The power of technology

Aug 7, 2007 by drsavi

It has been one of those action packed weeks. On Wednesday 1st August I gave a lecture at the Sikh Camp in Chigwell (Guru Gobind Singh College) to 55 12-16 year olds, entitled, ‘Sikhs in Cyberspace’. I spoke about the need for us to be more visible in the media and that we should develop and post our own content. Then on Friday 3rd August I attended the Sri Guru Singh Sahib (SGSS) organised Sikh Camp at Norwood Hall. The SGSS had invited me in order to present me with a ‘cup’. It was an honour to accept what they described was an achievement – it was for the Sikhwithin Podcast www.sikhwithin.com and my writing contribution! Hey! I’m just writing stuff…

Whilst watching the Kabaddi match between the British Army (also running a special segment of the camp and recruiting…) and the SGSS team, I managed to capture some audio for a future Sikhwithin show – including the European Judo Champion (who also received a much deserved award), Miss Ajit Kaur Sucha, aged just 10! How fantastic is that. I also took some pictures for both my Flickr and Facebook accounts. It was also great to see the amazing seva that everyone performed.

On Friday night, it was off the Shepherds Busch Empire to see Issac Hayes in Concert:

On Saturday morning it was off to North Wales. Technology meant that one day I was using a digital voice recorder, the next driving up the side of a mountain to reach a remote lake. I’m so glad and Thankful to God that we made it up and down the hill in my car.

Soon after we were back down the mountain and at Swallow Falls:

On Sunday after an overnight or should I say sleepless night at a Bed and Breakfast, it was off to climb Snowdon, not by foot but via the Snowdon Mountain railway, established in the early 1800s. More digital pics via my mobile phone were taken on route.

We finished the trip by visiting Portmeirion – the place I describe as the home of the Prisoner series, from way back in the sixties. NB The beach here is dangerous as the tide water slips and creeps in below the sands to create quicksand. An interesting thing happened here. As we walked along the raised promenade behind us we were approached by a 6ft 5 thin Welsh man who said, a ‘kind of’ Hello in Punjab. It turned out that his mother lived in North Wales and he had moved to London. He was visiting her and both were enjoying a walk. They asked if we would like a picture take and then wanted us to return the favour. As I handed back the camera he said, ‘You’re Sikhs aren’t you’? We replied with a ‘yes’. He continued and proclaimed that he liked Sikhs as he felt that Sikh women were treated more equally. I corrected him and said that both Men and Women are equal in Sikhism. Then he proceeded to tell us how he was in awe when one day finding him lost in Slough had found a Sikh community centre and asked for directions. The sangat refused to let him go unless he ate langar with them.

Before we said good bye, he said, ‘Religion divides but spirituality brings us together’. I retorted, ‘Actually, Religion guides you to be more spiritual’.