By Jessica Meisman, 12th Grade Student, Miri Piri Academy, March 28 2008
I have seen crowds of people before; India has definitely acquainted me with the masses. But never have I seen as big a group embodying the Cherdi Kala spirit as I did in Anandpur Sahib on Hola Mahala. Hola Mahala is a celebration to usher in the spring, and Anandpur was Guru Gobind Singhs home and fort. Between the Indian capacity for festivity and the religious fervor of the Sikhs, the air was humid with excitement. The school bus weaved through camps of Nihungs, complete with stables and langar kitchens, and drove past public carriers filled with families and pilgrims from all over India. We were making our way to the Siri Singh Sahib’s house in Anandpur Sahib, where we would be staying. After lunger and chai, our group of students, staff and faculty went to explore the bazaar and festivities in Anandpur. Continue reading ‘Cherdi Kala at Hola Mahala’
I had a great time in B.C. (Vancouver/Surrey/Kelowna)…though it was too quick of a visit. I hope to go again sometime with my whole family. Thanks so much to Randeep Singh and Pardeep Singh for hosting me while I was there. Canada is pretty cool. Every time I go there I am impressed at how friendly people are. If I ever move from Espanola, I’ll definitely consider migrating to Vancouver :)
Here are some pictures that Pardeep Singh took while I was with him. If you are ever in need of a good photographer for your wedding or any other occasion, look him up. He is an up and coming photographer :)
A sign from Narayan Singh from New Westminster, welcoming me to Vancouver (I went to their house for dinner and this is what I saw on the door when I arrived). My son Narayan has another friend who also has the same name and is about the same age.
Me and Pardeep Singh eating Edamame at the Japanese restaurant. He had never tried sushi or other Japanese food so this was his first adventure in this type of food. From time to time we have sushi "parties" at our house and we all roll sushi ourselves and eat it. Yum…yum!
Eatin’ sushi. I need one of these wide angle lenses! Grrrrr….
Stroll through Stanley Park. I loved the part of the park that was like a jungle with the giant trees which touched the skies. One minute you were in the city…the next you were off in the forest. I wish we had more time to go through the park. I guess I’ll have to wait till my next visit to vancouver.
Here I am during and Interview for Channel M News, talking about SikhNet and the SikhNet Youth Online Film Festival. I am waiting to see how the video came out. Pardeep….I hope your brother is able to get the video off his media center computer :)
Talking about pardeep and him taking pictures. Roma Kaur, producer for Channel M Punjabi News and editor for Kaurs Magazine.
We took a quick day trip to Kelowna with friends and family. It took about 4 hours to get there and we left Surrey pretty late so we didn’t get there till like 1:30AM. This is a picture of the kids getting ready for a boat ride. We had lots of fun pulling each other on tubes on the back of the boat.
Is this an unusual turban or what!? This sardar definitely took the time to sculpt this turban into a towering masterpiece! I remember during my school days in Mussoorie, India there was a group of Sikhs kids from Thailand. Some of them had some interesting methods of sculpting turbans into different shapes using plastic, pins, starch and other materials. Even having see-through cloth and shiny plastic behind, which made the turban shine and sparkle a bit. I love seeing how in each country there are different styles of Turbans. Such a flavor! It would be cool to document/catalog this into one place that you could see some of the turban styles of the world.
Do you tie a unique looking turban or know someone who does? Please send a picture my way if you do :)
"Miri Piri Academy, being the only school whose curriculum includes a step-by-step certification program of the Sikh martial art, Gatka, was invited to New Delhi to instruct kids of ages of 10-17. Hosted by the Siri Guru Harkrishan Public School, around 300 students from different schools attended the three-day course (April 24 - 26) organized and run by students of Miri Piri Acadmey. This was headed up by Jugat Guru Singh, Sadasat Simran Singh, and Harimandirjot Singh of Chardikala Jatha who expressed that they have not experienced such an enthusiastic and heartfelt response in all the camps they have taught.
Throughout the camp, our group taught various fundamental exercises and concepts that create the foundation of the art of Gatka as a whole. They began each day with an invocation Ardaas, followed by stretches and exercises, then 31 minutes of 4-step pantra to Jaap Sahib. Some of the techniques included in the camp curriculum were a variety of stretches, strengthening exercises (sarab dundes, squats, hand-to-hand partner exercises), Pantra, and stick work (both freestyle and shoulder-shoulder sparring). Each MPA student, heading a group of 15 to 20 kids, was given the opportunity to instruct and teach every person on a more personal level and was able to deliver the techniques more efficiently. To end each 5-hour-day, a meditation was lead by MPA where the school courtyard was filled with the booming voices of around 300 inspired kids chanting to Wahe Guru Wahe Guru Wahe Jio.
Our volunteer students from Miri Piri Academy were very successful in delivering a large curriculum to hundreds of eager-to-learn kids in such a short time. Not only did they teach wonderfully, they also built strong relationships and developed many friendships. Our kids were honored to teach Gatka and humbly offer what we learn here at MPA to other schools around India. We hope that these relationships continue to grow and prosper as we continue to teach and build new bridges from our culture to theirs."
What with Gurumustuk Singh posting all those lovely photos from the beach in Florida whilst he’s on vacation, I thought I’d post one I took this morning here in Espanola, New Mexico. Yes, it’s snowing again! I love it. It snowed through the pre-dawn hours and it’s still snowing hard. This is a photo from my back porch this morning. Look closely at the wall of my neighbor’s house and you can actually see the snow coming down. We’re cozy and warm, working from home today with a crackling fire in the fireplace. All one needs these days is a cozy fire, Gurbani playing on the stereo, a telephone and a good broadband connection.
Wahe Guru! Winter Solstice blessings to everyone! …..Guruka Singh
Today was another fun day at the beach. As we were sitting eating some sandwiches for lunch a few seagulls flew around us. We then threw a few chips and the next thing we knew a bunch were all over. Because of the strong wind they would just glide/hover right above our heads (just feet away). Here are a few pictures of the birds.
Narayan held his hand up with a chip and the bird came and took it right out of his fingers while hovering above.
Just recently my brother Dharam Singh who has been in India along with some of his friends (Himmat Singh and Simran Singh) particpated in the "Habitat For Humanity" - Jimmy Carter Work Project (In Maharastara). This is a charitable operation in which over 2,000 volenteers from India and abroad build 100 small homes in just 5 days for people in need. I haven’t heard all the details yet in how it went but did see these pictures of the group of volenteers that my brother was with for building some homes.
It’s friday so I thought why not post something a bit different….even though it has nothing to do with Sikhs. It’s just a flashback for me. I just happened upon one of my friend’s myspace page and found a funny song which I remember hearing often in the 80’s. While I was in boarding school in India (Mussoorie) we used to have a “town leave” around once a month where we got to go into the town of Mussoorie (which is a hill station in the mountains above Dehradun, India). During the town leave we used to sometimes go to this roller skating rink. Hey, it was the 80’s, and roller skating was totally the “in” thing. This was a time when “Disco Divani” and Disco Dancing was popular (Even in India!). I remember hearing the song “I am a disco dancer” quite often during that time, and we used to joke about it. I think most of us students will remember this song.
I did a few searches online and found an actual video that someone posted online. Apparently the song was part of an Indian movie called “Disco Dancer”.
It’s quite funny watching the video which is a combination of bad dancing and cheesy gangtser fight scenes from the movie. This movie came out in 1982, so it is pretty old.
I wonder if others out there heard this song/movie when they were younger. This might be boring for many of you…but for me it was one of those silly things I remember from when I was a kid in India that we all joked about, so it was cool to see that it actually existed and wasn’t just an imagined thing from my past. Who knows?? It was hard being a little kid and being in boarding school half way accross the world.
This was the same time when we had the Human Powered Ferris Wheel, and used to get rides while THIS very music was playing, and the guys that were spinning the ferris wheel would do tricks while they were spinning us around. Open up the picture and click on the large version and you’ll see them in the center of the farris wheel.
You can watch the video below, or if you don’t have broadband internet you can hear the audio clip
Every day or two I have been going through pictures I have taken over the past 15 years and posting some of the unique and interesting ones up on Flickr. It’s always challenging trying to only pick a few and ones that I think are better than the rest. Trying to post more quality than quantity. If you are into taking pictures register for an account and give it a try. It can be quite fun…and Flickr makes the pictures look pretty nice.
Just in case you didn’t already notice, on the right side bar (of this blog) there are small little thumbnail images showing the latest photos that I have posted on Flickr. You can click on any of them to view the full image and add comments. You can do all kinds of other cool things with Flickr…so explore way! (Post pictures to your blog, browse images based on location…through a map, make new friends with similar interests, post pictures from your cell phone, etc).
What with Gurumustuk Singh posting all those lovely photos from the beach in Florida whilst he’s on vacation, I thought I’d post one I took this morning here in Espanola, New Mexico. Yes, it’s snowing again! I love it. It snowed through the pre-dawn hours and it’s still snowing hard. This is a photo from my back porch this morning. Look closely at the wall of my neighbor’s house and you can actually see the snow coming down. We’re cozy and warm, working from home today with a crackling fire in the fireplace. All one needs these days is a cozy fire, Gurbani playing on the stereo, a telephone and a good broadband connection.
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