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Leno-gate, Sense, and Nonsense

January 26, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

I really wish we could move on from this story, but unfortunately, it is dominating Sikh-related news. The hysteria following Jay Leno’s bit that involved a depiction of Darbar Sahib (aka The Golden Temple) refuses to die. Now that a Sikh physician in California has initiated a lawsuit against Leno, and the SGPC (the authority that manages Darbar Sahib and many other Gurdwaras in India) has demanded action from the US Government, and even politicians in the United Kingdom are […]

Categories: News Bits, TV/Movies • Tags: Darbar Sahib, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Jay Leno, Mitt Romney, Sikhtoons, Sonny Singh Brooklynwala, T. Sher Singh, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The top 10 reasons why Mitt Romney SHOULD make Darbar Sahib his summer home

January 23, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Jay Leno was on to something. Why would US Republican Candidate for President Mitt Romney want to make Sikhism’s religious center – Darbar Sahib (aka the Golden Temple), in Amritsar, India – his summer home? I can think of a few reasons: 10. It has its own pool. Feel free to take a dip! 9. It has its own free kitchen, open to all regardless of background. Have a seat! 8. He’d understand why South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley looks […]

Categories: Humor, Politics • Tags: Amritsar, Darbar Sahib, Golden Temple, Jay Leno, Mitt Romney

Comparison of Amritsar and Bakersfield (sources: wikipedia.org, amritsarcorp.com)

Bakersfield, CA and Amritsar, Punjab to become sister cities

August 25, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The California city of Bakersfield, 100 miles north of Los Angeles, has announced that it will associate with Amritsar, Punjab, India as sister cities: Mayor Harvey Hall will welcome a new city to Bakersfield’s sisterhood at noon [next] Monday in the City Council chamber. Hall will sign an agreement with Mayor Swaith Malik of Amritsar, India, a city news release said. The relationship has been in the making since early 2007. The Sister City program provides opportunities for cultural, educational, […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Amritsar, Bakersfield, California, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Punjab, sister cities, Sister City Project

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A prelude to 1984

June 3, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

It was late 1983 when my family was staying in Chandigarh, India. As is common for Sikh families, we were planning a trip to Amritsar and Harmandir Sahib (Sikhism’s central Gurdwara, also known as the Golden Temple). I was nine years old at the time. Little did we know that only a few months later, my family would be glued to our TV, watching reports of the Indian government’s military attack upon the heart of Sikhism in Operation Bluestar. In […]

Categories: 1984, Reflections • Tags: 1984, Akal Takht, Amritsar, Golden Temple, Harchand Singh Longowal, Harmandir Sahib, Indian Government, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar

US court facilitates pursuit of justice on behalf of Sikh genocide victims

May 31, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

There is an interesting phenomenon currently going on in the United States whereby Sikhs in the US are seeking justice by way of a class action lawsuit for the targeted killings of several thousands of Sikhs across India during November of 1984 in response to the assassination of then-Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. How it has come to be that India’s ruling Congress Party could be sued in the United States by a group representing Sikhs for the killings that took place in […]

Categories: 1984, News Bits • Tags: Alien Tort Claims Act, Congress Party of India, Ensaaf, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Indira Gandhi, New York, Operation Bluestar, Sikh genocide, Sikhs for Justice, Torture Victim Protection Act

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Feeling the Power: A non-Sikh visits the Golden Temple

March 3, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Kristy Robinson, of the Yahoo! Contributor Network, describes her visit to Darbar Sahib (aka “the Golden Temple”, the heart of Sikhism) in Amritsar, India: Still uncertain of what the point was in coming to a place that none of us believed in I crept on with my host family surrounding me to keep unruly Indians from putting their hands where they need not be. It took about an hour to reach the inside of the temple and I was not prepared […]

Categories: Interfaith, Reflections • Tags: Amritsar, Darbar Sahib, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Kristy Robinson

No. 9 on Time Magazine’s Top 10 Religion Stories of 2010

December 25, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

As we near the end of 2010, Time Magazine published their “Top 10 Everything of 2010“. Among the topics was the Top 10 Religion Stories of 2010, which predominantly featured stories related to Christianity or Islam (or sometimes Christianity vs. Islam). The one exception came in at number nine on the list: Obama’s skipping Darbar Sahib (aka the Golden Temple) in Amritsar: The Golden Temple in Amritsar is the center of the Sikh religion and, at one point in the […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: Amritsar, Barack Obama, Darbar Sahib, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Islamophobia, Time Magazine

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The “city of turbans and beards”

December 19, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Days earlier, I had visited the city of turbans and beards, Amritsar, the Sikh holy shrine in the Punjab region. My desire, like that of millions of Sikhs, was to see the magnificent Golden Temple, which preserves within its walls the sacred scripture of Adi Granth. The hospitality was immaculate. Instead of me taking pictures of the faithful, they were asking to be photographed with me. — Daniel Shoer Roth, a columnist for the Miami Herald, writes about his trip […]

Categories: Reflections • Tags: Adi Granth, Amritsar, Daniel Shoer Roth, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Miami Herald

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: Golden Temple

Leno-gate, Sense, and Nonsense

The top 10 reasons why Mitt Romney SHOULD make Darbar Sahib his summer home

Bakersfield, CA and Amritsar, Punjab to become sister cities

A prelude to 1984

US court facilitates pursuit of justice on behalf of Sikh genocide victims

Feeling the Power: A non-Sikh visits the Golden Temple

Top 5 Sikh American Stories of 2010

No. 9 on Time Magazine’s Top 10 Religion Stories of 2010

The “city of turbans and beards”