Last week there was a meeting held by the Government of Canada, at Pearson convention center to get the community’s input on what they wanted to see from the Government in an effort make amends for the Komagata Maru incident of 1914.

Incidentally enough the community came out in all its diverseness to put forth its views for the respected camps they represented. Having found and read the following posts [1, 2, 3, 4] on the whole thing I only felt it fare to toss my 10 cents into the mix and share some notable suggestions from the day, or at least those few that I can still remember.  (Note:- None of these are direct quotes, rather me paraphrasing to the best of my memory. Notably some names have been replaced, due to lack of memory of who actually said what, also other names have been replaced with groups who I felt pretty much said the same thing.)

Don’t insult the Sikhs, by referring to the incident as an Indo-Canadian tragedy. Majority of those involved in the tragedy were themselves Sikhs and seeing as how the Government and constitution of India [article. 25], fails to recognize and continues to deny Sikhs their rights, don’t ad insult to injury by lumping Sikhs and Indians together in the same boat.
- Pardeep Singh Nagra

Prime Minister, Stephen Harper is God incarnate. May all praise be upon Mr. Harper for doing what is not only morally right but for taking a firm stand for the protection of human rights. May God shower Stephen Harper with a long and prosperous life, and may the Conservative party continue to lead Canadians on the moral and just path. 
- Sam Hundal

If the government is truly sorry for the incidents of the Komagata Maru, and is serious about making amends, then it needs to also reflect and focus upon the policies that led up to the event just as much as it does on the actual event itself. We are seeing similar preferential, racial treatment today being reflected not only in Canada’s immigration laws and policies, but also in the judicial, and government offices appointments that mirror the racial and prejudicial policies and attitudes that existed in 1914. Apologize for yesterdays mistakes by not continually repeating those same mistakes today. 
- Sikhs For Social Justice and few other Sikh youth speakers, including COSS.

Focus on grass roots education in history classes, by giving the incident more then just an aside note in history books and making the Komagata Maru incident an essential part in the study of Canadian History. Reflect upon the Sikhs contribution to Canadian society and help to uncover the history, role and acknowledgement of the Sikhs throughout Canada’s formation. (I.e Details in regards to Sir John A McDonald’s recognition of the Sikh martial tradition.)
- Sandeep Singh Brar [Sikhs.org], COSS, and many others

Stop discriminating against us now. Give our elders old age pension.
- Various Sikh elders.

Other suggestions that were reflected by many included such things as:

• A formal and written apology by the Government, in the house of commons
• Memorial erected at Stanley Park to commemerate and educate about the tragedy.
• Create a heritage commercial, on the incident.  [Click a segments on the right to play]
• Make parliamentarians watch the documentary, (A Continuous Journey), on the Komagata Maru in the House of Commons
• Play the documentary of the Komagata Maru on CBC (National Television)
• Make an effort to honour the families of those aboard the Komagata Maru, and offer the kin of those rejected a chance to settle and immigrate to  Canada.

There were other points also discussed but the above was most of what stood out to me and that I was able to take back. There were various other speakers who also spoke, but I feel the above sums up the majority of what was spoken. Now that the ball is back in the Governments hands, lets see what they do, considering they want to get this done before April so that it doesn’t end up getting swallowed and forgotten about in another election.

Gosh darn it, them Muslims are at it again, this time around though they’re pissed off at Pope Bendadict and the catholic clergy, after the Pope quoted an old text talking about how the religion of Mohammad aka Islam, being a religion so relentless in its pursuit of world domination that it’s either Islam or death, (sounds kind of familiar). [Mind you that the Pope was lecturing against the ideology of the person who said the quote and was using the quote as a reference as a point to his entire lecture, but that is irrelevant]

Undoubtedly this pissed off Muslims as they figure that the Pope called the prophet Mohammad a terrorist, which as you would expect would bring about the chaos that has ensued, but in the end are they not [our Muslim brethren] proving the quote true, by reacting to a quote that said, Muslims are violent, with violence?

Now don’t get me wrong, if I were Muslim, which according to the religious quiz on quizfarm.com I am, I’d probably be pissed of to, but then again that doesn’t make it right, let alone justify the violence, or threats of it. 

None the less, thinking about their hypocrisy I came to think about Gandhi (the skinny bald headed one) and his remarks against the Sikhs,  (Gandhi called Guru Gobind Singh a, “misguided patriot!”, and described them as a war mongrel of sorts), and about how we [Sikhs] reacted to that. History doesn’t seem to recall any outbursts, which brings to question why not. Off course there was the opposition against Gandhi, and I’m sure there were even protests, but seemingly those are lost in the footnotes of some history textbooks.

Fair enough, we’re bigger then that and got thicker skin then the Muslims, but didn’t Gandhi’s remarks not warrant widespread rage? After all, he wouldn’t have been around to get his beatings from the British if it wasn’t for Sri Guru Tegh Bahadaur Sahib Ji taking a stand or Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji who sacrificed his entire family giving Gandhi the opportunity to become the akirat kan that he was..

It’s in that, which lies the frustration that inspires such posts. Unlike the Muslims we had a legitimate beef, yet we chose to take the road less traveled, the turn the other cheek and keep marching approach. The approach that led us to bare the brunt of the sticks and stones handed out back in those days by the British, letting not Gandhi’s words hurt us. 

It’s that swallowing of pride that finds a way to get under my skin and boil into the sheer annoyance that I am  starting to develop against Muslims. Although I may respect there gonads when it comes to protesting collectively the way they do, the fact that they do it over the stupidest things is starting to lead me to resent them. They demand equal rights in secular nations yet fail to give the same rights back in their own. They openly denounce all religions day in day out, yet throw a fit when someone talks or even questions Islam. They are furious over the worlds negative portrayal of Muslims yet they do nothing to help make us think otherwise, and yet they some how day in and day out seem to justify there own hypocrisy, while denouncing all others.

In the last few weeks we’ve been seeing a lot of these Singhs in the papers and all over the internet representing the UN.

And no doubt they repping large, look at the red writing on the door carefuly.

Thanks to Otpreka Singh for linking the image.

The qualifying competition turned into something of a farce with teams qualifying then withdrawing - and teams already eliminated being offered places. India withdrew because FIFA would not let them play in bare feet. So only 13 teams participated in the final tournament.

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/1950.html

Some of you may find this funny, while others may find it just plain out disturbing. I’m just at a loss of words for this one…

A video from Ja’s trip to India and their monkey friend.