Dubai Trust to Restore Guru Nanak Shrine to Commemorate 500th Year of His Visit

HINDUSTAN TIMES

DUBAI---To commemorate 500th year of Guru Nanak’s visit to Nepal in 2016, a Dubai-based charitable trust plans to develop a lesser-known shrine at Thapathali town of the hill country into a major religious destination. Dubai-based Sikh entrepreneur and philanthropist SP Singh Oberoi told Hindustan Times on Sunday that he had a Rs. 100-crore plan for the scientific preservation of Guru Nanak Math at the shrine. After Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust, a public charity floated by Oberoi, has given the gurdwara a facelift, the shrine management committee of Sikhs and Nepal government representatives would maintain it. The birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev was celebrated at Thapathali early this month. “Pilgrimage to Nankana Sahib, birthplace of the Guru and one of the most revered places for Sikhs, is tedious and expensive owing to strained political relations with Pakistan; whereas, Nepal has simplified rules for foreign pilgrims,” he said. [link]

Golden Temple Repair Work Nears Completion

SIKH SANGAT

INDIA---The restoration work on the interiors of the Golden Temple’s first floor is inching towards completion. Sources said the gold work had been restored on the walls and roofs of the ‘parikarma’. Now only arches were left. Similarly, restoration work is almost 30 per cent done on one of the staircases leading from the first floor to the second floor of the shrine.A special gold paint manufactured by a European firm is being used in the conservation work. It is 22 carat gold and 10 gm of this paint costs around Rs 1 lakh. The gold work inside the shrine had suffered damage with passage of time as well as pollution. [link]

Photographers Amit & Naroop Capture Unique Ways Sikh Men Wear Their Beards and Turbans

THE INDEPENDENT
By Iain Aitch

The pair are known in the music world for their portraits of 50 Cent and Tinie Tempah, but
have managed to portray the 36 subjects in "Singh" with as much star quality as any chart-topper

When our cities' coffee shops, bars and clubs started to fill with young men sporting carefully maintained beards and waxed moustaches, photographers Amit and Naroop began to do double-takes. After all, this was a look the pair – both west London Sikhs – were more used to seeing at their gurdwara than in fashion outlets. The pair are known in the music world for their portraits of 50 Cent and Tinie Tempah, but have managed to portray the 36 subjects in "Singh" with as much star quality as any chart-topper. [link]

30 yrs After Sikh Riots, Play Paints its Horrors in Music, Poetry

INDIAN EXPRESS
By Dipanita Nath

INDIA---Thirty years after the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, a theatre production from New York will replay its horrors through the stories of four young victims. Kultar’s Mime, an “immersive theatre experience” in which acting is supplemented with poetry, painting and music, will be staged at Akshara Theatre on Baba Kharak Singh Marg on October 30 and 31 and St Mark’s Girls’ School in Meerabagh on November 1. It opened at Harvard University on September 27, followed by shows in Boston, New Jersey, New York, Ottawa, Brampton and Toronto. The take-off point of the play is another massacre that had taken place 81 years before – of the Jewish population in the city of Kishinev, the capital of the Russian province of Bessarabia, on April 6, 1903. The plot revolves around a group of Jewish artists in New York City who are commemorating the Kishinev pogrom through an art exhibition and poetry reading. [link]

South Park-Inspired 'Sikh Park' Comic Tells Hilarious Truths About Progressive Sikhs

IBN LIVE | CNN

The comics are usually the adventures of a young Sikh boy and his uber cool grandfather who knows how to enjoy life.

Originally the idea of Sikh Park was to break away from the stereotype of Sikhs/Punjabis. For the westerners we wanted to show Sikhs as more progressive (and not some Talibans) hence the iPods and LVs and Hummers. For the Indian masses, it was to show them as witty because we have been fed too much of these dumb Sardar Ji Jokes,' says Dalbir Singh about what Sikh Park is all about. The creator of Sikh Park Dalbir Singh has travelled from Hungary to Canada and Hong Kong to Morocco. Sikh Park was born after a well-known website Sikhchic.com started a humour section to promote Sikh art and culture. [link]

Fighting Enmity Against Sikhs With Art, Talks and Superhero Garb

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Samuel G. Freedman

Vishavjit Singh, right, helped Holden Whitehead,
a student at Alfred University, into a turban as part of a diversity program.

NEW YORK---Standing before his living-room mirror one morning in August 2001, Vishavjit Singh put his fumbling fingers to the task of wrapping on his turban for the first time in a decade. Stares would qualify as the benign end of the spectrum for many American Sikhs, who follow a monotheistic religion founded in South Asia about 600 years ago. Because they are so often mistaken for fundamentalist or even jihadist Muslims — the turban being associated with the leaders of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Taliban and the Islamic State — American Sikhs have endured a substantial amount of hate crime. Mr. Singh has made it his mission, in deeply felt and highly idiosyncratic ways, to address the ignorance and thus defang the hate. [link]

Sikh Martial Art Blends Swords, Sticks and Faith

INDIANAPOLIS STAR
By Vic Ryckaert

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INDIANA---Tajinder Kaur's slight frame won't intimidate many people, but this wiry young woman packs some deadly skills. She practices gatka, the traditional Sikh martial art that blends sticks, swords, shields and spinning nets with spirituality. "Our faith tells us to be a saint soldier," said Kaur, 23, a nursing student who lives in Franklin Township. "Playing gatka, it gives you a spiritual lifestyle as well as physical strength." Gatka is steeped in the Sikh religion, blending physical skills with prayer and meditation. Kaur's gatka teacher, Jungbir Singh, also is a Sikh priest. [link]

Drawn to Diversity Activist-Artist Series to Host Survivor of Genocidal Sikh Killings

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

AUSTRALIA---Alfred University’s (AU) Drawn to Diversity 2014-15 Activist-Artist Series – “Exploring Equality Through Art” – kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 17, with illustrator/activist Vishavjit Singh. His talk, open to the public, begins at 8:20 a.m. in Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center.
Singh, a survivor of the 1984 genocidal killings of Sikhs in India, creates political cartoons that focus on the latest social, economic, and religious developments within the Sikh community and around the world. He also uses CosPlay, or costume role playing, to engage audiences in his lively presentations. His cartoons are created weekly and appear on his website, www.Sikhtoons.com. [link]

London's Heritage Art Gallery Pays Homage to World War I Sikh Soldiers

ANIN NEWS

UNITED KINGDOM---The UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) paid homage to World War I Sikh soldiers through an art exhibition organized in London commemorating their remarkable but largely forgotten contribution. The story of Sikh soldiers volunteered in World War I (WWI) is being showcased through original artefacts that include unpublished photographs, drawings, newspapers, comics, postcards, stunning works of art, uniforms, gallantry medals, and folk songs sung by the wives left at home. The exhibition titled “Empire, Faith and War: The Sikhs and World War One” is being held at the Brunei Gallery in London. Project Historian of the UK Punjab Heritage Association, Parmjit Singh, said the exhibition puts together the tales of Sikhs soldiers who fought in Great War and the stories of families they left behind. [link]

Sikh Heritage Reduced to a Lesson in History

HINDUSTAN TIMES
By Dr Madanjit Kaur

A beautiful view of the Golden Temple on a cloudy Friday morning in Amritsar. Sameer Sehgal/HT

INDIA---I still remember that day. July 30, 1984. Golden Temple had been opened for the first time after Operation Blue Star. I, along with my brother, had queued up to enter. I hid a camera in my dupatta. Debris and more debris. That was the first thing I noticed inside. “Everything has been destroyed!” my brother said. When we reached near Sri Akal Takht Sahib, we were shattered to see that all specimens of Sikh and Hindu art had been lost for posterity with the destruction of the old building. The building had been opened only after the central government had hastily got repaired the building on contract. However, the Sikh community rejected the gesture. As soon as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was given charge, the Sangat started demolishing it. With that demolition, the murals, gold work, woodwork, mahrakashi, wall paintings, gach work, jaratkari and tukri work, calligraphy, were all lost to history. [link]

Canada's Sikh Community Celebrates Holyday of Vaisakhi

PRINCE GEORGE: THE CITIZEN
By Arhur Williams

Sikh demonstrates his skill with an urumi -a flexible whip-like sword 

CANADA---Prince George's Sikh community marked Vaisakhi on Saturday with a celebration of food, music, dance and a demonstration of traditional martial arts. The celebration began with a Nagar Kirtan - a traditional parade -from the Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh Temple on Davis Street to CN Centre. The Khalsa School Gatka Team from Surrey brought a demonstration of Gatka -a traditional Indian martial art often associated with Sikhism - to the event. "The Sikh community is a martial community," he said. "Always Sikhs, who were living in the Punjab [region of northern India] were like a wall to [invaders]. In the past this was how we always protected our community, our faith, our people." [link]

Sikhs Buy Back Their History One Bid at a Time, But Say Museum Space is a Hard Sell

THE GLOBE & MAIL
By DAKSHANA BASCARAMURTY

The sword is believed to have been owned by Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire in India.

CANADA---“In the last 10 to 20 years, there’s been a huge surge of what are classified as Sikh objects entering the market,” said Deepali Dewan, senior curator of South Asian Arts & Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum. “Because of the demand mostly coming from the Sikh community, the prices have skyrocketed … it has priced museums out of the market.” Although Canada’s Sikh population is large – 1.4 per cent of the population follows Sikhism (compared to 1.9 per cent in India) – none of the major galleries or museums has a sizable permanent collection devoted to Sikh history in India. Even internationally, representation of Sikh history in major museums is limited, Ms. Dewan says. [link]

Women Restoring Sikh Art at Golden Temple

HINDUSTAN TIMES

Sikh pilgrim at the Golden Temple. Courtesy of IMC On Air.

INDIA---Even though women are barred from performing kirtan at the Golden Temple, a team of women who now shoulder the responsibility of restoration of the fast deteriorating wall decorations within the darbar sahib. Hailing from different parts of India and belonging to different faiths, these women will soon bring these beautiful paintings back to their original glory. Known as fresco paintings, this style of painting is also called the “Sikh School of Art”. These paintings which adorn the main darbar hall and the walls of the staircases are done with natural colors and are renowned all over the world for the detailing and delicacy of the art. These frescoes were originally painted in 1830 during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh took on the gilding of the darbar sahib. They were done by artist Giani Sant Singh along with many Muslim artists. [link]

Canadian Billionaire Collector Considers Himself Caretaker of Famed Sikh’s Sword

AUTHINTMAIL

Canadian considers himself caretaker of famed Sikh’s sword

CANADA---Canadian billionaire Bob Singh Dhillon has purchased a sword that belonged to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the first warrior king of the Sikh Empire. The 85 centimetre (33.5 inch) blade and sheath is embossed with an image of Ranjit Singh and bears his name. Singh united 11 Sikh kingdoms and created an empire covering much of modern day Punjab, Kashmir and Pakistan after a series of military campaigns against his regional rivals. He ruled a vast area west of British India from 1799 until his death in 1839. “I didn’t buy this sword to own it myself. I want to share it with the Sikh community and with all Canadians,” he said. “Per capita there are more Sikhs in Canada than in India, so it makes perfect sense that we should bring it here and be custodians of our own history.” [link]

Punjab Gatka Association of Sikh's Organises Tournament for Hola Mohalla

SIHK24.COM
By Punjab Gatka Association

INDIA---The International Sikh Martial Art Academy organized their first Hola Mohalla Virsa Sambhal Gatka tournament under the aegis of Gatka Federation of India (GFI) in which eight Gatka teams demonstrated their fighting skills. [T]he Gatka Federation has taken major initiatives to revive, and promote, the rare art of gatka as a sport in India, and abroad. By organizing Virsa Sambhal Gatka competitions to perpetuate the rich legacy of age-old martial art Gatka amongst future generations, they hope to revive the dying art. The martial art of Gatka is a style of fighting with sticks between two or more Gatka players. Sticks are intended to simulate the sword with a focus of infusing physical, spiritual and mental fitness. [link]

Sikh Fortress Turban Exhibition Opens at Cartwright Hall in UK

TELEGRAPH & ARGUS

By Rhys Thomas

Sikh Fortress Turban

UNITED KINGDOM---A special turban owned by the British Museum provided the focal-point as an exhibition celebrating Sikhism was officially opened in Bradford. The Earl of Harewood welcomed about 100 people to Cartwright Hall art gallery yesterday as the Sikh Fortress Turban exhibition got under way. The exhibition explains the importance of the turban to the Sikh faith and includes the conical Fortress Turban alongside items from Bradford Museums and Galleries’ collections and the city’s Sikh community. [link]

Philip Campbell's "Burning Boats" Sailing Into the Unknown Ends on January 31

ARTS LOUISVILLE
By Keith Waits

One of "100 Burning Boats" at the Garner Narrative gallery in Louisville (Ends Jan. 31)

KENTUCKY---At a glance Philip Campbell’s “100 Burning Boats” might strike one as rather ordinary objects: design lacking detail and craft lacking flourish. But the longer you examine the armada of hand-carved vessels making their way across a simple wooden flow of river, the more the deceptively simple, elemental shapes suggest deeper connotations. As...the burning vessels sail away from us into the unknown, the fire devouring the earthly remains now that they have no place among the living. Those left behind on the river bank continue to seek wisdom and understanding, but the souls of the departed have moved beyond such concerns, or so we imagine. [link]

Thousands Honor Revered Sikh Guru in New Zealand

BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
By Sandra Conchie

A swordsman performing the ancient Indian martial art of Gatka during
the inaugural Tauranga Sikh Parade held on Saturday. Photo/Ruth Keber

NEW ZEALAND---All the colour and some of the cultural traditions of India were on show at the weekend as thousands turned out to take part in the inaugural Tauranga Sikh Parade. The street parade, held on Saturday, was hosted by Tauranga Sikh Sangat Temple and was part of a traditional Indian ritual to mark the birth of the religion's revered 10th leader, Guru Gobind Singh. [link]

When Captain America Wears a Turban, What Does He Fight For?

THE ATLANTIC
By Steven Heller

NEW YORK---Not all superheroes are fictional. For example: Vishavjit Singh, the first Sikh Captain America. An editorial cartoonist by trade, a few months ago he suited up as a real-life turbaned and bearded version of Jack Kirby’s strongman and strode through New York City, to promote his Sikh Comics while fighting religious and ethnic stereotypes. Sikh cartoonist Vishavjit Singh says he dons superhero garb to battle stereotypes. [link]

Multicultural Visions Promotes Interfaith Peace Through Art

ENTERPRISE PILOT
By Cynthis Paulis

Portrait artist Manu Kaur Saluja explained complexity of
identity standing between two portraits of her brother, a cardiologist,

NEW YORK---On a crisp November evening, more than 200 people arrived at Chelsea Mansion in East Norwich for the Long Island Jewish Community Relations Council Holiday Party, "Multicultural Visions, Artists Exploring Identity." There was Stanley Covington, an African American artist from Hempstead; Paul Kolker, a Jewish doctor, lawyer, and artist from Westbury; Rene Efi Hakimian, a Persian Jew from Great Neck; Simon Zareh a Jewish Iranian art collector from Rosyln; Lisbeh Herrera, a Nicaraguan American artist from Bayshore (her husband and children were present but not the artist); and Manu Kaur Saluja, a Sikh artist from Old Brookville now living in Queens. Each artist addressed the audience and talked about their art and how it reflects their individual identity as a Jew, A Sikh woman, a Latino woman and an African American man.  [link]