Humour
The Great Debate
About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Sikhs had to leave Italy. Naturally, there was a big uproar from the Sikh community.
The Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Sikh community. If the latter won, the Sikhs could stay. If the Pope won, the Sikhs would have to leave.
The Sikhs realized that they had no choice. So they picked a middle-aged man, named Harbinder Singh, to represent them.
Harbinder asked for one condition before he would accept: to make the debate more interesting, neither side would be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed.
The day of the great debate arrived.
Harbinder Singh and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
Harbinder looked back at him and raised one finger.
The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head.
Harbinder pointed to the ground where he sat.
The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine.
Harbinder pulled out an apple.
The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Sikhs can stay".
An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope, asking him what had happened. The Pope said, "First. I held up three fingers to represent the Holy Trinity.
"He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions.
"Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us.
"He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us.
"I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"
Meanwhile, the Sikh community had crowded around Harbinder Singh. "What happened?" they asked.
"Well," said Harbinder, "first he said to me that the Sikhs had three days to get out of here. I told him in no uncertain terms to buzz off, and that not one of us was leaving.
"Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Sikhs. I let him know that we were staying right here".
"Yes, yes, ... and then?" asked the crowd.
"I don't know", said Harbinder. "He took out his lunch, and I took out mine!"
Conversation about this article
1: Jas (London, England), June 24, 2007, 11:53 AM.
Priceless!
2: Neha (New York, U.S.A.), July 15, 2007, 3:36 PM.
A dignified Sardar joke...Love it!
3: Rani (West Midlands, U.K.), July 21, 2007, 2:47 AM.
This joke brought back for me so many of my father's teachings based on one's perception of the sender's message and the recipient's understanding. Some food for thought: Adopting an attitude of universal responsibility is essentially a personal matter. The real test for respect, understanding, compassion, empathy ... all the traits that make a good person ... is not what we say in mere talk but how we treat and respect others in daily life. We should never knowingly hurt any one.
4: Pritpal Singh Matharu (New Delhi, India), August 11, 2007, 9:32 AM.
Toooo goood ... awesome ...
5: Brinder Singh (Chennai), August 14, 2007, 11:25 AM.
Way too cool ... I've heard/read this joke at least a dozen times ... and I still find it funny.
6: Palvinder Singh (Philadelphia, U.S.A.), August 24, 2007, 4:42 PM.
Love it! Good one.
7: Karam Lamba (Nagpur), August 26, 2007, 4:49 AM.
Fantastic ... a very good site ... in fact, the best designed site on the net for Sikhs ... perhaps could do much better with more content.
8: Saakshi (Thailand), September 17, 2007, 7:06 AM.
I loved it ! It was too good!
9: Sarjit Singh Khalsa (England), October 17, 2007, 10:26 AM.
Since the Pope is a God-believer, he had to accept the truth!
10: Pierre Singh (Belgium), February 22, 2008, 12:22 PM.
Good joke, made me smile ... and indeed a funny example of the fact that we never exactly know what another person is thinking. Verbal and visual communication is so limited.
11: Haspinder (France), March 15, 2008, 1:07 PM.
Really sweet one!
12: Sukhbir (Australia), June 25, 2008, 5:15 PM.
Very nice combination of wisdom and humour.
13: Ari singh (Iceland), July 08, 2008, 4:20 PM.
Great! One of the best Sikh jokes that I have come across.
14: Deep (Ontario, Canada), August 16, 2008, 12:05 PM.
Ha-ha! Great joke with a good message!
15: Dharamveer Singh (Mumbai, India), April 10, 2009, 11:03 AM.
Absolutely wonderful. This is one Sikh joke I really laughed at and enjoyed. Harbinder Singh ji, you are awesome. Hahaha!
16: Bikram (Malaysia), December 24, 2009, 12:16 PM.
Too good!