A Houston area Sikh family is recovering from a bizarre incident — calling the police for help and then getting handcuffed as suspected criminals. In a classic example of police unawareness and misunderstanding (obviously these cops haven’t seen the United States Department of Justice Training Video for law enforcement), several police officers jumped to conclusions and handcuffed this family in their own home. Little did the police know that the venerable Sach Productions operates in Texas and quickly put together the following excellent video. As you can see, the family members are well educated, intelligent, and aware of their rights. It’s a shame the police was allegedly not as well informed–hopefully the department will get the DOJ mandated training. I have full respect for the police and what they do for all Americans. It’s a tough job. Let’s improve the situation by proactively taking steps to avoid mistakes like this.

Update: Here’s the official blog for this incident and Police Brutality on Sikhs generally

Check this out — a brief report about Sikhs in Argentina by the Associated Free Press. Apparently this video documents the only gurdwara in South America! The report has a bit of a depressing tone, indicating that Sikhi is on its way out. I guess the difference between America and Argentina is that the Sikh community here is much larger — to the point where we have organizations and full-time employees dedicated to keeping Sikhi alive. The video does have some positive aspects to it, however.

Thanks to Rajdeep Singh for the tip.

The West Coast Sikh Youth Alliance will host a winter retreat in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia from January 16-18, 2009.

I’ve attended the West Coast Retreat for the last two years and can honestly say it’s one of the best Sikh Retreats in North America. You should try to make it this year. The jury’s still out on whether I’ll be there, but that didn’t stop me from making this quick, fun video… Check it out on YouTube. Be sure to click “watch in high quality” for the best experience.

Here are some of the features of the Winter Retreat:

- Skiing, Snowboarding, Snow Tubing
- Swimming in Hot Springs
- Sikh lifestyle: full nitnem morning, evening, and night
- Excellent Workshops
- Excellent Sangat

As a fan of all things involving good, clean fun and exercise, I recently got myself a custom ordered pair of Khalsa Hockey Skates. Want a pair? I can see if I can get a few more made. See attached image.

Visit http://sikhri.webex.com to sign up for the 4-part series on the Sidh Gost. Great stuff. Unfortunately I have busy weekends so I may not be able to attend all sessions so I’m not going to sign up, but it looks awesome.

This course will comprise of 4 sessions within which participants will delve into Guru Nanak Sahib’s bani, Sidh Gosti. The introductory session will focus on the history of bani, Sidhs and their leadership, and meetings with Guru Nanak Sahib. Throughout the sessions, there will be an exploration of the internal themes of Sidh Gosti such as religion, life, yoga, gurmukh, manmukh, and Guru-Sikh. Participants will gain insights from Sidh Gosti through a comprehensive study of vocabulary, context, and interpretations. Course material includes pre-reading material, handouts, and a certificate of completion. Course does not require any prior knowledge of Gurmukhi script skills.

In light of the recent terror attacks, many heroes have emerged from the woodwork of Mumbai. As President-elect Obama would say, “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” Among these notable folks is a group of Sikhs that has done the sewa (selfless service) of providing food and water to the forces responding to the attacks.

A nice quote from the article:

“Once, Shri Guru Nanak Sahab had little money left with him, but he used it to serve food to the needy. We all draw inspiration from that incident. A Sikh’s first duty is to serve the needy,” said Ajit Singh, a volunteer who was serving food outside the Taj.

I’ve added the story to http://news.sikhswim.com and voted it up. You should vote the the story up if you find it interesting.

I know, you thought I went the way of the dodo bird. You thought I was like the overwhelming majority of other bloggers — passionate for a few months and then on to other things. Well, you were wrong. This is the second time I’m returning from a brief hiatus, and rest assured that I will always update Sikh Swim, at some frequency. Let’s say at least once a month, if not a lot faster.

By the way, If you have insights or commentary of value and of note to the Sikh American community and the Sikh diaspora at large, shoot it my way and I’d be happy to post it here on Sikh Swim under your name and give you credit. I can handle all the technical details of running a blog (there really aren’t that many) but you can get your comments posted in a living place, instead of your personal blog that you so rarely, if ever, update. Sikh Swim has carved out a nice, comfortable niche for itself over the past 199 posts (this is post 200) so if you’d like to contribute, let me know — sikhswim [at] gmail.com.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about a new startup called pagrihouse.com. The India-based firm allows you to buy turbans of various colors and materials from its website, and they promise to ship worldwide. I definitely want to support this company, and I will probably buy some dastaars for myself. Pretty neat stuff, eh? Would you buy from these guys?

If you’re in California, drive to Stockton this weekend and check out the Gurmat Sangeet Darbar, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Some of the best musicians in the world will gather to render hymns from the Granth in melodious raags for all to enjoy. I’m rather sad I can’t make it — I have to be in Boston this weekend. Perhaps you can say hi to my brother for me, he’ll be there!

Dr. I. J. Singh has written a nice post on Washington Post.com. I’ve submitted it to Sikh Social News, check it there.

http://news.sikhswim.com
I also look forward to seeing Dr. I. J. Singh this afternoon at Know Thy Neighbor ‘08 at the Sikh Sabha gurdwara.

This is really neat. Notable hollywood-types are using tools at their disposal to get people to stop saying, “that’s so gay.” They point to statistics in schools (similar to the bullying statistics meticulously produced by the Sikh Coalition) as a clear indicator that this proactive campaign is needed.

At minimum, the ads will get kids and adults thinking about the issue, which is a positive step.

As a Sikh, I applaud these ads as they promote unity and respect for all. I think the Sikh community can learn a lot from this — imagine we had a similar campaign targeting slurs like ‘Osama’, ‘terrorist,’ and ‘towelhead.’

Aside: Speaking of “Towelhead,” don’t you think the folks that made this ad campaign would respectfully oppose a movie titled, “That’s so gay”? Obviously they would.

Some Sikhs say that we shouldn’t be doing these sorts of things, we should learn how to take a joke, and that expressing concern makes us look bad. But the core issue, as these ads point out, is the experience of children in schools. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Again, the ads have a positive effect, and we can learn from it as we stand in solidarity against ignorance and hatred.