Indo American News

Tag: Bhupinder Singh

Kartarpur Sahib: A Pilgrimage Corridor to Unite

By Bhupinder Singh

Houston: The concept of Kartarpur city was conceived by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and was also given the concrete shape by Guru Ji himself in 1522 AD when he moved and settled there. He was 52 years old when he settled there and lived last 18 years of his life there with his family.
In fact, it is longest stint of Guru Ji’s life in one place. This serene, congregational cum egalitarian commune, became a magnet attracting adherents of different faiths to it, who followed Guru Ji and made it their home.

Unfortunately, during the turmoil of drawing of the partition lines of the sub-continent by the Radcliffe commission, this idyllic commune became a traumatic victim. Although, the district of Gurdaspur was awarded to India, but one Tehshil Shakargarh out of the four of the district along with Kartarpur was awarded to Pakistan.

With most of Sikh population migrating to India, this serene town found itself almost abandoned. Since the partition in 1947, the Gurdwara remained in disuse and it was only reopened in 1999 to coincide with Indian PM Vajpayee’s visit to Pakistan. Eighteen years after the reopening of this historic Gurdwara after the partition in 1947, we saw a new ray of hope when the PM of Pakistan, Imran Khan in November 2018 laid the foundation stone for the corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian side of the border.

The news has generated a lot of excitement, enthusiasm as this year of 2019, we all will be celebrating 550th the Prakash Purab of the founder of this Sikh Faith and of this commune.

This place is the final resting of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev with having Samadh of Hindus and Sikhs and a Mazaar of Muslims peacefully coexisting under its one roof.

This is the shrine has the potential to become a beacon of peace between the two warring nations after 72 years of the partition. This shrine can be the binding glue to the people’s hearts of the two nations. This has the potential to be the model for opening of more land corridors between the two nations. The bridge over Ravi could become the peace bridge linking the two nations.

After all, Guru Nanak Dev Ji promoted the harmony, brotherhood between people of different religions all his life. Even in his death, he left a legacy of love, and a bonding place for people with divergent faiths and viewpoints.

It was this hope that attracted us to visit West Panjab in Pakistan in March 2019. I could feel the genuine love, regards and warmth of Panjabi hospitality the moment I stepped into the other side of the border.

Although, this was exactly a month after the Pulwama attack had taken place which had brought both the nations close to brink of hostilities, so we cautioned against the visit. But, by placing our hopes and fate in Guru Ji’s hand, with prayers on our lips and looking at it as Guru Ji’s calling we decided to go ahead with the earlier scheduled tour.

Unbelievably, a major transformation in the heart takes place on entering the Kartarpur soil and breathing its fresh air. We took tour of the shrine and soaked in the feeling of Guru Ji’s divine presence. Next having the langar (community meal) there was again an out of world experience. Imagine breaking the bread made from wheat of Guru Ji’s farm and savoring it with the Dal (lentil soup), along with sabzi of aloo-matar (vegetable dish of potatoes and peas) again from Gur Ji’s fields.

Even the water used for cooking and drinking is from Guru Ji’s wells that he used for drinking and for his fields.

Next taking a tour of the construction activity in preparation of the corridor opening was eye opening. The road on Pakistan side is 4.5 KM and on the Indian side is 0.8 KM. There will be a bridge on River Ravi 0.8 KM long on Pakistan side. The pictures included capture the pace of this huge construction project which is scheduled for completion by November 2019.

It is our sincere hope and prayer that we preserve the heritage that was left untouched because of disuse as a result of partition. Of course the heritage sight needs the upgrading, but it should not come at heavy price of erasing the artefacts forever.

After all the visitors to this shrine are going there to get first hand taste and feel the ambience that Guru Ji created during his stay there based on the model for ideal life style that he preached. Let this place become a living model of the life style Guru Ji preached and practiced. Guru Ji epitomized purity and simplicity in life and let this shrine spread that message to the entire mankind.

So, even if we even have 125,000 visitors leaving their footprints there, we just leave behind an ecological footprint of one visitor. Now, that will be a new evolutionary, environmental friendly road map based on Guru Ji’s life that will resonate with the entire mankind.

April 28, 2019
SNC’s Vaisakhi Mela Grows with Added Amenities for Festival Lovers

Mela organizers and volunteers, from left, Harwinder Singh, Ripudaman Boparai, Gurbir Boparai, Manohar Singh Mann, Hitpaul Singh Sandhar, Bhupinder Singh, Batcha Tiwari (a vendor) and Gurmeet Saini.

Click here to see Photo Collage

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: The 20-acre Sikh National Center site on the West Sam Houston Beltway has been an evolution in slow but steady motion, with new additions as the money is raised and spent on various structures. With purposeful steps, it has taken on the semblance of the master plan model that is on display in the temporary gurdwara behind the other original structures. Just this past year, the steel frame sports pavilion has been fitted with lower siding panels and a canopy skirt to reduce the drenching from rainfall and provide some extra shade.

Work on the interior of the permanent gurdwara has yet to be completed but the site is starting to take shape, perhaps in part by the huge khed mela that has been held each of the past five years in the central open area in conjunction with Vaisakhi which falls in the same time slot. Back in 2013, it was envisioned as an event for young kids to play games, but slowly the organizers, led by coordinator Hitpaul Singh Sandhar, have realized the potential for a community-wide celebration.

Busy throughout the day were, from left, Gurmeet Saini, Bhupinder Singh, Harjit Galhotra, Gurminder Anjala and Gurmeet Singh

“We realize that this is the only such large festival on this side of town,” said Sandhar in-between taking care of activities at the the mela this past Sunday, April 29. “And we would like to get better organized to attract other people to this fun-filled event.” With a larger budget this year donated just for the mela, Sandhar and his team have seen how the event can grow.

This year, the mela was certainly more fun due to tented pavilions all around the maidan (central lawn) to view the sports and allow people to linger in the open under shade which freed up the pavilion where everyone used to be crowded into before. The langar was served inside the gurdwara lobby instead of outside under the pavilion, resulting in dense lines inside.

Ten teams took part in the volleyball contest

All the food booths were moved to the emergency road on the western edge and everything was free, in contrast to the small charge for gol-gappe last year. Instead of making hot jalebis under the pavilion, Najjar Singh of Standard Sweets set up under a tent in the lineup. Pizza, popular with all the kids, was ferried from the main oven in the temporary gurdwara to another stall.

In the adjacent unfinished dirt lot, a small choo-choo train made lazy eights in the sun with its three bogeys of passengers. In the last space left with some pine trees, a children’s play area was crowded with young kids at the inflatable moonwalks and castles, a petting zoo and a cotton-candy booth.

A crowd of spectators enjoyed the games

An estimated 2,500 people came to the mela under bright, blue skies and crisp weather to the completely free event. There was a steady stream of teams – some from as far away as Dallas and Mexico – of young men competing for the top prizes of $1,100 each in the volleyball tournament. And there were more fun games for the younger children, like the tug-of-war; 50 meter race, 3-legged race, sack race, spoon race, shot putt, musical chairs and basketball. With mic in hand, Narinder Nagra took his job as the sports announcer with great fun, prompting teams into action.

But most of all, for many it was just hanging out with other Punjabis and feeling like being back in pastoral Punjab, in a corner of the Bayou City.

May 3, 2018
Story of Fish Teaches Sikh Kids a Lesson in Having Faith in Guru Nanak

The kids from the school surrounded Singh, Likhari and teacher Manjit Soni with copies of the book they received.

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: Bhupinder Singh was in the middle of explaining the central theme of his book and had gotten to the point when the main character, a young boy named Aman, turns to his dadaji (paternal grandfather) crying that he wouldn’t get the bike he wanted. His dadaji tried to divert his attention by reminding him about the cruise they had gone on where they had seen dolphins. “They eat other fish, because they can’t get out of the ocean to eat,” said dadaji. “Where do you get your food from?”

“From the grocery store,” yelled out a little boy from the crowd of kids sitting on the floor of the worship hall of the Gurdwara Sahib of Southwest Houston. A bemused Bhupinder Singh looked out at the kids. He was delighted they were paying such close attention to the story he had written and self-published in the children’s book “Fish Eat Fish World”. He continued on and a few other kids blurted out comments. At the end, he said, Aman’s dad gets a new job “and Aman gets his bike”, many more kids cried out together!

Punjabi school Director Manmeet Likhari introduced Bhupinder Singh and his book “Fish Eat Fish World”

This reaction is what Singh had wanted when he first came up with the idea for the short 32-page book geared to Sikh children in the US and other western countries. The 8 by 10 book with a glossy cover and many colorful illustrations (by a young Canadian artist, Bhagat Singh Bedi) is based on a line from Sikh scriptures attributed to the second Guru Angad “Nanak chinthaa math karahu chi(n)thaa this hee hai” (Nanak says do not worry, the Lord will take care of us all). In the end, dadaji says “Don’t worry about your needs as the Creator .. provides sustenance to all.”

Singh launched his new – and first children’s – book at the GSSWH last Sunday, February 4 just after the kids from the adjoining Punjabi School were finishing reciting the ardas (prayers) in Punjabi and practicing on their pronunciations. The school Director Manmeet Likhari encouraged them to practice and then introduced Singh and his “attempt to get kids to love reading books.”

Singh admitted that he was not a writer (though he has written four books on Sikhism and several religious articles) and didn’t have an artistic mind, so he ventured to “find an illustrator who could pull together the Sikh ethos” in his drawings. As the little kids came forward to surround him and receive a copy of the book (it is being distributed free of charge), he realized that he had recreated that ethos for future generations of Sikhs.

February 8, 2018
New Sikh Children’s Book “Fish Eat Fish World” Release, Feb. 4

Bhupinder Singh

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: Bhupinder Singh, a mechanical engineer and a Vice President of Newage Casting Co. a manufacturer and distributer for cast iron plumbing products in Houston has written four books on Sikhism and has also penned articles that have been published in magazines and journals. He recently released his first children’s book “Fish Eat Fish World” which will be launched at the Gurdwara Sahib of Southwest Houston this coming Sunday, February 4.

Singh’s previous books have dealt with philosophical issues geared towards adults, but this is his maiden attempt to reach out to young kids. He says he was motivated by the lack of children’s books and characters that deal with values that relate to their parent’s cultures while they grow up in the West. “English children’s books are mostly written by western authors and reflect the environment they grew up in,” he said. “I wrote this book to fill this void. In this book, I bring a Sikh character that Sikh children can relate to.”

While driving one day and listening to a kirtan whose chorus was “Nanak chinthaa math karahu chi(n)thaa this hee hai” (Nanak says do not worry, the Lord will take care of us all), Singh, 68, thought he could weave a story around this concept and made an outline for a story. He kept expanding on it till he got it finished and then found an illustrator to draw the pictures to go with it.

Book Cover Design

The book is about a young Sikh boy called Aman with long hair tied to the top of his head who is picked upon by bullies. As a father of two grown sons, he can relate to this when they going to school and were taunted by calls of “Door Knobs” and “Smurfs”, Singh recalled. Aman’s Dadaji (paternal grandpa) gives him emotional support and counseling to handle the bullying.

He hopes that the final product, a 32 page brightly illustrated book, will appeal to Sikh and non-Sikh children and will provide diversity and broaden the stereotypes in the landscape of children’s books. He has received a lot of positive feedback from the people who have read it so far. “My best endorsement is when children take the book to school to share with their teacher,” he said, “and the teacher reads it to the other students in class.”

“The main take away from the book is trusting the Creator,” said Singh, “and realizing that He will take care of their needs. But, it is not about becoming complacent in life,” he continued. “Don’t sit back without making sincere efforts.”

Bhupinder Singh is the Vice President of Newage Casting Co. a manufacturer and distributer for Cast Iron Plumbing products in USA which he and his son jointly set up. He was born in Bhamo, Burma (now known as Myanmar) and had his early education there. He moved with his parents to India and completed his high school education in Imphal, Manipur. He did his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Regional Engineering Collage, Surat, Gujarat.

He is a Registered Professional Engineer practicing in USA. He started his engineering career in New Delhi and while working there he had opportunity to live in Japan and subsequently in South Korea. After a tenure in South Korea he immigrated to the US. He has written four books on Sikhism and several articles that have been published in magazines and journals.

February 1, 2018