Indo American News

Tag: The Sikh National Center

  • SNC’s Vaisakhi Mela is a Taste of Punjab in the Plains of Texas

    SNC’s Vaisakhi Mela is a Taste of Punjab in the Plains of Texas

    By Jawahar Malhotra

    HOUSTON: When you entered the gates to the 20-acre Sikh National Center site on the West Sam Houston Beltway you couldn’t help but get a throwback to the streets of Karol Bagh in New Delhi. Cars parked on both side of the driveways forced one-way traffic; so if you came in one direction the other car would have to backup to let you pass.

    The state of the parking made it apparent that by mid-afternoon after services at the local gurdwaras, the Vaisakhi Khed Mela was a success. The mild pleasant weather helped people enjoy the mela even more/

    The huge khed mela that has been held each of the past six years in the central open area in conjunction with Vaisakhi which falls in the same time slot. Back in 2013, it started as an event for young kids to play games, but now the organizers, led by coordinator Hitpaul Singh Sandhar, have turned it into a community-wide celebration. As a reflection of that, almost 40 percent of the mela goers were non-Sikhs, only stressing how popular it has become.

    “We realize that this is the only such large festival on this side of town,” said Sandhar this past Sunday, April 28. With an even 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 and the basketball pavilion was used by young kids to shoot hoops and competitive matches.

    All the food booths were moved to the emergency road on the western edge and everything was free including hot jalebis made on the spot, channa bature, kadhi chawal, nimboo-pani, gol-gappe under tents in the lineup. Pizza, popular with all the kids, was ferried from the main oven in the temporary gurdwara to another stall. Some business services booths lines up against another corner.

    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.

    An estimated 3,000 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 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.

  • SNC Participates at Thanksgiving Downtown Parade

    SNC Participates at Thanksgiving Downtown Parade

    Photos: Jaswant Singh & Jawahar Malhotra

    Click here for Photo Collage

    By Gursharan Singh

    HOUSTON: Thanksgiving Parade is always a big draw for the thousands of people from across the Metroplex who line the route several rows deep, many in their comfortable folding chairs arriving an hour or two beforehand to get a good viewing site. Who, after all, doesn’t enjoy a good old fashioned American parade with marching bands, floats, pageantry and the colorful aspects of the city?

    Over the past two decades, as Houston’s diversity has grown, many groups representing their cultures and traditions have taken part to highlight the variety inherent in the area and this year brought out many such floats and marchers. There were groups representing the Chinese, Filipino, American-Indian (for the first time), Sister Cities project and the Sikh Americans from the Sikh National Center for the third time.

    The Sikh National Center Gurdwara participated once again in this year’s annual HEB’s Thanksgiving Day parade in downtown Houston. About 150 Sikh children, women, and men dressed in colorful Punjabi clothes, carrying the American, Texas and Sikh Religious flags walked alongside the specially decorated Sikh float. SNC Gurdwara Management Committee President Sampuran Singh, proudly stood on the float, tirelessly waiving the U.S. flag. “I am so glad that finally Sikhs are part of this large mosaic and our participation is very good for the entire community and it will strengthen our roots,” he said. Volunteers walking alongside passed out brochures of the SNC and pens bearing its website address.

    The float bore messages from the Sikh community and was designed and organized by Gursharan Singh who is the Director of the Miri-Piri Sikh Gatka Dal, a local Sikh martial arts group which has also participated in such public events across the country. Gursharan and his team of 20 young Sikhs demonstrated various martial arts maneuvers – called Gatka in Punjabi – along the parade route and handed out a flyer describing the Gatka and the main Sikh principles behind this art.

    Although participation in the parade entails an expense of several thousand dollars, it provided visibility for Houston area Sikhs before an estimated audience of 450,000 along the route and via TV coverage. Dr. Hardam Singh Azad, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SNC, explained that “the Board is committed to bringing the Sikhs into the mainstream as proud and loyal U.S. Citizens.”

    “This was a great chance to show that Sikhs are part of the mainstream America and that we are equally joyous in the Thanksgiving celebrations,” said Gursharan Singh. “This provided an opportunity for our youngsters to feel pride of being Sikh Americans.” He was tirelessly assisted by Sahibjeet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Harjit Singh Galhotra, Gurmeet Singh Saini, Harsharndeep Kaur, Harleen Kaur, Jagatbir Singh and Sampuran Singh to organize the event.

    The 20-acre SNC site at 7500 N. Sam Houston Parkway West (across Sam Houston Race Park) has been the focus of most of the Sikh community’s efforts for the past 16 years as a master-planned center that would house a Gurdwara as well as a boarding school, auditorium, museum, library, pavilion and residence for priests. Purchase of the site and the phased construction of the main temple building has been funded by countless donation drives.

    Now the end seems to be in sight as Gurdwara elders envision holding a huge celebration of Guru Nanak’s 550th Birth Anniversary in 2019 in the new worship sanctuary. Other buildings will be built in the future.