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’
"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."
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
The past week or so it has gotten cold all of a sudden here in Espanola. I think winter is coming. As I was looking through some of my pictures I found the above picture of the Golden Temple from my last trip to India in Jan 2005. It reminds me of winter.
Every time I go to Amritsar I always take pictures of Harimandir Sahib. On this trip I wanted to watch the sun rise behind the Golden Temple and take some pictures. So I went up on the roof of one part of the wall that surrounds the Hari Mandir Sahib. It was really cold that morning and I was barefoot with only a small jacket. The cold cement floor didn’t help either. I was starting to really shiver with cold so I paced up and down the wall, waiting for the sun to start to show light in the horizon. Time seemed to slow as I waited. Then, as I walked up and down the roof trying to keep warm I discovered my source of “survival”. I found a spot which was kind of a vent where warm steam/air flowed out. It turns out that this was a sweet smelling exhaust vent for the Parshad kitchen below! Not only did it warm my feet…but the sweet aroma of parshad made me feel good. So there I sat, huddled over the vent, watching the sun start to light the morning sky over Harimandir Sahib, with sweet aromas of parshad in the air keeping a smile on my face.
So the next time you are up on the roof of the wall above the parshad kitchen, waiting for the sun to rise, go look for the “parshad heater!” Hahaha….. The above picture is from that morning out in the cold, warming my ice cube toes with steam/air from the Guru’s Kitchen.
You can also check out the article by PunjabHeritage.org which shows some other cool images of Sikh related places on Google Maps and gives some great descriptions of the different places. PunjabHeritage.org has some very interesting articles and you’ll be sure to learn a lot.
Here is Guru Nam Kaur who was one of my Aunties/Teachers back in school and now works with SikhNet (among other things). She is with her daughter Pritham Kaur who is an old friend and classmate of mine. We are the same age too. She is pregnant and due around the same time as Arjan.
During our many years in India we used to do learn a lot of Gatka and martial arts. Here is a group of some of the kids in Anandpur Sahib from the early 80s.
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