं, जिसमें 27 हजार से ज्यादा लोगों ने आंखों का इलाज करवाया। मोतियाबिंद का ऑपरेशन बिल्कुल मुफ्त में कर इन मरीजों के लैंस भी लगाए गए। हाल ही में उन्होंने सिविल अस्पताल को डेंगू टेस्ट करने की दो मशीनें मुहैया करवाई हैं। 600 मरीजों की मासिक 4 हजार तक की मदद करीब 600 मरीज ऐसे ड्टाी हैं जिनकी दवाइयों का मासिक खर्च 1 से 4 हजार तक है। इनका खर्च ओबराय उठा रहे हैं। इसमें उनकी दवाइयों के अलावा छोटा मोटा खर्च ड्टाी होता है। यह खर्च रूटीन में होता है। मरीजों की कैंसर और किडनी की महंगी दवाइयां भी इसमें शामिल हैं। वेंटिलेटर देने का काम शुरू, 20 में से 2 दिए अस्पतालों में वेंटिलेटर को लेकर काफी मारामारी रहती है। इसको लेकर उन्होंने काम भी शुरू कर दिया है। एक वेंटिलेटर की कीमत करीब सात लाख है। उनकी प्लानिंग इस साल 20 डोनेट करने की है। दो डोनेट कर चुके हैं। हर तरह के टेस्ट की 6 लैब लगाई, 22 और लगानी हैं ओबराय चाहते हैं कि मरीजों को हर छोटे टेस्ट के लिए जगह जगह धक्के नहीं खाने पड़ें। इसके लिए उन्होंने 6 लैब लगाई हैं जहां हर तरह के टेस्ट होते हैं। इसमें इसीजी, ब्लड और यूरिन टेस्ट के साथ कई तरह के अन्य टेस्ट शामिल हैं। इस तरह की 22 लैब और उनको खोलनी हैं। हर टेस्ट बिल्कुल निशुल्क होता है। 110 मरीजों की सर्जरी करवा उठा रहे नियमित इलाज का खर्च ओबराय दवाइयों के अलावा मरीजों की सर्जरी का भी खर्च उठा रहे हैं। 110 लोगों की वह वन टाइम मदद कर चु के हैं। इसमें मरीजों की कई तरह की सर्जरी होती है जिसका खर्च खु द ओबराय उठाते हैं। हर मरीज की सर्जरी पर औसतन 20 हजार का खर्च आया है।

GURDWARA KANDH SAHIB, BATALA derives its name from kachchi kandh, i.e. mud wall, which, according to local tradition, stood on this site at the time of Guru Nanak’s marriage. It is said that as the wedding party arrived and stopped a little distance short of Bhai Mul Chand’s house, waiting for formal reception by the host.

Guru Nanak sat down close to the wall. An old lady living near by, pointing to the dilapidated state of the wall, told him to move away from the spot lest the crumbling wall should fall on him. Guru Nanak assured her that there was no cause for alarm for the wall would stay intact for a long time.

The wall so consecrated by the Guru became an object of veneration for the devotees who also constructed a memorial platform near it. A symbolic mud wall, neatly plastered, 3 x 5 x 1.5 feet approximately, encased in glass, next to the Guru Granth Sahib at the ground floor, now represents the original wall.

Khushbir Kaur’s family still remembers the days when a cowshed was their home and the country’s top racewalker, who won a silver at the 2014 Asian Games, used to sleep on a creaky charpoy.

Due to abject poverty, the family would regularly skip meals once or twice a day. From a cowshed, they moved to a crumbling house with a leaky log roof. When it rained, they had to accommodate their cows inside the house.

Those hardships are fresh in the minds of 25-year-old Khushbir, now a DSP with Punjab Police, and her mother Jasbir Kaur, residents of Rasulpur Kalan village in Amristar. “It has been quite a tough journey,” Khushbir said.

We lived stashed with cows in a room’

Khushbir lost her father, Balkar Singh, when she was six. It was her iron-willed mother, who raised four daughters and a son by sewing clothes and selling milk in nearby villages.

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“During the rainy season, my daughters, son, the cows and I all lived in a single room, stashed together,” Khushbir’s mother Jasbir Kaur says, tears rolling down her eyes.

” Hun kisay nu vee pind vicho pucho ki DSP Khushbir day ghar jana hai tae saray tuhanu das daen gay (Now ask anyone in the village that you have to go to DSP Khushbir’s house, all of them will tell you where to go),” she adds proudly.

Jasbir was the family’s sole breadwinner after her husband’s death. Khushbir, however, has taken over the mantle of being the leader of the family after she started winning medals on the national and international stage. Her mother isn’t complaining.

“It was only after Khushbir started winning medals and awards that we could afford a good meal. And after she won silver in the 20km race walk event at the 2014 Asian Games, we got a cemented roof over our heads,” says Jasbir.

Khushbir’s two sisters – Harjit Kaur and Karamjit Kaur – are also into sports. The third – Dharamjit Kaur – is a sports enthusiast. Her brother Bikramjit Singh wants to join the Indian Army.

Recalling their days of hardship, Jasbir says, “My husband was an employee with the state electricity department. But after his death, my in-laws’ family left me to survive with five young children – all on my own. But I didn’t lose heart, I dedicated my life to raise my children and encouraged my daughters to study as well as be involved in sports.

“We had a couple of cows. I used to sell milk and then stitch clothes, but the income was not enough. The teachers at the school where Khushbir and her sisters studied would often help them – with studies as well as school fees.”

Khushbir’s mother still has a couple of cows but the decaying, crumbling house has now turned into a modern pucca house. Signs of prosperity are visible. “My daughters are my pride. My message to anyone who indulges in female infanticide is: Remember, the girls saved the nation’s pride in the last Olympics,” she says.

Talking about difficult times, Bikramjit says, “I couldn’t invite my friends to our home because it was just a single room; and then we had cow dungs stored in that. It was awkward.”

Originally Published In The Times Of India

A Normanton man who has broken a world record for growing the longest cucumber says his secret is praying to the plant every day.

Raghbir Singh Sanghera feeds the 49-inch plant – which is still growing – with water and fertiliser in the morning, lunchtime and evening, and sits next to it for three hours a day.

The 75-year-old was given the cucumber seeds by a friend five years ago and has planted them every year since.

Raghbir, a local priest and keen gardener, said: “Last year I grew a 39-inch cucumber with the same seeds but this year I wanted to do better. I sit next to it and pray for my health, for my family and for the cucumber.

“I’ve been growing vegetables all my life but I’ve never had anything like this. I think the hot weather may have helped it to grow.”

Raghbir recites the traditional Sikh prayer, the Mool Mantar, every morning next to the cucumber.

The first line of the prayer ‘Ik Onkar’, translates as ‘there is only one God.’

The previous world record of the longest cucumber was 42.5 inches.

Raghbir said: “I am so proud of it. When it stops growing I will keep it for a few weeks to show people but eventually I will eat it in a salad. It can’t go to waste!”

He said: “Our children and two grandchildren love coming to see it. They are very proud. It is like another child.”

Raghbir also grows Indian vegetables, sweetcorn and onions, but none have compared to the giant cucumber.

Normanton ward councillor Balbir Sandhu said: “Raghbir rang me on Friday to tell me that the cucumber was 46 inches. I told him to wait a few more days, then he rang me on Monday saying it had grown another three inches.

“He has to keep lifting it higher every day because it grows so fast and he has to hang it so it stays straight. I can’t believe it, it’s amazing.”

Raghbir plans to submit his cucumber to the Guinness Book of Records when it has stopped growing.

Source- www.derbytelegraph.co.uk

Akal Academy, Baru Sahib works as a benediction for thousands of children tucked in rural areas. It facilitates them with values and education to make their unprivileged lives significant and successful.

Their sole aim is to improve the lives of  such rural kids residing in distant rural areas with deficient facilities. Tendering them with education at low-cost schools and universities, Akal Academy gifts them adignified life.

Attaining education is difficult in rural areas. The case is worst when it comes to girls. Our conservative rural society does not give the allowance to girls to follow their dreams. They assume girls as a burden. But Akal Academy without being gender bias motivates girls to study and achieve what they want.

One of such fortunate child is our alumnus Satnaam Kaur. A genius mind deprived in a village Dona Nanka, district Fazilka, Punjab. Raised in a small village her eyes couldn’t stop dreaming BIG.

‘Does not matter where you come from, what matters is where you reach in the end.’

Satnaam’s ambitions were being polished by The Akal Academy, Baru Sahib and this was the major step leading to her success.  

‘The blend of hard work and opportunity is equal to profound successes’

Very gracefully she headed towards her goal of success. Fighting with challenges and tussles she grew into a golden charm. In her village where girls were deprived of education and freedom she made her own way.

She showed this keen interest for studying. She studied in a government school and marked her territory by topping Punjab in class 5th. Now her talent needed a perfect place to be settled in and embellished

She joined Akal Academy, Baru Sahib in her sixth grade where she was given free education. She secured an outstanding result of 93% in her XIIth medical examinations. Her talent was put into the right mould for procuring best results by this institution.

She pursued her further studies at Guru Angad Veterinary University

Then, she  gracefully scored 72 all India rank in NEET exams, which is an remarkable achievement.

She is the FIRST girl from this village to study till 12th class and the First one to become a Doctor. Her village, district is so proud of her achievements.

She procured all her education on the basis of her talent and hard work. People sponsored her studies.

Her parents were exhilarated with this news with their chest swelled with pride. They could not even afford her education fees but did not hestiate in taking a loan for their child’s education.

She is a wonderful Veterinarian- Animal Doctor now. And we all are so proud of her. She became the first doctor in her village who scripted her own story of success.

She recalls: – Akal Academy rejuvenated me. They educated me academically and spiritually so I can serve humanity. That serene environment is a blessing on earth. Whatever I learned it’s all because of this institution. From a small village to a Doctor today,I pay my whole credit and heartfelt gratitude to this celestial institute for helping me climb this ladder of success.

Satnaam Kaur very gracefully opened the windows for all other rural girls to seek dreams. Girls who never thought of escaping this rural life are now inspired and Dare to DREAM BIG. Her village has now opened their own high school for the advancement of children. Akal Academies are their footsteps to help them to make children achievers.

‘Success is just a word until you attain it.’