Columnists
The Project:
Sidak is Back This Summer
Part IV
T. SHER SINGH
SIDAK is an annual retreat designed as a leadership development program for young adults. It is run by The Sikh Research Institute ("SikhRI"), and is being held this year for two-weeks between July 27 and August 9 in Mission, British Columbia, Canada.
I had the pleasure of attending the full two-week duration of its chapter in San Antonio, Texas, USA, last year. I penned my experiences while there and posted them on THE DAILY FIX on sikhchic.com.
What follows is Part IV of the daily segments -- we started the republication of the series a week ago -- presented here with my hope that it will enourage you to consider attending what I found to be a life-transforming opportunity for both young and old.
Continued ...
PART IV
The Sidak Retreat, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Remember The Manhattan Project?
Wikipedia -- the fount of all knowledge -- describes it
succinctly as a research and development project that produced the first
atomic bombs during World War II. Begun in 1939, says the same source,
it grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US $2 billion
(about $26 billion in 2013 dollars). Research and production took place
at more than 30 sites across the United States, the United Kingdom and
Canada.
The project involved a vast computer system -- until then, almost the
exclusive domain of the US military -- which needed multiple building
complexes to house and maintain its physical presence.
Sitting here in a Sidak class, I see that each of the 34
students -- as well as each of the instructors -- has an iPhone or a
Blackberry or an equivalent, as well as a laptop or iPad with him or
her. At all times.
Sure, they are electronically cordless, but -- trust me, each is
connected to its owner with an invisible umbilical cord. The gadget goes
where its master goes. One is an extension of the other.
In effect, neither can function without the other.
And, guess what? Each of these gadgets -- each one, separately,
individually, as is, as it sits besides each Sidak student -- has
greater capacity and strength and capability than the entire computer
system used by the great Manhattan Project.
That’s where we are at, as the human species. With more power and
knowledge at our finger-tips than ever before. Miracle-wise, neither the
Moses of legend or the Krishna of myth could do the feats that each and
every young man and woman in this room can perform today, sitting right
here in this room, without even getting up from their seats.
Sometimes I wonder, simply talking to these bright young ones, and
seeing what they do, what they’ve already done, where they’re headed … I
wonder how someone like me has even survived in this world. My
daughter, as all daughters are wont to do, never misses an opportunity
to ask me how on earth I have ever managed to come even this far …
without her help!
How on earth, for example, did I get an education? It couldn’t amount to
much, could it, in comparison, if one looks at all that the present
generation has, and what the preceding generations didn’t.
It wasn’t until I was well into my university years, for example, that
we first had access to a calculator. It was basic: add, substract,
multiply, divide, and square-root. Before too long, you could actually
get one that did trignometric configurations, provided you were willing
to dish out US $400!
By then, however, I had no need for it because what I was studying by
then -- literature and, later, law -- had no immediate use for
mathematical calculations.
Before I go any further, I should make one thing perfectly clear. I’m not T-H-A-T old! Sure, I’m 63. But that puts me well after the Second World War, after the Partition of Punjab.
When I was a mere two years old, this very Elizabeth became Queen of
Great Britain, as she still is today. Yes, we are talking about the same
era -- the same Elizabethan era, at that -- and not of the Tudor
period.
There were no photo-copiers throughout my undergraduate years, and my
first two years in graduate school. 95% of the work in preparing for
exams involved copying page after page, word by word, line by line, in
long hand, from the tomes that were required reading.
There were no computers.
Our home had one telephone. And it was permanently wedded to the wall.
Calling someone long-distance was an event. Getting through to someone
long-distance was cause for celebration.
I was about 20 years old when New Delhi became the first place in India
to get television. It was black and white -- do you know what that
means? It means, there was no colour on the screen. And there was one
channel. It came on for a couple hours each day. And the entire mohalla
-- neighbourhood -- would gather, literally, in the house of someone who
had been blessed with ownership of a television set.
And that was only in New Delhi. I lived a thousand miles away. Ergo, we had no television.
Fast Food meant eating fast … which you weren`t allowed to do.
Everything was cooked from scratch. I can remember when our household
was in the process of making potato chips. They were washed and peeled,
sliced and then, each limpy wafer was laid out, one by one, on white
bed-sheets in the sun … to dry. That was only the first stage … the
chips were ready for tea-time by the end of the week.
My clothes. Everything was tailor-made. I had never worn anything bought
``ready-made`` until I was past 20. I`m not complaining … we were
reasonably well-dressed, because my family was reasonably well off.
All I`m saying is, that`s how it was.
So, I ask myself, looking around the room here in Sidak, how on earth did we survive those prehistoric days?
And, pray, how did they possibly manage to impart to me, and the likes
of me, an education? More importantly, how could that education be worth
much, seeing today how deprived we were then, and how much that we take
for granted today, we didn`t have then?
Get my drift?
I`m not saying all of this tongue-in-cheek. I really mean it.
* * * * *
What I also mean to say is: today, we have no excuses for not being able
to solve all the challenges we face, as a community … as a people … as
individuals.
All the tools are available to us. So is all the knowledge we need.
It is a delight, therefore, to watch the younger generation adept with
the tools. And it is heartening to see almost three dozen of them take
two weeks out of their summer schedule to come here in order to fuel
their minds, their hearts and their souls, with a purpose.
Looking at the syllabi of each of the three streams into which the
students are divided here: Gurmukhi 101, Sikhi 101 and Sikhi 201; having
already attended some classes in each; having spoken to most of them,
as well as each of the instructors; having dipped my toes into the
electricity that runs through the air here, from time to time … I get
the distinct feeling that all is well with the world.
Despite all the challenges we face as a community today -- I could even
argue, B-E-C-A-U-S-E we face them -- the torch is safely and firmly in
the hands of the new guard.
All is well. All will be well.
This is not an exercise in positive thinking or reinforcement or
affirmation. Those who know me well know that I can unabashedly be a
Cassandra when the situation warrants it, that I don`t ever shy away
from making tough prognostications.
But what I see here … and what I know of all that the community is
doing, in baby steps in some places, in giant strides in others, across
the length and breadth of the diaspora … tells me that our core is
solid, our ramparts are secure, our garrisons are well-equipped, each
position is manned well …
Here, let me list for you just the titles of the classes that are being
taught here. I reproduce them here unedited, roughly as they appear in
the program, and in no particular order.
Sikh Framework, Sikh Theology, Guru Granth Sahib - Introduction,
Santhya, 1469 - 1708, Phonology & Language Systems, Asa ki Vaar,
1708-1849, Suprasegmentals & Inscribed Elegance, What is Guru?, The
Sikh Revolution, Janamsakhi, Sikh Canon, Masculine Nouns, Punjabi-Sikh
Poetry, Feminine Nouns, Guru Khalsa Panth, Sikh Sovereignity, Nouns,
Sikh Raj, Adjectives, Guru Granth Sahib, Bhais of the Guru, Parkash,
Singh Sabha Movement, Postpositions, Guru Khalsa Panth, Pronouns, Sikh
Rehat Maryada, Feel Your Guru, Miri-Piri, Dialogue with Your Guru,
Vyakhya, Verbs, 1849-1947, World Religions, 1947-1984, Prem Sumarag
& Chaupa Singh Rehatnama, Interpreters of Sikh Thought, 1984 Facts,
1984 Context, Adverbs, 1984-Present, Punjab Crisis, Conjunctions &
Interjections, Diaspora Today, Transcription, The Ideal Person, Themes -
Principles - Concepts, Leadership, Hip Hop & Identity, Rehat
Maryada, Gurdwara Protocol, Kirtan, Mahima …
Merely going through the list, I feel inadequate, unlettered, uneducated …
Attending the classes -- and the instructors are a pleasant surprise,
they are not the run-of-the-mill camp counsellors -- I feel like I have a
lot of catching up to do, and that it is venues like this one where I
can begin to make a dent in my vacuum.
Put all the tools together, all that we didn`t have even a generation
ago but are freely ours today, and add Sidak to the mix, and you end
with one hefty potency.
The youth, for sure! But frankly, I can`t think of any adults,
regardless of age or occupation or inclination, who won`t find Sidak
life-transforming.
The question for you, dear reader, is … where do we go from here?
Rather, where do you go from here?
To Be Continued ...
First published on August 1, 2013; re-published on July 13, 2014