At its annual General Body meeting held on December 20, 2009 Maritime Sikh Society, Halifax, Canada elected all women office bearers to run the Gurdwara for the year 2010.
This is not the first time that a woman has been elected President of this Gurdwara. In 1993, when Mrs. Gurdip Kaur Toor was elected President for the first time, all other office bearers were women. In 1994 Mrs. Surjit Kaur Sidhu and in 1998, Mrs. Gurinder Kaur Dhillon were the Presidents.
In fact the year 2009 was all devoted to recognize and promote women's seva to Guru Ghar. When the 2009 executive was elected, we made it a point to take oath of office from a woman..
Only women were honored at the end od this year. Mrs. Kuldip Kaur Chehil, Mrs. Satpal Kaur Sodhi and late Mrs. Gurdip Kaur Toor (represented by her husband) were presented Siropas- robes of honor by a senior and well respected lady, Mrs. Pritam Kaur. It was in recognition of their meritorious service to the Maritime Sikh Society since the society was founded forty years back.
We also gave two awards to young girls for rendering valuable service to the society. Miss Sonia Singh got the 'Bhai Ghanayya', ie, ‘Sevadar of the year’ award while the 'Best Speech in Punjabi' award went to miss Sargam Paul.
We associate women in all activities of the society. Besides preparing Guru Ka Langar, they mostly lead the Sangat in reciting Ardas. Mini ardas before putting Babaji to rest is always done by a woman. On Akhand paths, mostly women take turns in reading the whole of Guru Granth Sahib, especially Nauven Mohulle de Silok. Majority of the devotees who sing shabad are women and young girls. This year on Baisakhi day in April, Mrs. Amandeep Kaur was the only guest speaker and she did an excellent job in covering the significance of the birth of Khasla in 1699. She read her scholarly paper in chaste Punjabi. Only girls are taking music lessons from renowned musician Pandit Vijay.
Maritime Sikh Society is a progressive society where turbaned and non-turbaned Sikhs work in harmony. Though according to the constitution only Sikhs can become its members, we encourage Hindus who are devotees of Guru Ghar to become members and even are invited to serve on the executive. From its very beginning there has never been a contest in the election to the new executive; it is always chosen unanimously. The Gurdwara library is pretty up-to-date containing works of both the Sikh and Western authors. We don't have a paid Granthi; all work is done by volunteers.
Dec 24, 2009