Rupinder Mohan Singh |

The relevance of Bandi Chhorh Divas today

November 5, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

For Sikhs, the celebration of Diwali has a different meaning than for Hindus. It is on this day that we celebrate the release of Guru Hargobind (Sikhism’s sixth Guru) and 52 Indian princes from prison in India in 1619. We refer to this day as Bandi Chhorh Divas, or Day of Release of Prisoners. Valarie Kaur, on her blog, relates its commemoration of liberation to the events to current times: But there is no Guru’s cloak big enough for the […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Bandi Chhorh Divas, Diwali, Guru Hargobind, Valarie Kaur

Yuba City Weather Forecast on weather.com

Let’s hope it doesn’t rain on this parade

November 5, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Sikh Parade in Yuba City, California, kicks off this weekend: As festival tents go up this week outside the Sikh Temple Gurdwara in Tierra Buena, tens of thousands of Sikhs prepared to converge on the home of the nation’s prime celebration of their faith. Visitors looked ahead to riding flower-decked parade floats, lining the four-mile procession route, taking in dance and song — and showing pride in their numbers. The Sikh Parade weekend attracted an estimated 75,000 people to […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: California, Sikh Parade, Yuba City

TSA, USA

November 5, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The revolution will not be televised x-rayed. Kimberly Wilder of The Wilder Side has an issue with the TSA’s screening procedures in American airports: This is a humiliation happening to all of the American people. This is an affront to our civil liberties. It is an attempt to control our movements and air travel much like happened in the Soviet Union. Although, at least I don’t think that the Soviets tried to irradiate the citizenry. This is serious. What can […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, TSA

Sikh holds a sign at the Rally to Restore Sanity

The Daily Show’s Moment of Singh

November 4, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

via The Daily Show, via SikhSwim:

Categories: Picture of the Day • Tags: Rally to Restore Sanity, The Daily Show

Have you hugged a Sikh today?

November 4, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In California, November is “Sikh Awareness Month“: Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of November 2010 to be California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes and acknowledges the significant contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage to our state, and by adoption of this resolution, seeks to afford all Californians the opportunity to better understand, […]

Categories: News Bits

Remembering the Sikh genocide of 1984

November 3, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In India, thousands of Sikhs were slaughtered by Hindu mobs in the days after Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984: Khushwant Singh realized “what Jews must have felt in Nazi Germany.” He concluded: “The killing assumed the proportions of a genocide of the Sikh community.” To this day, Sikhs are still awaiting justice for this massacre. See The Sikh Genocide Project for a thorough recounting of the events leading to the […]

Categories: 1984 • Tags: India, Indira Gandhi, Sikh genocide

A “nikki” footnote

November 3, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Nikki Haley (formerly Nimrata Kaur Randhawa) will be noted in history as South Carolina’s first female Governor, and of Indian American descent to boot: ‘But what I want this to be is that we’re turning a page. We’re turning a page on where we’ve been, but the history is going to be on where we’re going to go.’ Indeed, she has turned the page on quite a few things. She has gone on public record to disassociate herself from her Indian – […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: Nikki Haley, South Carolina

Cultural competence is ethical

November 3, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A new paper to be published in the Journal of Medical Ethics takes on cultural competence where it relates to the practice of medicine: Increasing cultural competence is often cited as a way to reduce healthcare disparities arising from value and cultural differences between patients and providers. Cultural competence entails not only a knowledge base of cultural practices of disparate patient populations, but also an attitude of adapting one’s practice style to meet patient needs and values. In order to […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Cultural Competence, Health care, Muslim

Obama’s non-trip to the Golden Temple

November 2, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Last week, Sepia Mutiny’s ennis offered his take on the controversy around the White House’s reluctance about an Obama visit to the Golden Temple: “Here’s my hunch – Obama wanted to go, and put it on his schedule, but it was so low priority that nobody bothered to think much about it until the story came out at which point somebody on his staff freaked out. And it could be that I’m wrong, and somebody in the White House freaked […]

Categories: Politics

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Author Archives: Rupinder Mohan Singh

The relevance of Bandi Chhorh Divas today

Let’s hope it doesn’t rain on this parade

TSA, USA

The Daily Show’s Moment of Singh

Have you hugged a Sikh today?

Remembering the Sikh genocide of 1984

A “nikki” footnote

Cultural competence is ethical

Obama’s non-trip to the Golden Temple