Columnists
A Letter to the Future
GURMEET KAUR
If you were given a chance to speak your heart out, what would you say to the future architects of Punjab’s destiny?
If you could write a letter to a young girl in Punjab who is stepping into adulthood, training to be a future teacher and thus a Sikh role model who will also be, potentially, someone's life partner and above all a mother - guiding the next generation of Sikhs in each role - what would you say to her?
If you could write to a boy or a girl who is ready to step out of a protected Sikh school into a world full of confusions, temptations, and challenges where Sikhi could potentially, by default, take a back step, what would you say?
If you could write to the boys and girls who have dedicated 12 grueling years in very competitive schools trained with the idea of choosing conventional professions (i.e., engineering and medicine, for example), but will soon find out that the competition to get in line for these professions is huge and the chances of success marginal, what would your direction to them be ?
Perhaps you would like to be a mentor to some of these young students.
Perhaps you would like to share your life’s experiences and your feelings about Punjab, its issues and the solutions with them.
You have the opportunity to write to her or him and many of them this week on what your hopes, dreams and aspirations of them are.
You have the opportunity to share your love for the common cause and to show your support for them.
Young filmmaker and social activist Angad Singh (One Light, Roots & Wings and (Ex)Changed) has been invited by the Akal Academy Schools in rural Punjab (run by The Kalgidhar Society) to conduct social change workshops with their high-school students in the coming months. He will also be spending a lot of time with the young Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) female students.
In his six weeksof volunteer work, he will get an opportunity to interact with thousands of students with the goal to inspire them towards social responsibility and action by making them aware of the power that each one of them possesses.
One of his workshops is centered on building an understanding of the common element that the diaspora Punjabis and Sikhs share with the locals -- the love for Sikhi and Punjab and the concerns of their current state.
The workshop will focus on the common dream that the Sikh-Punjabis share with the diaspora, promoting understanding between the two, communicating expectations of each other and exploring the solutions in building a better future for Punjab and the Sikh Panth - together.
That is where you come into the picture.
As a part of this workshop, your letters will be read to them. Their responses and cries for help will be communicated to you. Understanding is the first step to collaboration.
So please don’t wait. Let your thoughts pour out.
Few things to know before you pick up your pen:
1. Most students that go to the Akal Academies hail from rural areas of Punjab. These are the children of middle class people who value education. Most students come from Sikh families but feel a total disconnect in Sikh ideology taught and practiced in schools versus their environments at home and communities where drug and alcohol abuse is prominent and Sikh identity is profusely being rejected. Most students are disillusioned and unsure of their future, both in terms of careers and maintaining Sikh identity and ideology.
2. Most of the ETT female students come from rural areas in Punjab who went to government schools in their villages. They had no future education plans after completing their high school diploma. Their parents would not send them to far away colleges in cities as they feared for their safety or preferred not to spend money on their education as it was to be saved towards their weddings. Although The Kalgidhar Society started this program to empower Sikh women as teachers and the backbone of the community, most parents agreed to sending their daughters for the ETT program because they trust the organization for safety and because the program guarantees employment after successful completion; hence, making their daughters more marketable for marriage, in their minds.
Although they will be educated and working soon, these girls will go back into the system that places low value on females. Most of them will still face dowry issues, female feticide decisions, physical and verbal violence in families and virtual slavery by the in-laws.
* * * * *Will you please take the time and pour your heart to address the future architects of our beloved Punjab and the Sikh Panth? Will you please share with them your dreams and vision? Would you let them know that your stand by them in fulfilling theirs?
Please write your letters via the comment section of this article herein below. They will be shared with the groups they are intended for.
If you have advice for Angad Singh, for his workshops, please feel free to share your thoughts. Among others things, he is planning on teaching the students social activism through filmmaking workshops as well.
If you would like to contribute to this effort in terms of financial assistance or providing mentorship or wish to share your skills with the organization, please contact akalacademy@aol.com
June 27, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), June 27, 2012, 7:11 PM.
Gurmeet jio: your Angad has makings of a great Director one day. Please click the following site. I am sure he has probably already seen it. Not a word is spoken and this short clip tells it all most powerfully in a few minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZCwY9qJL4&feature=youtu.be Also, may I recommend an Iranian Film: "The Children of Heaven"? In my younger days, wielding a borrowed Kodak 16 mm movie camera, I had an offer to understudy a well known cameraman in Bollywood. Unfortunately, 1947's Partition took over and I didn't have enough money to even pay for a slow passenger train ticket. Waheguru had ordained something greater in a different by-lane. Blessings for Angad. He will go far. Will be watching his beard grow.
2: Harinder (Uttar Pradesh, India), June 29, 2012, 9:55 AM.
The future of the Sikhs lies in being what we are designed to be - a knowledge-based people, energized by the instinct to explore the universe.
3: Amardeep (U.S.A.), June 29, 2012, 12:43 PM.
God has a plan for each one of us. Don't despair, just strive and do your best. Rest will follow. Turn to gurbani whenever in doubt. As gurbani tells us, we need patience, nothing will grow overnight.
4: N. Singh (Canada), June 29, 2012, 5:20 PM.
Gurmeet ji: From someone who, despite her many years, still has a lot to learn herself, I would like to share the following with these students. Please tell them that it has been a long and hard road for us in the diaspora as we have struggled to come to terms with what has happened and what is happening in the Punjab, and our help has been very limited. Life here has had its own challenges but please tell them that they are not forgotten. We are still thinking and still connected to them through our Sikh spirit and our Guru. For the girls, my advice would be that no matter what life has planned for them, something that cannot now be taken away from them is their education. Circumstances may dictate that they may be unable to practice their profession, however no one can take away their power to think and desire to better themselves. As teachers, women and mothers, I would urge them to make education a priority in their lives. By education I mean the acquisition of knowledge ... urge them to read (books, internet, newspapers); to think independently for themselves and to broaden their horizons within the confines of their personal circumstances. Urge them to make learning a priority and a value in their children's lives so that we as the Panth can all move forward together. The way forward for us is through the road of knowledge so that no longer will we be fooled, be used or discarded. Our power lies in making our children strong, and able to embrace life's challenges, in making them good citizens and neighbours.
5: N. Singh (Canada), June 29, 2012, 5:38 PM.
For the boys: As they leave school these boys will be faced with many challenges, especially as they are a minority, but as Sikhs remind them that our strength does not lie in numbers but in our spirit to overcome odds; to move forward in the face of adversity and to shine brightly so the world can see the Guru through us. In their hour of need, they will find the role models they crave in our history and our community: people who have succeeded despite the odds. Tell the students to look to these people (dead or alive), find out what they did and emulate their values, steps and courage. But also tell them that the true character and essence of a man doesn't lie in how much money he can make, or how financially successful he becomes, but in the type of son, husband and father he is. Success lies in being a loving partner to his wife and an attentive and present father to his children. Alcohol and drugs will be made readily available to them because there are those who fear the spirit of the Sikh but tell them that no one beats a dead dog, and our true revenge lies in living health and strong lives. Do not help others to destroy us but work to better your circumstances no matter how small that may be. Together we will overcome, and build a better future for our children.