Nagar Keertan Observations
Today was the 7th annual Surrey Vasakhi Nagar Keertan....
Some observations:
- Good turnout. To me, it seemed bigger than in previous years. Mostly because of advertisements in skytrains and things of that nature, but also because they've ended the ridiculous practice of two Nagar Keertans in one day; one in Vancouver and one in Surrey.
- Unlike many other people I know, going to the Nagar Keertan makes me optimistic about the state of our (Sikh) community, not pessimistic. I see lots of teenagers and kids wearing baanaa (traditional dress) and doing different kinds of sevaa (service) and without the Nagar Keertan I would've never known these people existed. It's a good feeling to know that there's lots of Gursikhs outside of your own little world.
- When I was in Khalsa School, our Grade 10 class did a much better job of making the float.
- I remember during last year's Nagar Keertan, the entire time I saw Bhai Parminder Singh handing out Guru Nanak Academy flyers within the crowd of the Sangat. He didn't get any of his students to do so for him, and he never tried to act like he was above that kind of sevaa. Anyways, I just remembered that thought when I was thinking about the Guru Nanak Academy/Gurmat Centre float. Very well done.
- Moving onto more political observations, Gordon Campbell is a pretty impressive panderer. He himself was wearing a very fancy kurta pyjama (traditional dress) in order to win favour within the community. He still struggles when he says "vaaheguroo jee kaa khaalsaa vaaheguroo jee kee fateh" (the Sikh greeting) in his speeches. White people have real trouble pronouncing certain letters of the Punjabi alphabet.
- Wally Oppal's Punjabi vocabulary is pretty sparse.
- Carole James (leader of BC's NDP) is a pretty weak speaker, but that's okay, because Gordon Campbell doesn't blow anyone away either.
- Harry Lalli (former NDP minister of transportation) speaks Punjabi super fluently. He knows how to throw in gurmat-based (religious) references in his speeches as well. Pretty impressive I thought.
- There was an ARMY of "Team Igali" volunteers. (Danial Igali being the star liberal candidate in Surrey Newton.) The BC Liberal team looked pretty organized and ready to go. (The election is on May 17th)
- After coming back from the Nagar Keertan, I had a dream which was largely irrational and not worthy of explanation, but the sub-plot was that the BC Liberals had just barely won the May election, after being down during most of election night, and then squeaking out barely at the end. I know, I have really insane dreams, but I haven't dreamt anything political for many months.
Some observations:
- Good turnout. To me, it seemed bigger than in previous years. Mostly because of advertisements in skytrains and things of that nature, but also because they've ended the ridiculous practice of two Nagar Keertans in one day; one in Vancouver and one in Surrey.
- Unlike many other people I know, going to the Nagar Keertan makes me optimistic about the state of our (Sikh) community, not pessimistic. I see lots of teenagers and kids wearing baanaa (traditional dress) and doing different kinds of sevaa (service) and without the Nagar Keertan I would've never known these people existed. It's a good feeling to know that there's lots of Gursikhs outside of your own little world.
- When I was in Khalsa School, our Grade 10 class did a much better job of making the float.
- I remember during last year's Nagar Keertan, the entire time I saw Bhai Parminder Singh handing out Guru Nanak Academy flyers within the crowd of the Sangat. He didn't get any of his students to do so for him, and he never tried to act like he was above that kind of sevaa. Anyways, I just remembered that thought when I was thinking about the Guru Nanak Academy/Gurmat Centre float. Very well done.
- Moving onto more political observations, Gordon Campbell is a pretty impressive panderer. He himself was wearing a very fancy kurta pyjama (traditional dress) in order to win favour within the community. He still struggles when he says "vaaheguroo jee kaa khaalsaa vaaheguroo jee kee fateh" (the Sikh greeting) in his speeches. White people have real trouble pronouncing certain letters of the Punjabi alphabet.
- Wally Oppal's Punjabi vocabulary is pretty sparse.
- Carole James (leader of BC's NDP) is a pretty weak speaker, but that's okay, because Gordon Campbell doesn't blow anyone away either.
- Harry Lalli (former NDP minister of transportation) speaks Punjabi super fluently. He knows how to throw in gurmat-based (religious) references in his speeches as well. Pretty impressive I thought.
- There was an ARMY of "Team Igali" volunteers. (Danial Igali being the star liberal candidate in Surrey Newton.) The BC Liberal team looked pretty organized and ready to go. (The election is on May 17th)
- After coming back from the Nagar Keertan, I had a dream which was largely irrational and not worthy of explanation, but the sub-plot was that the BC Liberals had just barely won the May election, after being down during most of election night, and then squeaking out barely at the end. I know, I have really insane dreams, but I haven't dreamt anything political for many months.
posted by Japnaam Singh at
8:55 PM
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