MrSikhNet

Narayan hanging on the side with some of the kids on the playground.

Narayan Upside down right before Gurdwara

Here is a picture that I just took outside my office door of the snow falling. We are in the high desert so we count on the winter snow for water. It’s been a pretty lousy winter so far (meaning very little snow). Forest fires and drought conditions occur when we don’t get snow/rain.

When it rains or snows people tend to be quite happy here. When I went to England it was actually quite nice to have it cloudy and rainy, as compared to the almost always clear sunny skies here in Espanola. It is not uncommon to see me sprint out the office door and run around in the rain/snow. Ahhhhh! What a feeling. I love Nature :)

Now, if only it can snow enough to stay for more than a few hours. Sledding? Snowman? (wishful thinking probably).

Here is a video that my mother got for me many years ago. It’s a pretty good one showing some of the basic Bhangra moves in a simplified way, and then the actual full move. It’s soo funny seeing the guys in the video with there 80’s warm up sweatpants, socks and classic Punjabi smiles.

I have grown up with a different relation to Bhangra than probably most Sikhs from Punjabi background. Generally I think when most people hear of “Bhangra dancing” they immediately associate “club, parties and drinking”. This is not always the case. Some of you have seen some of the videos that I have posted in the past where the Guys/Girls do a Bhangra dance show for friends to show their love and for entertainment. Many people in our community enjoys it a lot. For us it is more of cultural fun, exercise, and cool to watch. It is a cultural thing that we enjoy from time to time in a community environment. I remember so many times where we would all get together and work on a new dance for some event, or for a friend that was going to be getting married. I personally like the exercise part. The shoulder and arm action really relaxes tension in the upper body and it is a good workout. I used to do this every day at home. A few of my friends teach Bhangra workout classes purely for fun and exercise. One of my friends (Sat Pavan Kaur) made a great DVD “Bhangra Workout“).

I know not all Bhangra music is good and in line with Sikh values, and that it used mostly to party with; but that doesn’t make dancing bad. I remember when I went to the Yuba City Punjabi Festival to represent SikhNet, I was really dis-heartened seeing all the young Punjabi kids all Americanized with no resemblance of being Sikhs anymore. Quite a few were in groups like gangsters, looking drunk and ready to burst into a fight with someone. The music blasting so loud my head was aching. This to me is the contrast to our community and it’s use of Bhangra in a more innocent, healthy and balanced way.

So…if you are the type that doesn’t get much excercise and are on the computer all the time… try giving this video a watch and have fun while getting some exercise at the same time. More and more people are in bad physical shape and we have to make an effort to excercise our body and keep healthy.

So to summarize, I am NOT suggesting that Sikhs go out and start partying it up. I am just giving an example of a way that you can do something fun but that is a healthy form of excercise. You can do this at home by yourself, or get some friends to do this together in a clean and positive way.

My sister Colleen taking Narayan for a ride on her horse.