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!

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In 1984 the world viewed the media blackout and violence against the Sikhs in India. In June 1984 the Bluestar operation was brutal - killing thousands of innocent lives.

A few months later for 3 immediate days after Indira Gandhi assignation thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed. The total number of Sikhs and non-Sikhs killed has never been officially recorded but it is in the thousands. What is known in many cases, is the names of the instigators of the violence that occurred. After 24 years and major national enquiries no one has been brought to justice over human right abuses and targeted slaughter of a community.

Today India offers a manufacturing base that competes with the Far East. In terms of India�s strength in computer software development and support, again there is no doubt that India can offer immediate financial returns and committed employees. In recent years I have visited Bangalore and was impressed by the scale of development. India now has digital telecommunications, high speed voice and data networks. Investments have also taken place in Hotels.

Investment also means investing in equality for all parts of the population and also assuring justice and honesty. Although Dr Manmohan Singh has acknowledged the wrong that was done at the time, we still need those that committed the crimes of communal violence to be brought to trial.

For humankind there is a need for a concerted effort to ensure that justice does prevail. After 24 years victims of the 1984 Bluestar operation and Delhi genocide families are still suffering.

At a Facebook group inviting people to attend a rally in London (Hyde Park) on 8th June I read the following - It sent shivers down my spine!

See : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=15741218422&ref=ts

Amritsar resident’s account

One resident of Amritsar gave an eyewitness account to the editor of the Sikh Messenger, a British publication. “The army pounding of the Golden Temple area continued over the next few days confirming our fears of deliberate and vindictive destruction. On the night of the 5th, the aged and chronically ill father of the couple next door finally expired and on the morning of the 6th the army gave our neighbours special permission to take him to the crematorium. Even before reaching this site, they could smell the stench of putrid and burning flesh. On entering the crematorium grounds they saw a sight that literally made them sick with horror. Grotesque piles of dozens of bodies were being burnt in the open without dignity or religious rites like so many carcasses. The bodies had all been brought there by dust carts and from the number ofcarts; the attendant estimated some 3,300 had so far been cremated

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Everyday I sit and both watch and listen in horror to what is happening in the East.
I feel helpless in the thought that I personally cannot contribute to help. I also consider

1. The situation in China – Firstly, the need to find survivors of the Earth quake and secondly a need to reconcile that many of the buildings could have been built stronger.

2. The situation in Burma – with the continuing apathy of the regime.

With regard to the latter, days are passing and disease is beginning to take hold. Although some aid is now getting through it is still slow.

Last week I suggested that we all lobby our political representatives and post physical and electronic messages to all Burmese embassies around the world to make them realise that the world demands greater effort is made to ‘save the people’.

Interestingly, is it only I that has noticed that the press/media have deemphasised the story?

Back in September 2007, a NY based BBC correspondent reported:

Energy Resources
It is Burma’s energy resources - oil and off-shore gas fields - that make it such an attractive partner for Russian, Chinese, Indian and even South Korean firms.
The scramble for Burma’s energy resources make it almost impossible to isolate the regime.
Indeed, over time, as US and European ties to Burma have declined, those of China, Russia and India have increased.
China, then, is very much the key player; but Beijing faces conflicting pressures.
It has to match its energy and strategic interests - access to the Indian Ocean for example - with its desire for stability and its concern for its own reputation abroad, especially with the Beijing Olympics fast approaching.

This is a fact that I was unaware of. The irony here is that a country that is so rich in resources has not yet benefited from it. The same could also be said of a country like Angola, the latter embroiled in civil war for many years.

The death toll in Burma has been quoted as 78,000 with 56,000 people missing.

Today 3 days of mourning have started. This could be viewed as the military junta recognising that the crisis is real. However Burma is not allowing British, US and French navy ships located just off its coast to deliver aid supplies. Nor is it allowing foreign experts, employed by the UN aid agencies, to travel to the Irrawaddy Delta.

Nothing much has really changed for those without food or shelter. Should a more radical approach be to simply ‘drop’ the aid direct to the people? Maybe there needs to be a few ultimatums stated ? In the case of the Iraq war mobilization was fast and furious. Maybe another route is to convince China to lead the effort, widening its own relief efforts.

Or, is it just a case of gate-crashing the planned donor conference on 25th May and suggesting that ego needs to be put aside.

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If there was ever a time where the human race needed to unite for common good, it has to be NOW, re: the situation in Burma / Myanmar. On 2 May 2008 Cyclone Nargis ripped across the coast of Myanmar (Burma), bringing misery and devastation to tens of thousands. The situation as it now stands is as follows:

Risk of disease
Limited access to supplies
Relief workers being blocked from coming in to the country to help
A disaster fund set-up at http://www.dec.org.uk - Disasters Emergency Committee
The military junta appearing to ego trip!

The latter is what is being reported by the world’s media. It is unbelievable that the paranoia the Junta is exhibiting is blinding their own strife.

I read today that the possible rise in the death toll could rise from 100,000 to 1.5 million people.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1300003.stm
I noted that:

• Burma has been under military rule since 1962; the regime stifles almost all dissent
• Burma is one of Asia’s poorest countries; its economy is riddled with corruption
• Burma is seen as a pariah state by the West, which maintains sanctions; China is its main ally.
• Senior General Than Shwe is the country’s top military leader and heads the SPDC, the body of 12 senior generals that runs the country and makes the key decision.
• Prominent pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has had various restrictions placed on her activities since the late 1980s.

What can we do about the Junta ignoring pressure from nations, leaders, humanitarian groups and the UN?

1. Let us organise a day when everyone of us can meet outside each and every Burmese embassy around the world. A kind of world rally to ask for the Junta to hear the voice of the people. Or, we can do it electronically by leaving messages at all their websites.
2. Let us get a global alliance together and assess the practicalities of actually forcibly dropping supplies into the affected regions.
3. Let us talk to the Chinese to convince them that they must get the Burma military chiefs to see sense.
4. Let us keep the debate alive with your political contacts.
5. Get your company to set-up a fund
6. If you work for a multi-national find out what they are doing or can potentially provide in terms of help/assistance.

What happened to helping others at a time of need?
Or, are we all just hoping that eventually it will resolve itself by ‘others’ helping.

We are the others. We need to push for help.

This weekend the Times reported that Burma’s ruling generals were distributing satellite dishes! Surely the twelve ruling leaders will see sense if they see the world protesting against their sense of nonsense!

Lets just visit their Embassies website and leave them a message to say that together we can make a difference.

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