Just to start with, it is certainly worth reading the article posted / sourced via Sikhnet on the 2008 bollywood movie, Singh is Kinngh.

http://www.sikhnet.com/reviews/singh-kinngh-film-review

Last year I presented at a Sikh camp in the UK and suggested we need to create our own media. This is one answer and this film says that such desperate times need desperate efforts. We needed to assemble good media right now and more than ever!

I skimmed through the film Singh is Kinngh - I wanted to see if my fears about the film were warranted. The skimming was the result of my cringing and the fact that it was hard to concentrate. My fears about this film are warranted. The film contains swear words and variable views of Sikhs and that is putting it lightly.

In addition, questionable themes are revealed as the so called romantic comedy unfolds.

Let us consider the film in the context of whether we should laugh at ourselves.
Sorry, I can’t as it is too offensive. There is simply too much misinformation and humour that does not travel. Bollywood is known for slapstick comedy, sick jokes about speech impediments and the disabled. In this film slapstick is the focus. The various characters are shown as clumsy. Clowning around humour simply does not last.

Does the film show that Sikhs are cool just because they can capture villains from an aerial feat or rap with Snoop Dogg?
Hey! Sikhs know that they are already cool and they certainly do not need this kind of film to exhibit.

If you want to read an article I wrote as early as 2004 on how Bollywood always betrays Sikhs please checkout:

http://www.saviarora.com/bollywood-always-betrays/

The sad reality is that nothing much has changed.

It is certainly strange that in a world where Sikhs are leaders in a variety of world arenas, for example: Medicine, bravery and self-less service not enough information is available about the reality of who we are.

A light on the horizon is to see how Sikhnet inspires by the way they are encouraging the annual Sikhnet Film festival.
It shows that we can be creative without being crude and cool without being cunning like the likes of Bollywood moguls.

Keep the Faith!

Popularity: 50% [?]

I read recently Times article entitled, ‘Angelina Jolie and the superfast generation
Nothing happens quickly enough for us anymore‘.

It was suggested that,

‘Barack Obama stands out like a welcome beacon of zen. This week in an overheard aside to David Cameron he confided that “the most important thing you need to do is have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking”. Without that, he said, “you lose the big picture”.

and

In his essay Is Google Making us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr observes that he now seems less able to engage himself deeply in long, complicated narratives or arguments. “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski,” he says. It’s so obviously true. Anyone who doubts that our attention spans are dwindling is seriously…oh, who cares? I sometimes find myself talking to two-year-olds and having to stop myself saying: “Yes, yes, but what’s your point?”

The general gist of the article is the suggestion that the world has become to fast.
I too suffer from the syndrome as I often declare to my staff, ‘hurry-up. What is taking so long!?’
Therefore, I’m not setting a good example.

What I found helped and again ironically I do not make time for it is Yoga.
On what I like to call my Spanish episode (August 2006) I had lost patience. I also blame the fact that it was also a very hot day that day.

Anyway, upon returning to London I attended a couple of Kundalini Yoga sessions. I found that it was almost as if someone had pressed my ‘reset’ button.

The Times article is interesting in that it exposes what we suffer from. However, does it suggests few solutions.
Here are some that I have managed to research. I call it strategies for focus…

1. Dedicate time to think
2. Establish set times to perform particular activities
3. Consider Yoga
4. If you do a lot of report writing, then try a creative writing exercise - It helps to become more creative
5. Before you sleep think of 3 good things that happened or made you happy
6. Don’t use a computer/laptop or watch TV for up to 2-3 hours before retiring to bed (easier said than done!)

The latter tip I picked up from Snatam Kaur’s blog site.

The article is definitely worth a read to help us realise that to obtain quality of life, we all have to try harder.

Popularity: 33% [?]