5th July 2014: New York, NY: I happened to attend a Sikh wedding reception today. Although it’s good to see Sikh families and youngesters getting together to relish & bless the couple, its bothersome to see the morphed sikh values. It was difficult to really say whether I was in a wedding of the Sikh community but of that of a Hindu wedding. Although the music was core punjabi but the dance floor had only a few turbans wearing Sikhs. To distinguish if the women are Sikhs was impossible.
As I crossed the floor to reach the other side of the room to meet some familiar faces, I had to cross the dance floor. God, the music was so loud. An interesting thing happened as I crossed the blaring Mobile Hybrid 2000 speaker. I heard the drum beat loud and clear and to me it appeared the beat of the Naggara of the Guru. For a few seconds that blaring sound made me realize the battle of Chamkaur where the Naggara was drummed and the hooves of the horses added to the conundrum. This was the sound that laid the challenge to the emperors of the world that the Guru’s Khalsa is alive and will standup for justice. For a second, I felt my Kirpan and it made me realize what the Guru had given it to us for. It aslo made me realize that this kirpan was a challenge to all the super-powers of the world against tyranny. The Khalsa protected the rights of the others. On the face of things the Khalsa army would be the one that would perform the role played by the United Nations as a peace-keeping force in conflict regions and other areas. A private army built on the model of the Khalsa army. All these thoughts faded away as I made mental notes of them while crossing the dance floor. Made a reminder to myself to articulate them in a better way such that we can all possibly benefit from.
Gurpreet Singh