Wait...What Am I Again Thanking For?

Last night another Sardar Sahib got killed, another Sikh I mean. Media and law enforcement is calling it a "robbery" but if robbers didn't really rob anything or took anything from the store, then its not justifiable to call it robbery right? May be another hate crime? May be? No?

Amongst this anger, hate, love, support, outrage, talk, one thing that has extremely bothered me as a fellow Sikh, is our ability to Thank people around us. Watching the event unfold on August 5th, 2012 Sunday morning on CNN of this horrible crime, to the candle light vigils, to our Sikh leaders talking on the media, to this becoming a opinion column on huffington post, one thing that extremely bothered me is our ability as a community to go from a gory crime to thanking people. What happened to series of other emotions that we needed to express before getting to that thank you for support and love speech? That my friend is and will always be a great mystery.
We thanked the law enforcement, the fire fighers for entering Gurdwara almost AFTER two hours of initial shooting, we thanked FBI for not giving answers to the whereabouts and news of the loved ones that were hurt and shot that morning for hours to the family, we thanked President Obama for his utmost support he showed for Sikhs and victims family while signing some document and blurbing things out to the media amidst that, we thanked Eric Holder the attorney general of United States for attending the wake and while doing that making sure he did not follow the Sikh protocol of covering his head while the kirtan was going on and gosh! so many other things to thank folks for!
I am not here to be debbie downer or hate propagandist myself, neither some sort of narcissist writing this piece for my three seconds of fame. But my agenda here is really to get some answers and let my opinion known.
What in the world are we thanking folks for? We need to ask questions to current administration, people of this country, media and ourself. What really happened that day, why did happened, who are these people killing other human beings in the name of hate and ignorance, how do we fight these people, who were the victims, why did law enforcement took so long to enter Gurdwara that day and led people bled to death, could they had been saved had police started their rescue operations faster? Why another brother was killed last night? Why the law enforcement are not taking the threats of this man in the video seriously? Why some of these victims are not getting any finacial support from US government, why is there no trauma therapy being offered for people who were witness to that day of blood and gory? Why Why Why?
I know this, had this been our own father, mother, son or daughter that would have been killed in this tragedy, we wouldn't be singing like Bono on the streets about love and humanity. We would have made sure our questions and confusions were answered.
Yes, Sikhs are unbiased lovers, yes Sikhs are people with gratitude, but you know what? Our Guru made us Saints and Soldier...remember not just Saints. Yes, I am Martin Luther King but you know what I am Malcolm X too? I do agree when he said - “Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.” Yes, I need to be thankful, but before that I need to ask questions for sake of those who are still traumatized and in pain, I need to stand up for those who's can't bear to getup from their beds cause they are still in shock.
Love and harmony is great, but will we be still reflecting it had last week we had lost our own father, daughter, mother or brother? Wouldn't we be angry, outraged, confused and ask questions. Wouldn't we be puzzled as to what on god's earth went wrong and how did our own loved one lost a life because of someone's hate? When people call others a hater, divider for merely being outraged at someone's hate? Then I call people talking about love at time of someone's tragedy merely cold and vain....We cannot merely go from tragedy to a thank you mode. Lets have decency to at least ask questions for those who suffer the pain,  best way to do that is put yourself in their situation. Its time for dog and pony show to end!

Why Chinese Mother are Superior

The Wall Street Journal

By Amy Chua


"A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:"

If the above link does not work for you, try goggling the article. Article worth reading and I personally enjoyed reading it too.

Perception

Lets start with this little story to begin with -

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time.
This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100. This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Story Courtesy - Persian Asia

Creativity's Greatest Foes

 Fear and Judgement. In that case I am a Pro. I guess I am turning into my role model - Stephen Colbert :) 

Shape it.

I am not sure who Gary Lew is, but I definitely loved this caption. My morning inspiration came from a coffee mug! Who knew? :)

ਇਹੀ ਕਰਮ ਕਮਾਉਂਦਾ ਵੇਲਾ

Even though, this shot was not taken from D90, its one of my personal favorite. Now that I have this new channel to express myself besides the pen offcourse, I am going to make the most use of it. :) Enjoy.

Story of the day!

Just came across this piece on Sikhchic.com which brings with it new thoughts and for some reason a sense of relief. I am not sure why, may be the fact that after all there's always that one door open in the world that one can turn too when all doors are shut.


Sikh Farmers Heading to Africa?
by Dinker Vashisht

Jagjit Singh Hara's 50-acre farm in Kanganwal village in Jalandhar, Punjab, leaves him with little time for anything else. Still, he has taken time off to make a trip to the Pasteur Institute in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, to get himself inoculated against yellow fever before he sets out to scout for land in Africa.

As land holdings in the state shrink and the soil becomes less fertile, Punjab's farmers are already looking for greener pastures. And this time, it's Africa, where governments, especially in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Sudan and Namibia, are looking for the right expertise, technology and farming skills.

You can read the whole story on the following link. http://sikhchic.com/current_events/sikh_farmers_heading_to_africa

Don't forget to scroll down to check out my new muse - photography! I am still playing around with my new D-90 these days (that gift from my BFF "R" yes, I am talking about my husband!)  :)

Ciao.

Harkiran