Kids Corner

Current Events

Waiting For Batman in Gotham City

by RAVNEET KAUR SANGHA

 

 

 

It does not need a panthic agenda to save Punjab from ruin at the hands of politicians who have a hidden agenda against Punjab.

Nor does it need knights in cholas and so-called baanas who have led the masses astray, like the Pied Piper, luring them through emotional see-saws, one after the other, into the darkness.

Nor does it need any political party which will not keep the plight of the farmer uppermost on its list of priorities.

Punjab is on a precipice, one side has a cliff-edge,  the other a crevasse. One wrong step will end up pushing the state into a deep dark hole.

The journey down has already started. My homeland of Punjab was the cynosure of all eyes in the country, but due to greed, avarice, short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness, it has spiraled down to a pitiful state where drug abuse and alcohol intake are the highest on the subcontinent.

The state whose songs of bravery, splendor and magnificence were sung by all, has now been reduced to a state of weak, spineless men who are committing one of the highest rates of crime on women and who have lost their edge on life.

The state also faces another shameful first: primary education is now reduced to a sham. We have fought, argued, put forward our cases, have successfully dragged down each other's leaders ...

But we are not ready to give any quarter to the 'other' person, regardless of ideas or merit or whatever.

We love brandishing (and who better than the Punjabis! ) each other's faults and failings and loudly claiming as having insider information from 'confirmed sources' about the 'other'!

My only plea is that we should put aside our common badges of narrowness, and putting labels on our leaders. We chose  them and let's live with that. Punjab needs to be saved from Punjabis first. 

Why don't we understand that we are the ones who gave the power to the politicians and bureaucrats? Duh! The last time I looked we did live in a democracy. We need to solve the problems we face rather than writing our sohilas on Facebook and Twitter ...

Yes, these are the media for a revolution. But, till the groundwork is done by us, it's going to fizzle out in a moment, like an open can of Coke. 

It's all  about making a difference. Yes, the ground reality is different from what we perceive it sitting in our comfy homes;  I need to get off my high horse and step away from the rose-tinted glasses.

How many of us accept Punjab for what it is? Embrace her with her faults, rather than condemning and criticizing her as a failed state. Yes , we have problems aplenty ... deficit, bankrupt, depleting water resources, cancer scare / reality, failing agricultural scenario and a shrinking industrial base, an unseen and unheard epidemic where girls are aborted mercilessly ...

Nobody said the ride was going to be easy.

I don't know who our Batman is going to be for this Gotham City. All I know is that we still have the josh to strike back ... and win!

 

February 13, 2012

 

 

Conversation about this article

1: Harinder (Uttar Pradesh, India), February 13, 2012, 12:54 PM.

They will keep you down with drugs, debt and polluted waters. Don't you boys and gals give up. Embrace life, hope, chardi kalaa ethos and sarbat da bhalla spirit.

2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), February 13, 2012, 5:19 PM.

If there was some way we could do away with the encroachment of Hindu caste practices into our community, it'll allow us to unite. We can then think of a 'United Singhdom'!

3: Devinder Pal Singh (Delhi, India), February 13, 2012, 11:23 PM.

All is not lost as far as Punjab and Sikhi are concerned in Punjab. No doubt the current youth is influenced by the urge to emulate the characters on the screen and the tube, the society as a whole needs to influence them with better programs. The stress should not be only on the professional courses but must also be on the need to be good human beings. The need to avoid short cuts must be stressed upon. The popular images of politicians making big bucks through deals benefiting them the most must not be glorified as they definitely seed the youth to take short cuts and thereby short cut culture and life. Lastly the state has to provide equal opportunity for one and all and make the individual responsible to contribute to the society and the state. Not a tall order if we accept things in a simplistic way. The first step will always lead to the next and so on. It must begin without being dependent on the politician and the state for we need moral resources to step out and deliver the change.

4: Ajay Sahota (Cambridge, Ontario, Canada ), February 14, 2012, 5:59 AM.

Liked the analogy: "Where's the Batman for this Gotham" :))

5: Simon (London, United Kingdom), February 15, 2012, 6:33 AM.

The solutions is simple, resources are already in place in the various NGO's around the world. Someone needs to step up and steer them to the same goal: Education. If you are unable to work from the top down (politicians and the state government), work from the ground up (the people), learn from the Gurus. Isn't that what Sikhi is about? What did the Gurus do when faced with political opposition? They turned to the people (Vaisakhi of 1699)! Imagine a whole generation that you have helped to educate, mentor and inspire, with minimal resources and infrastructure. The concept is nothing new. Those in power already feed a brand of their own education/entertainment via the media, leading people to false hopes and aspirations. Educational programs in every field are already in digital format: academic, social, health, agriculture, finance, religion, etc. In time you will make your own. All it takes is to deliver them to the communities in question with a team of mentors who work from their homes or gurdwaras around the world. The key to all this is mentors who will build trust and inspire individuals to excel in every field. Delivery is also simple via the internet. One satellite dish with a mesh network will supply many villages based on bandwidth. Gurdwaras can have cheap Linux-based computers with a large screen and a webcam, though they may need a few more on each site to accommodate different age groups and subjects. You need sponsorship? The answer is on the homepage on sikhchic.com: The Angel's Gate, where organisations/ gurdwaras/ individuals can sponsor one installation to educate 10-20 villages. The concept of daswandh and wund chhakkna also needs to be clarified: After you have addressed your own affairs, donate 10% of what is left. The Gurus never meant for anyone to feel guilty even if they are on subsistence income, so daswandh is welcome in any form and not just monetary. Once you have given people hope and a little time, who knows what changes may occur in Punjab in a few years. Just take a look at Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom, where 80% of the people were literate.

6: Jaswinder Kaur (Germany), February 15, 2012, 10:29 AM.

It is for us to change ourselves ... no one else can and will.

7: Simon (London, United Kingdom), February 15, 2012, 11:43 AM.

So who is going to step up? And who is going to be our Batman? Again, we are reminded that the power is in the individual. Guru Gobind Singh unleashed it in the form of the Khalsa. Think about all the Batmen he created in in a single day in 1699? Men without fear, totally selfless, who bowed to no mortal, fashioned in his own image. The question we should ask is, how does the Khalsa of today compare with Guru Gobind Singh himself? In a manner of speaking, he instilled his own beliefs and values in millions of us and made it known that he was not God nor the 'son' of God and he was just like the rest of us, implying that God's work (or miracle) is done through individuals and any person can step up and be like him. Guru Nanak said: 'If you desire to play the game of love, then bring me your head on the palm of your hand. Having stepped on this path, give your head and pay no heed to public attention' - now that is the prerequisite of becoming Guru Gobind Singh's Khalsa. How many of today's Sikhs - amritdhari or otherwise - understand that?

8: Jaz Singh (London, England), February 16, 2012, 10:10 PM.

Surely Punjab is the complete opposite of Gotham? The fictional Gotham is of course based on the real Gotham in England where wise men acted like idiots in order to avoid paying tax to the King. Punjab, on the other hand, seems to me to be a place where complete and utter fools of today are lauded as wise.

Comment on "Waiting For Batman in Gotham City"









To help us distinguish between comments submitted by individuals and those automatically entered by software robots, please complete the following.

Please note: your email address will not be shown on the site, this is for contact and follow-up purposes only. All information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sikhchic reserves the right to edit or remove content at any time.