The Finishing Touches
You always look good in beard & turban, regardless of the rest of your outfit !
Is this ‘dressed to kill’ ?
The Sikh – Scottish Alliance !
Pictures of the this and other martial arts events can be found on my flickr account. At this moment there are only a few pictures in the martial arts section, but every week some more are added.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157616882779188/
I am worried about the lack of any statement from the Tower Hamlet Police on their investigation into the fire in the Bow Gurdwara. We are dealing with a serious crime, people might have been hurt or killed, serious criminal damage has been done to the building and by starting the fire in the Sach Khand the feelings of the Sikhs world-wide have been very badly hurt.
Many people in the Sikh community think that the police is not taking this crime seriously. I do not think they are right, I know that there are a lot of very sensible people in the MET who understand the emotional impact of this crime and who know the potential effect it has on relations within the Sikh community and on relations with other religious and ethnic groups.
I do not expect, I do not want a running commentary, I do not want the police to spend loads of time on PR. But it should not be too difficult to issue a statement confirming that the Tower Hamlet MET takes this crime very serious and that investigations are on-going.
The Sikh community has to be realistic and consider the possibility that this crime has been instigated by somebody of Sikh background. I have no evidence either way, and the fact that the fire was started from the sach khand should rule this out. All I am trying to say is : do not jump to conclusions and start blaming this or that group before we have any hard evidence.
View from the roundabout at the junction of Merrick Road and Norwood Road
Note the nice tulips and the beginning of the footpath to the west of the Merrick Road
A close-up of the footpath
The footpath is still a handy way to walk along the Merrick Road, connecting Norwood Road, Havelock Road, Church Road, Windsor Road, Osterley Park Road, and from there to the Southall Station. You also could go across the railway line on a footbridge to the east of the station, and then straight on to the busstops near the Southall Police Station.
This is a really nice path, well paved and sheltered from the Merrick Road by trees and bushes
This was the access to the footbridge, now well barred
There might be a good reason for preventing pedestrians from using it, it might be unsafe, but something could be done about this, couldn’t it … ? This was an excellent route to the Park Avenue and the Guru Granth Gurdwara, to the Southall Park, to the Villiers School and to the busy busstops (207, 427, 607) on the High Street.
So instead of crossing the Merrick Road,
we’ll turn left along the Community Centre (watch this space) and then to the pedestrian tunnel, about which more in our next issue !
Will Be Continued
Gurdwara Baba Bhudha Sahib Ji
2 Shawbury Road,
East Dulwich, London SE22 9DH
Did you know that there was a Gurdwara in East Dulwich ?
The Dulwich Sikhs even use the word Gurdwara in large print, and ‘Sikh Temple’ as translation in smaller print underneath. The Gurdwara is not near any tube station, but there are good bus connections from Denmark Hill train station.
Due to it being Vaisakh, there was a good turn out of sangat, and there was quite a bit of orange about.
Interesting picture of Guru Gobind Singh and the Panj Piare !
The sevadar gave us small paranthas, and during his ’second round’ karah prasad to eat with the parantha.
On the left the ladies (none on this picture looking like Sikhs) and Guru Nanak, Bhai Mardana and Bala, who according to most scholars is a figment of (Hindu) imagination.
The langar with the picture of Baba Nand Singh looking like Guru Nanak or Guru Nanak looking like Baba Nand Singh.
(There should be a law against these pictures !)
I got on the nice Southern train, which is much more comfortable than the ancient ex Silverlink rolling stock on the London Overground.
The bad news is that the delivery of the new trains both for the Overground and the Thameslink is delayed !
The District Line train from Kensington Olympia to High Street Kensington via Earls Court, a funny little service if you ask me.
I like those signs
I took an London Overground train from here to Shepherd’s Bush
Shepherd’s Bush
They might be old, these 313s, but they do get you there !
MORE TO FOLLOW
The full picture report of this train adventure is appearing on my Harjinder Singh – Man in Blue Flickr account
With the ‘kilt’ more or less organised a nice sleeveless jacket is put on
What is this ? It looks familiar !
No, have a good look, it is not a kirpan
This type of brooch was found in the Irish bogs, dating back from before the year zero
Four more pictures to go and then, although McSingh will still be wearing his jeans, he’ll look like a true Scottish Sikh Warrior
Central Gurdwara (Khalsa Jatha)
www.centralgurdwara.org.uk
58-62 Queensdale Road
London, W11 4SG
It happens every now and then, you go to a Gurdwara to take pictures of it and then find that works of some kind of another are happening in or around the building. But it is all part of life, so here the Gurdwara including fencing.
The Central Gurdwara is often called the oldest Gurdwara in the UK, which is not quite true. The organisation behind the Gurdwara is the oldest Sikh organisation in the UK, it dates back to 1908. In 1911 it acquired a house in Putney and in 1913 the Khalsa Jatha moved to Sinclair Road in the Shepherd’s Bush area. The present building dates from 1969. The Khalsa Jatha published a very interesting book on its history, including the early history of the Sikhs of the UK.
Serving the community for a hundred years !
I always show you the palki sahib and the nishan sahib !
How to get to the Central Gurdwara ?
Many buses from all directions go to Shepherd’s Bush and the new White City shopping centre next to it. Shepherd’s Bush is served by the Central Line and by London Overground and Southern Trains. The tube and train stations are right next to each other. Next to the train station are stairs leading to the A3220 (the West Cross Route). At the top of the stairs turn left and then go down the subway, which will lead to Kingsdale Gardens, turn left here and you cannot help seeing the Gurdwara on the Queensdale Road. The Shepherd’s Bush Market Station is a bit further away from the Gurdwara, the easiest way is to take 207 0r 607 bus from there, and get off at the bus station in between Shepherd’s Bush tube and train stations.
Norwood Green Ward Forum
17-04-09
St Mary’s Church Hall
Norwood Green Road, Southall UB2 4LA
I live in the centre of Old Southall, in between the Green, Merrick Road and Havelock Road. This part of Southall belongs politically to the Norwood Green Ward, which also includes the Havelock and Toplocks area east of Merrick Road, Norwood Green / Tentelow Lane, the Wind Mill estate next to Ealing Hospital and a triangle in between Uxbridge Road, Green Drive and Park Avenue.
The ward councillors are Mohammad Aslam, Rajinder Mann and Virendra Sharma.
The ward forums are an attempt to bring voters closer to the councillors and are useful, but they are only attended by a handful of people compared with the thousands of voters living in the ward. The good news was that most of the areas of the ward were represented, and that those present were not shy to speak their mind.
I am a Liberal Democrat and was very active politically when I lived in Heston, trying to break the Labour monopoly in Heston & Cranford and trying to represent the interest of the voters in that area. We gave the Labour Councillors a scare, but did not get any Lib Dem Councillors elected.
We did achieve good results working together with local activists, like the pedestrian crossing of the A4 near Springwell Road, stopping the construction of a bridge across the Grand Union Canal in between Bulls Bridge and Southall Lane, right across the houseboat moorings there and stopping a waste distribution point near Heston services, which would have brought many lorries laden with waste on the roads of Heston.
From what I heard during the forum, from the paper work supplied and from my own observations I want to highlight the following issues in my part of Southall.
More detail and illustrating pictures will follow !
Give us your opinion, send an email to :
harjinder.singh.amritsar@googlemail.com
Paul Macdonald and the real Scottish outfit
The kilt is only a fairly recent invention, in these pictures we will show what the real Scottish outfit was like, and how it was worn.
Take a good sized piece of material, and wrap this around yourself, keeping it together with a belt
Stand up an it is like a much too long skirt
Take up the bottom end and tuck it into your belt
MORE TO FOLLOW
Harjinder Singh – The Man in Blue
The Nagar Kirtan season is upon us. I was involved as a marshal in both the Hounslow (April 5) and Southall (April 12) Nagar Kirtan, and am booked to take part in the Bristol Nagar Kirtan on the 26th of April.
My best memory of a Nagar Kirtan was when I was honoured by the sangat in Den Haag (Netherlands) to be part of the Panj Piaré. Although it was cold and windy (Den Haag is near the North Sea coast) and we walked barefooted dressed in a short and flimsy chola, it was a magic experience.
We kept doing simran all the way through, and some members of our UK Jatha who were part of the procession got the sangat doing simran too. We stopped at a square near a big masjid for a short demonstration of gatka, and the mainly Moroccan Muslims were very interested.
The Hounslow Nagar Kirtan was well attended, but is never as massive as the Southall one. For most of the route we have to stick to the left side of the road, and for this we use a modern version of the Indian Rope trick : a rope is attached to the right hand side of the back of the palki, and held on a spindle at the end of the procession.
The marshals walk along the rope, trying to keep the sangat inside it, or if they insist on crossing the road to first make sure that it is safe. The main worry are people, including ladies pushing prams, diving under the rope and crossing the road without looking in any direction. Luckily both marshals and police were vigilant and through Vahiguru’s kirpa no accidents happened.
For the Southall Nagar Kirtan I volunteered for a position right behind the palki, trying to keep some distance between it and the sangat. This turned out to be very challenging, especially in Havelock Road and King Street, where the road is narrow and the sangat eager.
Their enthusiasm to be near the palki, near the Guru Granth Sahib, made even fragile old ladies and mother’s with small children take part in the big push, which reminded me of the free for all in Amritsar, when the Guru Granth Sahib is taken from Akal Takhat to Harmandr Sahib.
I appreciate the enthusiasm of the sangat, and I too took part in the pushing and shoving to get my shoulder underneath one of the massive copper bars of the palki in Harmandr Sahib. In Southall sangat should know that the Nagar Kirtan takes hours to get from Havelock Road to Park Avenue via Southall Park, and that everybody has plenty of opportunity to pay their respect to the Guru Granth Sahib.
Are Nagar Kirtans useful ? I have my doubts, but I do enjoy them. I think that sangat should be offered more drinks and less food. Parkore, somose and fruit are fine, but leave serving langar to the Gurdware.
