Saturday, December 24th, marked Sant Baba Takhur Singh Ji’s 1st Barsi. It was a year ago, that Baba Ji, left this mortal plane and went on to merge with Nirankaar. Programs were held by the various Sangats around the world.

The program we did in Toronto went smoothly and the Keertan was good, but the overall program wasn’t mind blowing like other programs I’ve been to in the past, or maybe I’ve just come to have high expectations? Actually in reflection the keertan was pretty amazing, the youth that did Keertan did an amazing job and the Raagi’s that showed, well they ripped it still, but for some reason or another my mind was busy in its own world that I really wasn’t able to enjoy the Kirtan like I should have.

One of the actual highlights for me of the night came when Singh Sahib (Jaswant Singh) (Ex. Granthi of Damdama Sahib?, and Malton Gurdwara) did Katha. Singh Sahib, themselves stayed and grew up doing sevaa for Sant Baba Gurbachan Singh and as such grew up with Baba Ji, so the stories they shared were first person experiences they had with Baba Ji, growing up.

When Baba Ji came to be with Sant Baba Gurbachan Singh, Mahpursh asked Baba Ji if they had come after leaving attachment of their home behind or if they would just be visiting with the Jatha for a while. Baba Ji replied to Mahpursh that they were planning on staying with the Jatha for the rest of their lives and if Mahpursh did kirpaa serve the Singhs and Sangat for as long as they could. Baba Ji then began their life in Taksal, under the guidance of Sant Baba Gurbachan Singh, and would do as much as possible to serve the Singhs. While doing sevaa of mahpursh along side other Singhs such as Shaheed Gurmukh Singh Aurdeesa, Baba Ji made it habit to wake up early at AmritVelaa (around 2 AM) , do their Nitnem of Panj Granthi, and would then go and start preparing Langar for the Singhs, and did so everyday without fail.

One time Singh Sahib and another Singh wondered how Baba Ji was able to wake up so early, without fail and figured to find out they would wake up earlier and see what Baba Ji’s secret was. (This is before the time of digital alarm clocks, and cell phones with alarm features) . So that night Singh Sahib and the other Singh (I think the Singh was Jasbir Singh Rode’s father, but can’t remember for sure), anyways the two of them went to sleep extra early that night, and woke up a bit after 12. Seeing the time they figured they had enough time and so they went to Darbaar Sahib (The Jathaa was in Amritsar at the time), to do ishnaan and keep Amrit Velaa, and when they where in the parkarmaa they saw Baba Ji, and again were baffled and wondered how Baba Ji woke up so early. Throughout their life, Baba Ji continued to serve the Sangat and the Singhs, without fail, and even in old age did as much sevaa as they could for the Singhs.

So great was the respect for Baba Ji in the jathaa, that when Sant Kartaar Singh became mukhi of Taksal they told the Singhs that they could choose listen to what they had to say, if they agreed or not with them it was all good, but no Singh was to go against anything Baba Takhur Singh Ji said or requested, and no bachan/hukam of there’s was to be returned or questioned by the Singhs.

This love and admiration for Baba Ji, was so felt by Sant Jarnail Singh, that Sant Jarnail Singh would tell the Singhs that if at any time, anything happened to them or if they ever went missing (The morchaa was starting up), that whatever Baba Ji said was to be adhered to and listned to, and no Singh was to go against or challenge Baba Ji.

One time a family from UK or Canada was visiting with Sant Jarnail Singh and they had come to see Sant Ji after hearing about how great and godly of a person Sant Jarnail Singh was. At the time Baba Ji and the Singhs had just returned from a trip and Sant Jarnail Singh noticed Baba Ji from the corner of his eye. Second Sant Ji noticed Baba Ji, they hurriedly excused themselves from the company of the family meeting with him and went to Baba Ji and made a quick effort to touch Baba Ji’s feet and said Fateh, asking Baba Ji how things went etc. The family who came were some what dumb founded, as to what was going on and to what they where seeing, as they figured that Sant Jarnail Singh was the big man on campus so who was this old man that Sant Ji was showing so much respect and love for. When Sant Jarnail Singh returned the family asked Sant Ji who the Singh was that they went to meet, and Sant Ji told them if they wanted Darshan of Vaheguroo in human form then they had to look no further then to look at Baba Ji.

Its because of this respect and love for Baba Ji shown by Sant Jarnail Singh that Singhs continue to follow Sant Jarnail Singhs bachan and follow Baba ji’s bachan in that Sant Jarnail Singh are in Chardi Kalaa.

I remember when I first met Baba Ji, it was when they where here in Toronto in 2000. At that time I had just taken amrit maybe a month or two earlier, and so I really had no clue who Baba Ji was. I knew about Operation blue star, and I knew about Sant Jarnail Singh to some degree, (but then again when you went to Malton Gurdwara, how could you not).

I had 3rd period lunch, and so I was chilling with Gurjeet and he told me he had to go home 4th period since Baba Ji was going to be coming over with Singhs for Langar, and insisted I go home with him, skipping 4th period, to meet Baba Ji. Not really wanting to go to class to begin with, I figured this was as good a reason as any to skip, so we kicked it to Gurjeets house.

Baba Ji and the Singhs rolled in about 10 minutes after we showed up. Back then Baba Ji rolled with a Jatha of about 20, 30 Singhs, so when the first batch of Singhs arrived, things started to get real busy. Some of the Singhs sat down for langar while others helped in serving them, and a steady flow of 6, 7, Singhs was streaming in and out, as they arrived, so we did Sevaa as it came. Mean while I was wondering when I’d see Baba Ji, really not knowing anything about them, but just curious to see who they where, considering it was Gurjeets main selling point in coming over in the first place.

After the last batch of Singhs were leaving, the Singhs who were doing Sevaa, sat down and we also then ate. I really didn’t know who Baba Ji was still since there were a few Singhs who could have just as easily fit the bill of being Baba-ish. It wasn’t until after when I saw pictures that I knew who Baba Ji was. Now some may just find it ignorant that I wasn’t able to spot Baba Ji out like that, but I would never have thought Baba Ji was the same Singh who I was serving langar along side with the entire time, even after when I sat down Baba Ji was part of the sevadaars who were serving me langar.

Up ’till then, the way I had pictured a Sant was someone who, well stood out. Apart from the cliche’s of a heavenly aura I was expecting someone who everyone was just catering to in every single possible way. Instead it turned out that Baba Ji was more for serving the Sangat then being served by the Sangat, a philosophy and trait that is rare amongst modern day “Sants”.

This became one of the key features of Baba ji’s character. At that time (2000) Baba Ji was in good health and so they where moving around pretty freely. The few times I met Baba Ji after that, there health had deteriorated considerably, but even in the years post, I have memories of Baba Ji serving the Sangat for as long as they could stand on there own, even if it was something just as simple as handing out parshaday.

Now I know I’ve written more then you want to read already, but as I’m going through this more stories keep popping to mind. Like the time a few of us went to meet Baba Ji in New York (the first trip, I think it was the summer of 2003). Skipping details about the trip we end up arriving at around 1 or 2 in the morning. We walk in and are greeted by the 2 Singhs who are awake, and we figure that Baba Ji was asleep and that we could just duck out and find places to sleep for the night. (It had been a long day and an even longer drive, and we where all jonzed to just sleep). Baba Ji was just waking up as we arrived and noticed us tip towing around, and told the Singhs who were awake and reading Bani to go and first get us something to eat, as we had come from far, and then find us a place to sleep. Even when we where leaving to come back home, Baba Ji made sure we where taken care of.

Chullo I’mma stop this here, just because the Sakhis keep flowing to mind, and I’m sure I’ve annoyed most of you by now the the countless spelling and grammar mistakes.

I came back home to Brampton Wednesday night, and after a few days of settling in and checking up with everyone, its time to let the fact that an election is taking place settle in.

For the most part this election seems quite tame, espiecially in contrast to those of the past. Driving around I’ve yet to see the streets and house lawns coloured in the various red and blue, liberal / conservative signs of elections past. The fact that this is a winter election taking place during the holidays may have something to do with this.

Being out of the mix for the last 4 months its fair to say that I have had little clue to whats going on, at the local level, let alone policy wise at the party level, just because I havn’t been having my daily dose of CPAC and CBC Newsworld, while being away in Ottawa (ironically).

So lets recap whats happening, and even look at some of the candidates running, especially those that most of you reading this are familiar with.

Lets start with Nav Bains. Word so far is that as suspected he’s hanging onto his korsee by a thread. Now thats come to be expected considering Bains turned his back or seemingly turned his back on his community, and dharm, when he went against Vedanti and the Akaal Takhat and took a stand to legalize Gay Marriage. Pile that to the other things that occured in his past term,

• Ashotoush support letter (he did apologize and plead ignorant to not knowing who he was writing the letter for)
• Matha Teking at Gandhis Grave (said that this didn’t happen, and that the media is sensationalizing the incident)

and you can expect that those who helped him get elected the first term, dont want anything to do with him now.

Now Nav’s a nice guy, I knew him (well from afar anyways) growing up, and his family, and he is well Mr. Nice Guy, but this is politics and nice will only take you so far.

Although I may disagree with him on his actions, I still find that going against him as the community has is quite short sighted. Way I see it, we finally got an Amrtidhari Singh in the house, we should now support him, espeically with this shakey government, so that he can quickly climb ranks as he aready has shown capable of doing. Although its fair to disagree with his actions, until we get another qualified Singh or Singhni in to the political circle (Mr. Chardi Kalaa this means you), I think we have to make do with what we got.

After all end of the day, I’m sure Nav will be more swayed to deal with Panthic events then Mr. Sandhu (clean cut and shaven) will.

But then again maybe this is just politics, where neither candidates Nav or Mr. Sandhu can be trusted. But then again maybe its just me, but I’d rather have Nav represent then Sandhu any day of the weak. Its almost like choosing the better of the two evils.

End of the day, I still think that Navl has the greater potential to do good, and has a greater chance to become a Minister, then anyone else.

So lets see if Nav can pull it of. He has the volunteers, although it seems very few of them are from his home riding, or so at least its rumored. If Nav can get the community behind him, and regain the trust of the various sikh groups in the area outside of WSO, I’m sure he can muster the support he needs to beat Sandhu.

Hopefully he’s learned some lessons from all this. The two ways I see Nav getting back into this, (Globe and Mail reported him being in trouble of being ousted this time around) is by:

1. Apologizing, for the actions which offended the community.
2. Talk about long term goals that only he can accomplish by being the first Amritdhari Sikh in the house.

Although Nav comes from what I’ve known to be a Gurmat oriented up bringing, I figure if he had a better understanding of Gurbani, he would easily be able to sway the Sangat and reach the Sangat when it came to vocalizing his stance on certain issues.

But then again thats just my 2 cents.

So I went the otherday to look for new phones, and so I hit up Billings Bridge, the Ottawa equivalent of Shoppers World (Brampton), and go to the Wireless Wave they had figuring that they’d have all the Fido phones there.

So I go in, and start looking through the fido thing they got setup and the sales cleark (John) doesn’t waste any time in letting me browse and asks if I can use any help, and I was like oh no da doubt my dwami… and told him my situation and what I was looking for. Dude was like naw, your plan wont work, unless I cancel my current number and get a new account, meaning new number.

Then he was like well if thats what you plan on doing, then you should try Bell, same price, same plan, better service, couldn’t really argue with that, so then he popped out the phones, which he thought where in my price range.

First he pulled out this phone by LG. I was pretty impressed by the whole thing. The phone was the LG 325, and it reminded me a lot of the Matrix phone where the key pad dropped down. Really they key pad just slides down to give you more screen. Its cool all the same. I wasn’t shocked by it, but the deal he was working out for me was going to get me that phone for free on a 3 year, term. Also phone had blue tooth which I figured may have some use if not now, then later on down the road. I was pretty much set on grabbing this phone but then I decided to check to see if theres any flip phones available just because the Siemens I had was a similar design and I figured its time to change to flip, after all they look do look coooler.

So I asked him for flip phones in the same leauge and so he goes yea check this one out, and pulls out the Motorola E815. After some questions I decide to go with the Motorola, because it can play MP3’s and has an expansion slot, and well it just seemed like the overal better phone and with the same going rate, I figured can’t go wrong. So this my friends is my new phone. I know its nothing fancy dancy like Jasdevs old phone, but chhh, what you going to do, I aint no jatehdar yet.

So that my friends is my new phone. The screens huge. The features seem endless, and the navigation and all that well compared to the Siemens is well 100x better. But then again so’s the phones price and model number. So that is that. I got a new number also, so if your one of those people who I do give my number out to be sure to ask. Otherwise good luck in trying to get it.

Hun Akhooooooooo Saaaaaaaaaaaaaat naaam Sreee Vahegurooo Jeee..

I was reading Mr Sikhnet’s blog, in particular his latest post on Westerners having trouble fitting into the Eastern scheme of things, at the local Gurdwara’s.

The main point raised was the intolerance / lack of understanding shown by Parbhandk’s towards helping those interested in coming into Sikhi in the west a fair shot. Mainly due the lack of support in English.

In recent years many attempts have been made by various Sangat’s to encourage / spread the parchaar and bring it to the new generation. One of the main tools used and popularized in this venture, was off course Sikhi To The Max, which after becoming popular in Jatha programs, has now also been adopted by various gurdwara’s for full time use, (Dixie, and Ottawa to name a few). So progress/change has been happening in helping those who dont understand Punjabi grasp and learn about Sikhi.

Now all that is good and great, but sometimes bending over backwords isn’t the way to go. For example in describing what happens by various Sangats of Sikhs who lack Punjabi, it was mentioned, that Sri Akhaand Paht’s happen from English / Transliterated Maharaaj Saroops. For some reason or another it seems as though we are once again travelling the path we did in the 60’s when SGPC and others decided to split Mahraaj saroop up from its Lareevar form into Padd Chedd, just so that it was more ‘accessible’ to the masses.

This in my opinion is the wrong way to go. Just like now padd chedd has quickly replaced lareevaar at Guru Ghar’s, just because ironically, the majority of the paathi’s used for programs can not read Lareevar, it would be sad to find that in 20 years, majority of the Saroops found through out the Guru ghars, had been transliterated, or translated so that people could follow along and continue to do the seva, or AkhaandPahts etc.

Its kind of like giving a PHD to someone who understands elementary physics and then having them teach what little they know, to others around them. Now although the last sentance may seem backwards, think about it carefully now. Maybe I’m old school, but doing sevaa of Maharaaj isn’t just something anyone can jump in and do. Its sevaa that is practiced and learned by means of Santhia. In Taksal, anyone wishing to learn any form of vidiyaa, be it tablaa, vajaa, gatkaa or whatever, Santhia was always the pre-requisite. (But sadly such ideals are sacraficed, here in the West, since Santhia isn’t as popular as learning Gatka, and so isn’t used as a means to attract people),

Now it seems we’ve gone astray from making Santhia mandatory to being optional and with that we’re becoming more and more ignorant of our roots, Bani. We’re creating a whole structure on a weak base.

Now going back to Mr. Sikhnet’s post, I personally feel that we need activities that encourage people and let people follow along. I’m all for english translations, katha in english etc. However, all this is useless in my opinion if the parcharaks involved don’t make an honest attempt themselves to first get Santhia and really understand what it is they are preaching. Otherwise we end up just teaching less and less, until sooner or later we end up with very little from what we once had.

So, lets do Sikhi camps, and youth events that support our youth and show them a glimpse of what Sikhi is, but lets not stop with the Kirtan Darbaars etc. Once someone has shown a genuine interest in Sikhi, then move up to first completing Santhia. Then teaching it, because after all if thats not what our goal is, I think running around from one Smaagam, to the next Kirtan Darbaar is going no where.

But then again thats just my two cents, which in the end are meaningless, considering I myself got ways to go.

The last cell phone I had, Siemens C65, was a decent phone, but sadly enough is no longer with us. (Actually it is, but its barley hanging on to life, since sports last Friday).

So now I’m on the hunt for a new phone. Considering I’m with Fido I’ve already got a limited selection of phones that are actually worth getting.

What swayed me to get the Siemens last time, was the fact that it only cost $25, and thats without getting a Fido service plan. This time around, theres not much choice when it comes to phones less then $30, without getting a plan first. (Chepeast I saw on fido so far goes for $50, and thats only with a new account). So it looks like I’mma have to subscribe to a plan this time around (I’ve been on a monthly term things for now).

The fido service hasn’t been as bad to me as it has for others, I credit that to the phone, considering others such as Jasdev and his $800 Sony phone had issues with reception from my house, back in Brampton. Although Imma be using the phone more here in Ottawa, I still want something I can use when I go back home in the summer.

So on to the choices. So Ive kind of narrowed down my search to these two phones.

The fist is the Sony Ericsson Z520a. Now the phone looks good and I’m willing to dish out the $75 for the phone, but what concerns me is, is it worth it? Sure the phones feature packed, has everything I need and more. Actually, anyone who knows me knows that it has more then what I really need, but thats beyond the point. Phone has good reviews, but so far all reviews I read about it talk about it looking good, being entertaining and just being stylish. Nothing I’ve read talks about whether or not it actually works, or what the reception is like, the most important category for me right now, and the one thing keeping me away from just grabbing this phone. (Why get a phone that doesn’t work?)

The second one I’m looking at is, the LG 2000. Now this phone just got shitty ratings overall. Everyone on the few forums I checked out just talks about how crap the phone is, when it comes to customization, ease of use and support, but then again its only $30 with the contract, so can’t be that bad. I really dont got much to say on this one. Looks good, has features, but from the reviews these features are just not implemented properlly.
Also lacks a lot of the features of the previous.

And the other options, I dont got none. All the other phones on the site cost to much, or are on the verge of ending up on the discontinued list, but if you see something that you think I should grab from the fido site then let me know your picks.

Chulloo the Raptor game started getting good, so time to watch that. For all yall in Toronto recognize and realize, that I’ll be back Wednesday.

- Hollaaa at ya boyy

Well I made, the blog, its all up and working A+, but now what??

Most people got something to say on there blogs, I really got nothing. I wrote my last final today and it went ok, could have gone better, if I learned how to study properlly.

Pata nee kaima…

Bus aimmeee…. Its weird exams passed over and now it seems like my creativy just left with it. Maybe its worth time or at least worth reflection to list some possible/future projects now, but aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh do I gots ta?

I dont know tussie dussoo, what you think I should talk about….

Last nights sens vs leafs game was ill, and one of the things that made it so sick was the # of fights that broke out at the end.

So whatever, I was checking google video and I found this sick hockey fight.Check it out, I dont think I’ve seen UFC or boxing fights this intense.

Reminds again why back in highschool no one started with the Battalions. Hockey players are to ill.

Check out what Ken Tasker said about the fight afterwards:

Well first of all I just want to say Trevor Senn is one of the reasons I ended up playing professional hockey. My rookie pro season I was up in Thunder Bay in the United Hockey League. We ended up going down to Winston, Salem. This little guy bumps into me and I look at him like “what you wanna go?” He looks up at me with these bloodshot eyes and just starts losing his mind. We had a pretty decent scrap and I skated back to our bench after serving my time. One of the vets beside me said “Good job kid, you’re gonna make the team for sure”. I said “You think coach will be mad at me because I fought a guy smaller then me?” He looked at me in shock and said “Kid that’s Trevor Senn he’s the leading PIM leader from the ECHL.”Pretty much every time we played against each other over the years after that, we both knew we were gonna go. So that fight you see on here, I knew he was coming into town the next night and I was so wired I could hardly sleep. My family was in town, and in front of my home crowd, I really wanted to put on a good show, and I knew it would be a battle with him. So that fight was of days of pent up anxiety. In warm-up we were eyeing each other a few times as we skated around. I said to him “So we gonna go tonight?” He said “Yep let’s give them a show”. Off the face off, we both agreed to head to center ice. He was doing the elbow cranks and what not on the way there. The one thing I remember the most about this fight was that I was thinking to myself (when I was punching him): I am hitting this guy as hard and as fast as I can and he’s not dropping. It was like hitting a wooden post and it just wouldn’t budge. The final part of the fight I got some combos going and some rhythm and was lucky enough to end up putting him down. It was fantastic for me, because I was the home town guy and my folks were there too.

http://www.akaraff.com/mt-tb.cgi/315