Sikhs, Mela and Greed

As a fellow simpleton, I would also like to say the mela was a great day out for everyone but I do take exception to your comments as follows..

1.. last year.. you give the impression of Sikhs fighting against sikhs in open warfare/swordfighting. As one of the 60,000+ people who went there with my family last year, it was a happy peaceful event where only the personal issues of a handful people got out of hand amongst each other and one person was injured. This was hardly the open warfare swordfighting impression you give. It could have happened anywhere. As yesterday, the only 'swordfighting' occurs as part of controlled performances of martial arts by experienced performers.

2.exploitation..To set up toilets, amnenities, tents, marquees, free food facilities, stewards, policing, traffic management etc.. all costs a massive amount of money which is not met in full by grants, and donations so if the organisers off set some of the costs by renting out sites to traders/banks etc. You failed to mention how many of the stalls were actually dedicated to offering free services. I hope the organisers take you to task on this point at least.

3. "How the Gurus must be sighing pitifully at the modern Sikhs - lost of all spirituality and substance."

This last comment of yours is woeful in that it shows your lack of understanding of the event.

Firstly, how can you judge the spirituality of Sikhs from your attendance at a park festival?

Did you even go to the prayer hall marquee where prayers, meditation had been held all day? Did you even go the Langar Hall tent where upwards of 20,000 people of all faiths sat together thoughout the day and shared in sacred blessed meal - the most fundamental act of worship and exhibition of brotherhood of humanity .. what can be more spiritual than that ??

What of the hundreds of volunteers who gave free service? Isn't this an act of spiritual devotion?

Spirituality is seen by those who look with an open heart and without prejudice.

Your comments show a person who went to the park , walked around the stalls, was disappointed to find a happy succesful event which did not give you opportunity to give a bad news story. We are so sorry we couldn't give you a few stabbings, maybe a riot or two to write about.

I had a stall at the mela last year representing the school where I work. I was there to promote our Sixth Form and raise awareness of a nursery the school is building in Gambia. Funny enough, there’s no mention of this or any of the other positive examples of stall holders such as the British Heart Foundation ,who were putting something back into their community.

Once again, we are exposed to small minded journalism based on ten percent fact and ninety percent fiction. If Roshan Doug feels the need to write about our beloved Gurus, then I respectfully ask him to at least run his articles through a spell checker, the tenth Guru was not called ‘Gobing’, but I can appreciate that journalism with integrity is probably not his first priority.

This article is inaccurate, banal and blind to the reality that we live in a commercial world. The founding fathers of our religion emphasised the importance of operating in the real world and to attain success through Education, Commerce and Labour. Roshan Doug, put down your biro for a second, look around and see the fruits of that vision.

You talk of Guru Gobind Singh’s philosophy of peace and tolerance, the tenth Guru was a visionary who as a child had to bear the cold hearted murder of his father who was defending the Human Rights of Hindu’s to practice their religion. He did not have a philosophy of peace and tolerance, he had a philosophy of being prepared to give his life to protect human dignity, a level of dignity, ‘writers’ like you will never achieve.

I must admit I'm not a fan of Roshan Doug but, I like the way he gets on people's nerves! He has a way of rattling their comfort zones... good on him! That's all I can say...

I'm sorry but I think you've missed the essence of my argument...

Mr. Roshan Doug,

Have you ever in your life organised even a smallest party..
did you pay and run around to get things on plate? or was that with just a single click?

Being a Sikh I understand what it involves, I am part of the sangat who attended Vaisakhi Mela and it was beautiful.

Here's the arguement:

Next year you organise the Vaisakhi Event..

If you could donate from your own pocket atleast £70,000.00 ... forget the whole amount which is £100,0000.00 ... the rest 30,000 we as a whole sangat are ready to contribute... then there wont be commercialisation.

Your point is about commercialisation isn't it..

We need to pay for the following:

Park
marquees & Tents
road closure
Nagar keertan
Awareness and Publicity
Vehicle Parking Passes and other printing material..
the list is too big..

And its not that easy...
Just go and ask the council for the road closure, see what they will tell you!!

Council of Sikh Gurdwara represents Sikh Community...
This event takes at least 8-9 months which involves lots of work!

Organising an event is not your cup of tea.. I believe that you are a journalist.. Journalist's responsibility is to do a good report writing and not start a debate on the small issues...

In a sense your thinking is much more smallest than a 13-14 year old kid..
Grow up and be a Journalist not an opinion maker..

Today we celebrate Vaisakhi and no matter what it takes... we will love to attend this event, because its all about:
Remembering our Gurus,
Sharing FREE Langar
Togetherness,
Celebrations
and lot more.. ( I cant even imagine of:)

The Word MELA means: FAIR and you are quite educated to know the meaning of the word Fair/Fayre ( Some people spell it either way).

KINDLY NEVER WRITE THESE ARTICLES WHICH YOU DONT DESERVE TO. KEEP YOUR POLITICAL ISSUES AND AGENDAS FAR AWAY FROM ALL THE RELIGIONS!!! IMPLEMENT YOUR POLITICAL VIEW WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED!

COME JOIN US NEXT YEAR AND HAVE A NON-COMMERCIALISED FREE MEAL (LANGAR).

HAPPY VAISAKHI ONCE AGAIN ;)

I would just like to add that I have attended the Vaisakhi Mela for the past 5 years and it has always been an enjoyable family event with a high religious content. Considering the number of people who attend it is a tribute to the organisers and those attending that there has rarely been any crowd trouble at all, unlike some other large gatherings of people. Of course with 80,000 people attending there are commercial opportunities for some, but the Council of Sikh Gurdwaras only charges stall holders to cover the costs of such a large and prestigious event, and I know that that always presents a challenge. Rather than making a rather empty attack on the organisers of the Mela, perhaps Roshan Doug will join me in feeling proud to be part of a City where a world class event like this can take place so successfully.

A media person comes to a community event. He looks around for something controversial to write about. Good news stories don’t sell, bad news stories do. The more controversial the better. This is the essence of Roshan Doug’s blog.
Unfortunately, he didn’t bother to research the story and quite frankly was very economical with the facts. I didn’t find any in the whole article.

Greedy Hypocrite, The phrase means, avaricious charlatan, covetous fraud, what a way to make money; by attacking our core moral values is there anything more hypocritical?

Mr Doug do you not realise that when you point a finger there are 4 pointing back at you? Please try to make a living doing something constructive, there are already too many people out to destroy.

*This post was deleted by the moderator due to its offensive nature.

Ok, I will – though no matter what I say, is going to be misinterpreted. But I’ll have a go nevertheless…

Firstly, let me make it clear that I make no apologies – I am very proud of the multicultural aspect of Birmingham. It is always good to see a vibrant city celebrating various communal/cultural strands….

However, it might seem that I don’t care for Asian culture – because, according to some readers, I’m a ‘coconut’ and I’m always having a ‘dig’ at it – but I do. My criticism - if criticism it is - should be seen as an attempt to strengthen Asian culture, to get rid of the hypocritical aspects of it – such as arranged marriages, domestic violence, the overt parental control, social hypocrisy, caste system etc., which are nothing but incongruous in a 21st century British context.

But re. the Vaisakhi mela 2007 there was actually – it’s not made up – a vicious fight between a couple of Sikh factions during which real swords were used and blood was shed. As I remember, the police sealed off the park and the perpetrators were then subsequently arrested and, as I understand, charged for offences involving committal to the crown court. In the park there was such a hostile atmosphere – where, admittedly, a few bad apples destroyed it for the rest. I have not said that this was representative of Sikh community. I merely mentioned something that had actually happened which tainted the image of the festival.

And, this year – although nothing like that happened (thank heavens) – if you’d spoken to one or two of my Muslim friends they’ll tell you that there were some Sikh youngsters as well as some official stewards who were explicitly denying Muslim youngsters access to the park purely on the basis that they were Muslims. I’m sure you’d agree that that’s not in the spirit of Vaisakhi which is supposed to be all-encompassing, all-embracing festival of brotherhood.

How do we get rid of such communal antagonism, such sectarian friction? That’s a question we should be addressing not whether I’m a coconut or not because I’m reporting something I saw. And we can’t do that and come up with some kind of a plan – if we carry on thinking all is hunky-dory – we’re likely to maintain the divisions we have.

But it also worries me that some Sikh youngsters think that drinking excessive alcohol and waving an orange flag of Khalistan whilst blaring out bhangra music at high volume in their cars is what Sikhism is all about. It isn’t – I’m sure you would agree. As for what I think constitutes a Sikh… that’s difficult. Perhaps I should say what doesn’t become a Sikh. I don’t believe that for a man a turban and beard coupled with traditional attire necessarily make him a devoutly religious. Nor does a traditional Punjabi shalwar-kameez for women make them into ‘Kaurs’ (princesses) just because they look ‘respectable’.

Although I am not a Sikh – nor am I religious – I consider myself relatively agnostic with a leaning towards spirituality. Yet I have a lot of respect for the ten gurus who have shaped Sikhism. Sikhism is deep inside you, in your heart. It shouldn't be seen as something you wear like jewellery. Or something you flaunt at a Vaisakhi. No

I might go a step forward. I feel Vaisakhi is more than that. I believe that Guru Nanak’s birthday should be marked as a holiday for Sikh children in schools the way Muslim pupils are granted Eid as a day(s) off. Sikhism should be brought out and celebrated properly - not just a peripheral component on the margins of our society. And to achieve that you need real coordination and cohesion. You need genunine people with genuine commitment not just those who see it as a career/business initiative.

So I’m sorry, but I don’t like – and I certainly don’t buy into – that ‘holier than thou’ attitude which some traditional religious people (older generation in particular) have purely because they’ve got the right ‘costume’. I also believe that just because you’re going out with a Muslim, Christian, Black or White person that that necessarily makes you a disgraceful character. Sikh girls smoking doesn’t mean they’re dishonourable or shameful. Nor does one’s marriage into another race or caste should make you feel that you’re less of a Sikh. And yet such demented mentality persists in Punjabi society where ostracising of individuals (such as gays, divorcees, single parents etc) is prevalent.

Yet far from condemning the mela, I’m of the opinion that we should make it into a bigger, spiritual event that actually marks the original story of the five beloved disciples’ belief in their master, Guru Gobind Singh. I think this should be in the forefront of what Vaisakhi is about. Again I’m sure you’d agree, this is the real essence of Vaisakhi – not the corporate coupling, the marketing paraphernalia where businesses are more interested in making a quick buck under the disguise of devotion and ‘seva’.

The question is really about where the funding for such an event should come from. Should the Birmingham tax – or council tax – payer fund this? Or should it come from the UK Sikh Gurdwaras Council that’s made up of representatives from various gurdwaras. There is a pretty good argument for the latter since each gurdwara receives tens of thousands of pounds every week. Surely they could afford to donate a few thousands pounds for Vaisakhi festival? Do they really need to rely on opportunist businessmen out to grab custom?

And although I would love to fund it myself, I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible by this coconut who according to some readers needs to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’.

(I can't believe that this comment is longer than the original post!)