Destination: Rasa

The samelan crew packed their bags again and this time headed for Rasa – a little village tucked away 1-1.5 hours away from KL. We were serving not only Rasa, but some other nearby villages like Kalumpang, Kuala Kubu Baru, Tanjung Malim, and of course, the ultimate village, Ulu Yam (where our family hails from :p)!

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I was sorry to have missed the first day but even just being there on the Sunday was a touching experience. This camp was really special; the kids here have little or no exposure and hence we found our hands full of innocent and perfectly trusting children – a nice relief from the demons of Kuala Lumpur! They were just waiting for us to teach them and guide them and play with them and love them – their manner was truly heartwarming.

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We travelled through all sorts of challenges to get there, just in time for...

... registration on Saturday morning

Nishaan Sahib Selami

Opening Hukumnama

Ice breakers

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Hari Singh had a session with the parents while we were pulling our hair with the kids lols :)

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We were surprised to learn that many of the kids had never heard of/ seen a baana before, so Manpreet had to use what little resources she had at hand to give the children a rough idea so that they could carry on with the Baana Runway competition. Later I received a call asking me to put together some photos of today’s Sikhs in baana to show the kids that they are not just a thing of our past but also the pride of our present.

Our little soldiers all riled up for the Baana Runway competition

The warm sanggat of Rasa and the neighbouring areas – they welcomed us with open hearts and kept our tummies filled!

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Jag guiding a participant to lead the prayer of thanks before langgar

As our crowd was small, everyone sat in a circle in the langgar and ate together. We sevadars enjoyed going round making sure the kids were fed before sitting in our own little circle to have our meal/quick meeting before the next activity.

Sukhsharan with one group of kids…

… while Gurreet and Amit discussed Prashaad with another group…

… and Phobinder and Narin guided the rest through the concept of langgar.

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The Rasa Gurdwara was quite overwhelmed by this sudden landing of 'foreign' sanggat, and we had to squeeze ourselves into any space we could find for sleeping arrangements. Of course one could argue what better resting place can there be than the feet of the Guru :)

Samelans are never just about the kids – I also look forward to them as it gives our sanggat a chance to get together and have a few laughs – something that is becoming rare as our group is slowly leaving uni and walking into the working world. This is a good chance as any for us to bum around and catch up!

Gurreet helping a participant with the ardaas

We scheduled in a light yoga session – I was a little iffy at first as I wasn’t sure how the local sanggat would react to the whole ‘yoga’ part – some communities in Malaysia have very conservative/ orthodox/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it ideas about yoga and Sikhi. It went well though; I explained the various exercises by drawing from examples in the animal world so it probably came off more as exercise with some meditation rather than something revolutionary, and we all enjoyed a good stretch!

Meditating

Amit and Esha enacting a typical scene in our Gurdwaras – two women doing seva and gossiping about the whole wide world. We were trying to show the kids what the reality is, and more importantly, how we can deal with it, what prayers we can say and how to heal the situation. Some of the other scenes we enacted were drug addiction, domestic fighting, and anger – situations that they are sure to face.

Aww those sweet kids :)

As we were leaving, we went round to thank the sanggat one more time for their support, for hosting us and taking care of all the logistics at their end.

And this is one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had at any camp – women were cornering us one by one to ask for advice on how to raise their kids to be good Sikhs, what they can do at home, how to encourage their children, etc etc etc. There was us, in our twenties, guiding 30 to 40 year old women on motherhood! Needless to say, we were all unqualified to offer any advice, but they were so insistent and sincere in their desire to know I couldn’t just walk away without trying to help. I also talked to them about our annual samelan in December and invited them to come – it would be the perfect avenue to expose their kids to other Sikh children and also for the mothers to meet other mothers and gain guidance from them.

While I was there I found out that this was the first time in the Gurdwara’s 100 year odd history that sanggat had come from KL to spend time with them, something that was difficult for me to digest. It made me realise that these are the areas we should be visiting to spread the love; these places that dot the map of Malaysia and we neglect, overlook and don’t bother with because they are too small, but ultimately that should be the purpose of our seva. And I hope that’s what we’re going to try now – Tav Prasaad - reaching out to the little corners.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us

From the movie Coach Carter:

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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

My other home

I am unbelievably thankful that I went to London... Alongside the walks down memory lane, catching up with friends who’ve become family, and the sadness of leaving London yet again; I have brought back with me a treasure – the blissful experience I’ve grown to expect from the Sikh Student Camp.

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The experience of going back was healing - to once again be amongst the people and places and sights and smells I hold dear was just so.... nice. I’m such a saddie that I’m still wearing my blue camp wristband. Still holding on and living in denial that I’m no longer there :)

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Taking pictures was quite a challenge - I found myself wanting to simply absorb every moment as it presented itself and had to remind myself to take photos to preserve the memories… saying that I still managed to collect quite a few – until this one banda decided to run into me and crack my LCD screen! Well alright I was standing right in front of him in the 100-metre race, but the potential shot was too good to miss so I had to stand in front of him - It’s not my fault he was blindfolded and had water being sprayed at him to add to the confusion!

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Anyway... :)

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It will take me a while to post the photos up on the blog as I’ve just submitted them for watermarking – give me a few days.

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To the Sikh Student crew – what can I say guys? All the ‘thank yous’ and ‘well dones’ in the world fall short of what I really want to say. I'm so happy I came, every moment was priceless.

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Don’t ever stop – you have no idea how much this camp means to all of us.

You can't keep me away from...

...SIKH STUDENT CAMP 2007!!!

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I could not resist - I had only been back from London for a few short months when I decided that no force could keep me away from Sikh Student Camp 2007. I've grown up in camps of all sorts but there is still none quite like this one - I measure that by how utterly depressed I was on the last day when it was time to leave :)

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I'm not going to attempt to describe camp to you - I will run out of blogspace. To have an idea of what its all about. you absolutely have watch the camp trailer by clicking here.

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Unfortunately I don't have many decent photos from camp last year; you can however check them out at the Sikh Student Camp website or on Gurumustuk's blog - he has pictures from both 2005 and 2006. ...

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this is one of my favourite photos of the camp - on one of the days everyone was invited to experience tying a dastar - here are some of the girls

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My plane leaves in a few hours and before long I will be reunited with the spirit of Sikh Student. Next week is going to be wicked!

Yeh Dosti...

Hargobind and I have a very special relationship with our cousins – they are not only our family (where we have no choice), but our friends (where we do). When we were younger our circles were different – during our school holidays we would all head to our grandparents home in Ulu Yam, where the boys rolled about in the mud and severed the heads of their action figures, while the girls sat beautifully in their dresses and held intelligent conversation (oh alright, that’s a mild exaggeration :p). However as the years are going by the boundaries are crumbling and our two sides have pretty much merged :).

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all of us in the cable car

back L-R: Manmeet, Tarsem, Hargobind and Manpreet

front L-R: Sharan and me

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The last few years have been hectic with all of us finishing school and pursuing higher education all over the place… so we treasure our moments together all the more. Usually we end up bumming either in Ulu Yam or in one of our homes, but his time we decided to give our poor parents and grandparents a break and head elsewhere. We finally settled on Langkawi – it’s a beautiful island off the northwest coast of Malaysia and Hargobind is in flying school there so he knows his way around.

We timed it for when our 2 Penangite cousins would be in town: there is the soon-to-be-dentist Manmeet (Manipal), and the following-the-family-steps accounting student Trishvin (Auckland). Trishvin ditched Langkawi for a road trip around South Island (to be honest any of us would have done the same!) and so we missed her this time round – but there was still more than enough noise with the rest of the crew.

The theme song of our trip was Yeh Dosti (from the movie Sholay – it is a cute and cheesy song about everlasting friendship and never breaking apart), which we randomly started singing in the car one day and then couldn’t stop. It just seemed appropriate somehow :)

Here are some pictures from that weekend.

randomness by the beach

our car was too small for us so we had a strict, fixed seating plan without which the doors wouldn't shut! Manmeet calls it the BPS: Bum Positioning System :p

an unexpected bout of twee-ness: with my brother Hargobind

Manmeet and Manpreet terrorising the hermit crabs

Tarsem and Hargobind on the top of the world :)

pretty pretty, eh?

a sisterly moment with Sharan and Manmeet on the hammock-that-hit-the-ground

lounging in our gorgeous bungalow by the beach

at the cable car viewing platform, filming the sequel to Don

Shah Rukh Khan: Manpreet Kaur, badmash: Tarsem Singh, bimbo girlfriend: Manmeet Kaur, oblivious indian bystander: Hargobind Singh

we had gone up just before sunset, it had been a rainy evening and the sun was slowly breaking through the clouds as we were about to leave

the girls on the wave-breaker

As it turned out, the weekend that we chose happened to be the one just before my birthday, and the cheeky lot planned a little surprise dinner and cake to celebrate. What they did not plan, however, was being serenaded by the owner (Dasch) with a guitar until the wee hours of the morning while singing along to Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, old Hindi sings, random hotchpotch, and of course, many repeats of ‘Yeh Dosti’!

Thanks guys, it was a great way to celebrate my birthday and I really had a fantabulous evening :)

On the wall of our Ulu Yam house hangs an old pictureframe with a faded saying: The family that prays together, stays together. In Ulu Yam, it is practically a law for us to do our Japji first thing in the morning, and in the evening the entire family sits in a circle for Rehraas. Thats the way we've all been brought up by our Nanaji, and whenever we are together (even if its not at Ulu Yam), the training is so ingrained in us that we keep to that tradition.

And so here we are, doing our Nitnem by the beach. (Manpreet has her arm around 'Manmeet' while I'm holding up the letter 'M' to show that she was there :)

It is my theory that the force that keeps us together is all that fresh milk Naniji forces down our throats in Ulu Yam :)

The one picture I wish I had is of our last few moments in Langkawi, where we were all standing on the jetty, panting for breath, waiting for the ferry to turn back because we were late and it had left without us! We had a sound telling-off from the lady on duty, which we endured with sheepish looks and many 'sorrys' :)

Sharan, Manmeet, Tarsem, Hargobind, Manpreet: I had a great time, here's to all that Ulu Yam Da Duddh and the family that stays together :)

The End of Harry Potter? I think not.

Warning: If you are an ardent Harry Potter fan and have not yet finished Deathly Hallows (although any fan worth his/her salt should have by now!), I advice you to stop reading, for I shall not bear responsibility in the event that you prematurely discover how it all ends and feel like strangling me for leaking it to you.

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Now that we have that out of the way… :)

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Anyone who calls them kiddie books will abruptly find themselves facing a force to be reckoned with – I take Hogwarts very seriously and spent many a day hoping that I too would receive an owl with a letter welcoming me to the world of witches and wizards, goblins and house-elves, hippogriffs and thestrals, pensieves and snitches, gillyweed and blast-ended skrewts, Veela and Dementors, horcruxes and hallows (yes I know what you are all thinking: this time she has definitely gone mental! :p).

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I first met Harry when I was 16, in our Physics lab at school, where Surabhi introduced us. At that time Harry was still a nobody; it was just The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets, but I fell in love with the books instantly. Before long my beloved Prisoner of Azkaban came along and by then we became inseparable – I read and reread them, waiting exasperatedly for The Goblet of Fire, from where began the touches of dark magic, and then the shadow of evil cast over Harry’s world.

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And then she made us wait for while, that J.K. Rowling did. When The Order of the Phoenix was finally released, Hargobind and I were amongst the other crazy loons standing outside Suria KLCC at 4 in the morning, waiting for the doors to open at 6 and then run up the stairs to the 5th floor and wait for Kinokuniya to let us in at 8. I have not had the courage to read that whole book more than once – I’ve made it almost to the end countless times and then I have to stop – I can only watch Sirius die once and even that was one time too many.

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For The Half Blood Prince I spent the eve of my beautiful breezy summer birthday standing outside a bookstore in London with Surabhi, waiting for the store to open at midnight. I didn’t sleep that night as I had to finish it, and when it ended I was in shock. Dumbledore was no more, but Sirius’s death had crushed me so hard that this felt like a shielded blow. It also gave me another reason to hate Snape – he was vile, vile and I loathed reading his name. And so I spent my 22rd birthday only ¾ awake and in a sad mixture of joy and pain (yet I would not want it to be any different).

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And now the last one, Deathly Hallows. I was so excited that my arm was trembling as I reached out to pick it up at the bookstore, and I ran pretty much all the way home (except for the time I was in the LRT :p) to start reading it.

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And I loved it. A little slow to pick up, but I thought the plot was clever and I loved the way it unraveled very slowly. Rowling answered all the questions I’ve had on my list since I read the first book, and I am content.

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I was devastated when Dobby died – he was too pure for this world. But the hardest truth to swallow was the Story of Severus Snape; I feel so much remorse – I had always thought the worst of him and he turned out to be the one that probably had the greatest capacity to love. I don’t think I can ever forgive him for driving Sirius to his death, but now I will think of him in better light - to me he is the real hero.

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To some, the last book may mark the end of the world of Harry Potter, but to me (and undoubtedly to countless others), the child in me will still sit by my windowsill, looking out into the darkness of the night for a half-giant on a flying motorbike, waiting for him to whisk me away to a world filled with wonder.

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Harry Potter truly is, The Boy Who Lived.

Rock on, Tony!

I know I should be an ardent supporter of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) since Pitaji works for them, Hargobind will soon follow suit, and I must grudgingly admit that the airline did dutifully carry me back and forth while I was studying; but for the moment, I’m switching sides to Air Asia (our low cost carrier).

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The reason for this sudden change of affection? I read in the news yesterday that Air Asia will start flying to Amritsar starting early next year!

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Darbar Sahib on Divali

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Last year MAS abandoned me (no more family benefits) when apparently I turned too old (how insulting - age is but a number I’m told :p) so I can’t milk them for any more cheap flights now.

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I was thrilled to find that Tony’s timing was just right – after my life-changing experience there last year, I had worried that the City of Nectar and I would have to separate for a while until I could go there again. But since ‘Now Everyone Can Fly’, I think I won’t have to wait that long before I touch that blessed marble yet again :)

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My telebubbly Gurudarshan and me just before marble seva

So there MAS. I scoff at your flat beds and cosy blankets. I renounce your movie collection and jukebox selection. I relinquish the elegant green kebayas and bowls of luxurious chocolate.

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I will still be going places. And I will be going there cheap!

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(But I won’t say no if MAS does offer me a chance to absolve. My will is not strong enough to resist that divine chocolate! :p)

Kampung Pandan Mini Samelan

Over the last weekend of June, Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia (SNSM) organised a mini samelan in Kampung Pandan. Some friends are I were recruited to get our hands dirty and run the samelan - and we had an awesome time! Most of my friends have been busy in other samelans over the year, however for me this was the first time I was approaching a samelan from an organiser's point. My life-long experience at samelans as a participant was good training for what to expect, therefore it was mostly fun and very little work :)

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Here are some pictures from our weekend...

Uncle Malkith, our Jathedar, overseeing registration

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Ice-breakers

The first IPS by Gurmukh Veerji. I missed the first half of the session as we were at a meeting; when we rejoined the sangat they were singing Raam Japo Ji and Veerji told them the story of Prahlaad.

Team briefing (clockwise): Manpreet, Gurreet, Tarsem, Salprith, Sukhsharan, me, Sukhvin, Saranjit, Sukhvin, Rashvinder, Gelinder

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One of the activities we organised was the Banaa Runway competition - we provided newspapers, bits of coloured paper, ribbons and some other itsy bitsies for the teams to design their own Banaas and parade them.

Some of our younger participants being possesive over their name tags :)

Hard at work Jeshvind was one of the most adorable kids there - he stole all our hearts and all the girls still go 'awwwwwwwwww' whenever we think of him!

The four contestants

I love you Guru Nanak, I love you so truly

I love you Guru Nanak, you're magical to me...

A shot at langgar seva

We ran out of langgar the first night, so while we were with the kids, Gurleen taught Sukhjit how to make rotis - we gave him a lot of hell but they turned out pretty well!

At Nishaan Sahib Selami in the morning

My first IPS - we were assigned to carry out one darbar session with the kids. I was pretty nervous - how on earth do people keep children's attention in the darbar? But I need not have worried - Manpreet is good with kids and has done this before, Sukhjit is spot on with the tabla, our back up was strong and the kids were angels. I think we all enjoyed ourselves!

Bani Puzzle - the kids rearranged various lines from Gurbani (we chose verses they would be familiar with from their nitnem) and discussed their meaning.

Saranjit created a following - don't go Veerji, don't go!

The kids were well worth it :)

Thank you to the sangat of Kampung Pandan for giving us the chance to do this... and to Gurreet, Gurleen, Rupinder and your family - thank god you were there to coordinate everything - we couldn't have done it without you.

Bring on the next samelan - We're ready!