Guru Nanak, initiated a monumental project of nation building that took ten generations – a little over 240 years – to complete, before 1699 marked the initiation (birth) of the Khalsa.
Lately, observers have been arguing that useful Indianisms such as prepone should form part of the global vocabulary of our language. Indian English, they say, is a perfectly valid form of English – as is American or east Asian English – excluded only by rank snobbery.
This short documentary film by Raina Ambika is entitled Harleen. In her own voice, 22-year-old Harleen Kaur exposes her personal experiences of growing up in Wisconson and her relationship with her religion, nationality, and identity.
India and France share long-standing strategic and diplomatic ties, which the latter now wants to make stronger by going beyond these parameters and moving towards cultural relationship by connecting dots from the past and shared history.
It takes no genius to realise that there is a great paradox between the Sikh philosophy and Punjabi culture. There is so much discrimination in Punjabi culture that it pains me that these Punjabi’s proudly call themselves Sikhs...
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, May Darwin be with you—what is the best seasonal greeting? What if they are all fine? That’s the sentiment behind a new book that treats the winter holiday season for what it has become for many people, an intercultural, inter-religious celebration.
Singh said many Indians returned to India to get married because they thought they could not have a traditional ceremony here. "We just want to prove people wrong. You can do it here," he said.
That woman is the lesser gender even today is beyond debate. And that’s not the question. Today I merely offer plausible hypotheses of how such practices very likely took birth.
She always tells them: "You never know who might be watching." If word gets back to the village that a young woman has stepped across the village’s moral boundaries — ....
The Punjabi-American Festival, held each year on the last Sunday in May, is organized by the Punjabi-American Heritage Society, which was founded in 1993 to encourage cross-cultural understanding in the community.
A YouTube video posted by a Japanese high school teacher (nod to Karaminder for the link) describes the revelation that his students did not recognize racist attitudes within their own country or society, thinking of it as an “American” problem:
After chequered lives and trying times in the lives of the women in the book, there is resolution, though not in a traditional way. There is some independence for women, a voice, not loud, but allowed to be heard, some breathing space..
I thought I had it rough. I never fathomed that I would wake up at 30 and see that the very ignorance and hatred I witnessed over a decade ago could be so deadly. Had these events taken place in my hometown of San Jose, my parents, who pay their respects daily, could have been inside the gurdwara. I immediately knew I needed to do something. This was not the America we all signed up for.
We're like a lost generation. Anyone here says I'm Indian, but in India people say I'm American. We're trying to make something so that Sikh boys and girls can show that they are proud of being Sikh, and give those kids an identity ... We're trying to blend into (American) society without losing our roots."
Then we found the tent where they were putting turbans on anyone who wanted one to promote cultural awareness. I fired off frame after frame. the light was perfect and the men who wrapped were artists with the cloth as i think you can see here. it was easily the best part of Canada day for me and proof that things change, if only slowly.
Despite the patriarchal aspects of Sikh culture, a Sikh feminist speaking lat the University of B.C. says the religious tradition holds many liberating features, which women and men can both embrace for a more egalitarian society.
Where are songs about the girls that used to dance with duppatas of silk instead of with glasses of vodka? There used to be a time when Punjabi songs were about the beauty of Punjab and our rich culture.
“The sense of pride that this timeless martial science has brought me, reconnecting me with my ancestors, is immeasurable. The ability to communicate through this wonderful art the subtle sophistication and awe-inspiring martial and spiritual greatness of my Indian Sikh culture to the world is the greatest of rewards.
Unfortunately for you and our other LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) brothers and sisters, you are born into one of the most hetero-male dominated culture ever. And we thought our lives as straight men or women were tough?
....it is nevertheless disheartening to see a Sikh institution -- representing the legacy of Guru Nanak -- aligning itself with such reactionary and anti-gay ideology, when Sikhism itself is a freedom-seeking, loving, open-minded philosophy and way of life.
The title to this article might have conjured up images of a cowboy-style shoot ‘em up between turban-donning, mounted riders, and whilst I would welcome development of such an idea into a film, sadly that’s not what i’m writing about.
It comes as no surprise that immigrants will fuel Canada’s growth for decades to come as evidenced by the latest census results. The experts predict only one-third of Canada’s growth is due to fertility and that by 2031, immigration will account for more than 80 per cent of Canada’s overall population growth.
In becoming an artist the course I have taken is perhaps circuitous. Though I create what is accepted as artworks in the traditional understanding it is my interaction with communities that most profoundly informs my art practice.
