Columnists
Random Thoughts:
Janam Da Firangee,
Sikhi Mai Mangee
FATEHPAL SINGH TARNEY
It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. I agree. This
column is in the style of the late Khushwant Singh's 'Big Book of
Malice'. This marvelous little book is a series of thoughts,
impressions, and prejudices of this great Sikh writer. In his foreword
to the book, he writes “I love to gossip and have an insatiable appetite
for scandal.” I plead guilty to the same affections.
* * * * *
AN INTERFAITH EVENING
I recently attended an interfaith program at which the keynote speaker
was a Jewish lady, a rabbi from a congregation in my town. At the end of
her presentation, she posed several interesting questions and the
diverse audience was randomly assigned to separate tables to discuss
them.
I ended up as the only male at my table. Across from me were two
Protestant women from different denominations that I cannot recall. On
my left were two very devout and conservative Roman Catholic women. On
my right were two very devout, very conservative Jewish women. After
some discussion, we agreed that we worshiped in different ways, but we
also agreed that we worshiped the same God.
Toward the end of the evening, one of the Jewish ladies looked at me
very intently -- looking at my dastaar; my daarhi, and my face -- and
said, “You don't look Indian!”
This gave me an opportunity to explain that Sikhism is neither a race, nor an ethnicity, nor a nationality – much like Judaism!
AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE - 100 YEARS AGO
A dear Sardar friend of mine, no longer with us, lived a long and very
productive life and taught me much about Sikh history and spirituality.
He was retired from the Indian foreign service having worked in
embassies in places like Laos, Iraq, and the former Yugoslavia.
He once told me a story about his arranged marriage reflecting back
after 60 years of happiness with his wife. It was a stressful incident
at the time, but quite amusing with the passage of time. He did not
actually meet his betrothed until their Anand Karaj and did not even see
a picture of her. What did occur was a meeting with her six brothers,
the eldest of whom told him the following. I am paraphrasing, of course,
from what I was told:
“If you want to learn what our sister looks like, look at this brother
over here, because they look alike … If you want learn something about
her personality, talk to our brother sitting over there, because they
are very similar in that regard!”
THE POST-'MOAB' AFGHANISTAN
America drops a very powerful and very expensive bomb on insurgents in
Afghanistan and much is made of the result: the killing of about 100
insurgents, including perhaps 4 commanders.
Yet, shortly thereafter, Taliban militants killed at least 140 people,
mostly soldiers at a military base. These militants were disguised in
army uniforms. This Taliban attack was far less expensive with
apparently better results than the American MOAB!
The lesson, which we can hope Trump learns, but it is doubtful, is that
Afghanistan is a problem that cannot be solved with the mother of all
bombs!
MISTAKEN IDENTITY, GOOD OR BAD
I have been mistaken for a Muslim numerous times in both Florida and
Michigan. Half the time, people are friendly and have the best
intentions. They often say “As-salamu alaykum.” I usually reply, “Peace
be with you!”
When time and the atmosphere permits, I try to explain that I am not a
Muslim, but that we Sikhs respect all faiths, including Islam.
Once I had trouble paying for gas at the pump and had to go into the
convenience store to pay. I decided to get a chocolate milk as well. Out
of the corner of my eye I saw a large black fellow staring at me. Of
course, I was concerned. He then came up to me, raised his fist, but
with a smile, and shouted, “Allahu Akbar!” I responded, “Yes, God is
great, have a nice day!”
At the same time, I have experienced an equal number of hostile,
anti-Muslim mistaken identity incidents. Hooligans have shouted, “Down
with the Taliban!” at me, and “Go back to Arabia!” which is interesting,
given that my mother was born in Italy.
GROWING UP IN NEW YORK CITY
I grew up in the 1950s in a neighborhood in Queens, New York City, that
was basically half Jewish and half Italian. One would think that it was a
highly polarized community, but far from it. The key bond was food.
There was a saying common in both Yiddish and Italian. I give it in
English translation: “Being full is no excuse for not eating!”
In those days, there were elderly grandmothers still alive and living in
the households of kids' parents. The Jewish grandmothers were known as
“bubbies” and were born in Europe and they wore babushkas, which were
head scarfs, not unlike Muslim hijabs. The Italian grandmothers, like my
own, usually dressed all in black and often had a gold tooth or two.
After school, if we went to a Jewish home for a snack, the bubbie would
feed us and say “Essen!” [Eat!]; if we went to an Italian home, the
grandmother would say “ Mangiare!” [Eat!]
My closest friend, when I was a youngster, was a Jewish lad. He went
through a rebellious, agnostic stage just before his Bar Mitzvah, a
ceremony at 13 years of age when he is considered an adult in terms of
religious responsibilities.
The Sikh Dastaar Bandhi ceremony would be comparable to the Bar Mitzvah.
My friend told me that he did not believe in any of the rituals but
would go through the motions so as not to disappoint his parents or
offend his grandparents.
Later on in my Sikh life, this reminded me of a Sikh Sunday school class
where a young lad was asked why he kept his kes and all he said was
that his grandparents would be upset if his hair was cut.
My friend and I went to the movies together often and the time I
remember most was when we took the subway into Manhattan to see ‘The Ten
Commandments’ with Charlton Heston. In those days, lengthy film
spectaculars like this one had intermissions. So after about two hours,
there was a 15 minutes intermission.
My 13-year-old friend and I wondered why all the elderly men were
rushing to the lavatory. Now, as a senior citizen myself, I fully
understand why these guys were making haste for the restroom!
This film, The Ten Commandments, made a tremendous impact on me and
prompted my longstanding interest in ancient history and really
determined my teaching career. When we departed the theater, I was so
impressed with this film that I was beyond words.
I asked my friend what he thought of it. He said that he did not like
it. I was shocked and asked him why. He said, “This movie had no plot!”
I was speechless. As far as plots are concerned in this classic film, there is:
Good vs. Evil; Monotheism versus idolatry; Freedom vs. Bondage; Resistance of the Weak to the Strong, to cite just a few.
Later on, in my college studies of Egyptology, I learned that even if
the biblical ‘miracle’ of the parting of the Red Sea by God to allow the
Israelites to flee the army of the pharaoh did not actually occur,
something remarkable did happen. At the greatest height of ancient
Egypt's power, during its New Kingdom period, a group of people once
enslaved in Egypt did gain their freedom in the land of Canaan.
By the way, my Jewish friend when I was growing up, who did not like this movie, became a rabbi!
THE HOLOCAUST AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. WHAT ABOUT US?
We Sikhs have much in common with Judaism in that both religions are
strictly monotheistic; both faiths do not believe in proselytizing, and
we, like Jews, have been subjected to discrimination both in our
ancestral homeland as well as in our own diaspora.
Like Armenians, we were for many centuries under the control of Muslims
coming from Central Asia who attempted to convert us by force to Islam.
We resisted and held on to our own beliefs and principles. We respect
all other faiths including Islam. Lest we forget, Babur, the founder of
the Mughal dynasty on the subcontinent, was a descendant of both Genghis
Khan and Tamerlane. Babur's tribal group were Mongols, but considered
themselves Turks in language and culture, having resided in Turkish
lands for a long time.
It is noteworthy that the Ottomon Turks completed their conquest of
Anatolia [Asia Minor], including Armenia, in 1517 – two short years
before Babur's first raid into Punjab - 1519.
We Sikhs can take some pride in knowing more about the Holocaust and the
Armenian Genocide than either Jews or Armenians know about our
victimization under unscrupulous rulers acting in the name of Islam and
Hinduism.
We have many things both spiritual and historical in common with Jews
and Armenians and I always try to convey these at interfaith meetings.
I recently attended a program, “An Evening of Remembrance,” that was
extraordinary and shall not be soon forgotten. In addition to
commemorating the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide beginning in 1915,
other genocides were commemorated such as in Ukraine, Darfur, and
Rwanda, but no mention of we Sikhs. I am trying to educate.
PTSD
In several previous columns I have written about post-traumatic stress
disorder. For anyone interested in this issue, I would like to recommend
a novel and two films that, for me at least, explain the misery,
suffering and futility of war. There are others, of course. One might
learn a lot from these.
John Dos Pasos's novel, ‘Three Soldiers‘ about World War I, and two
films: ‘Jump Into Hell’ about the turning point Battle of Dien Bien Phu
in Vietnam between the French and the communist Viet Minh, and ‘Southern
Comfort‘, a film about a group of American army reservists lost on
routine training in the Louisiana Bayous and at the mercy of locals.
May 2, 2017