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A South Asian undocumented immigrant

November 6, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On The New York Times blog India Ink, Piyali Bhattacharya pens an article about an undocumented South Asian immigrant from Nepal named Nirmal, who left his family to find work in New York (via AnjumChoudhry Nayyar): “There is nothing for me back in Nepal,” he said. “There are no job opportunities there. Better to suffer here and let my child live in peace. Maybe because of me, she will have a better life.” These motivations are not so different from […]

Categories: Profiles, Reflections • Tags: Immigration, India Ink, New York Times, Paramjit Singh, Piyali Bhattacharya, undocumented immigrants

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"The Hindustan Times Newspaper Published on 15th August,1947." (Source: The Allrounder)

Independence and Partition: clear words, unclear legacy

August 15, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Coinciding with independence celebrations in Pakistan and India on August 14 and 15 respectively, an article in The New York Times features the 1947 Partition Archive, a project based in Berkeley, California, led by Guneeta Bhalla. The two-year-old project is creating an oral history archive of personal stories from survivors of the religion-based partition of Punjab and Bengal in 1947 that created the nation-states of Pakistan and India, and later, Bangladesh: …its dozens of volunteers have video-recorded 647 oral histories […]

Categories: Events, Reflections • Tags: 1947, 1947 Partition Archive, Guneeta Singh Bhalla, India, New York Times, Oral history, Pakistan, Partition of India

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"A witness of the 1984 pogrom. More than 10 members of her family were killed before her eyes. She testified in a court that the Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was present at the site of the killings in 1984. Her lawyer was shot at in the very first hearing. She withdrew the case. The aftermath of the violence has left her numb." (Credit: Gauri Gill | The New York Times)

A survivor of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom reflects

July 23, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In India Ink, The New York Times blog about India, a survivor of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom in New Delhi writes of the experience during the carnage, and of the attempts by the Indian state to erase the history of its own participation. Most recently, Jaspreet Singh describes the efforts by government officials to prevent Sikhs from raising a memorial in tribute to the victims of the pogrom: Such control over sites of traumatic memory suggests the state is deeply anxious about […]

Categories: 1984 • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, anti-Sikh pogroms, Delhi, Indira Gandhi, Jaspreet Singh, New Delhi, New York Times

"In the Sikh community garden in Fresno [California], where older gardeners mentor younger ones." (Credit: Jim Wilson | The New York Times)

The community gardens of Fresno, CA

June 3, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In The New York Times, Patricia Leigh Brown writes about community gardens in Fresno, California, as places of support for various communities, including the Punjabi Sikh Sarbat Bhalla Community Garden, which provides a safe space for conversation for Sikh women: “Young women have to prove ourselves more than our brothers do,” she said. So the group members supports one another, “especially if a girl is down,” [Parmeshvar Kaur Dhaliwal] said. …and Sikh men: Amandip Singh Gill, a 32-year-old garden organizer, […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Amandip Singh Gill, California, Community Garden, Fresno, New York Times, Parmeshvar Kaur Dhaliwal, Punjabi Sikh Sarbat Bhalla Community Garden

"A Sikh boy stands on the water’s edge [at Hemkund Sahib]. It’s estimated that upward of 150,000 people make it to Hemkund each year." (Photo credit: Michael Benanav | The New York Times)

Visiting Hemkund Sahib

June 3, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

While it is not so uncommon to see Americans write about their first visit to Darbar Sahib (aka the Golden Temple) in Amritsar, India, a recent article in The New York Times by Michael Benanav describes his visit to Hemkund Sahib (a site associated with the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh), a very different Gurdwara located at an altitude of 14,000 feet in the Himalayan mountain range near Tibet: But even to a nonbeliever, the allure of a sacred lake […]

Categories: Reflections • Tags: Amritsar, Darbar Sahib, Guru Gobind Singh, Hemkund Sahib, Himalaya, Michael Benanav, New York Times

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The Caretaker -- a novel by A.X. Ahmad. (Photo source: Target)

A.X. Ahmad’s “The Caretaker”

May 31, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On the blog Colorlines, Rinku Sen interviews writer A.X. Ahmad whose recently published fictional novel The Caretaker is set in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and features a Sikh protagonist named Ranjit Singh, “an undocumented Sikh immigrant struggling to make a life for himself, his wife and his daughter on Martha’s Vineyard, the summer get-away island for a good number of the country’s wealthy families, including the black elite.” In the interview, A.X. Ahmad discusses various aspects of the book, including the […]

Categories: Literature • Tags: A.X. Ahmad, Amardeep Singh, Colorlines, fiction, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, New York Times, novel, The Aerogram, The Caretaker, thriller

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The New York Times featured a story about Punjabi Sikh hockey announcers in Canada. (source: Simran Kaur)

Picture of the Day: Hockey Night in Punjabi

April 26, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On their front page today, the New York Times reports about the Punjabi-language broadcast of ice hockey games in Canada by the CBC, the public national network and one of the major broadcasters of NHL hockey games. The Punjabi version is announced by two Sikhs — Harnarayan Singh and Bhola Chauhan: Singh, 28, has developed a signature style tailored for his audience. A puck can be described as an “aloo tikki,” a potato pancake his mother makes especially well. When […]

Categories: Picture of the Day, Profiles • Tags: Bhola Chohan, Canada, CBC, Harnarayan Singh, Hockey Night in Canada, New York Times, Punjabi

Lessons learned in NY and the CA Workplace Religious Freedom Act

July 26, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The New York Times published an editorial last month about the workplace discrimination case involving the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority and their Sikh and Muslim employees: This settlement should have been reached years ago. By dragging things out so long, the M.T.A. has deepened the sense of injury in the Sikh and Muslim communities. Prominent in the Justice case was Kevin Harrington, a subway train operator and a Sikh who wears a turban. After the 9/11 attacks, he was commended […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: AB1964, California, Metropolitan Transit Authority, MTA, New York, New York Times, Workplace Religious Freedom Act

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Picture of the Day: When Sikh immigrants negotiate

May 4, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Growing up in the west, some Sikh youth (myself included) often observe and lament our parents’ habit of being tough, stubborn and thorough negotiators. An article appearing today in the New York Times profiles Neelam and Prab Sethi and the lessons they taught their son, Ramit (author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich) about negotiating: And why was the teenage Ramit dragged along for all the negotiating sessions? “When we were growing up in India, big purchases were […]

Categories: Picture of the Day • Tags: I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Neelam Sethi, New York Times, Prab Sethi, Ramit Sethi

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: New York Times

A South Asian undocumented immigrant

Independence and Partition: clear words, unclear legacy

A survivor of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom reflects

The community gardens of Fresno, CA

Visiting Hemkund Sahib

A.X. Ahmad’s “The Caretaker”

Picture of the Day: Hockey Night in Punjabi

Lessons learned in NY and the CA Workplace Religious Freedom Act

Picture of the Day: When Sikh immigrants negotiate