Jagdesh Singh

Featured in:

Articles

The not so empty nest syndrome

Jul 30, 2024 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

I laid awake, not wide but in that twilight zone where my thoughts were swirling around my mind having their own heated Q&A session. My inner voice tells me the hours are running fast as the day approaches rapidly. My elder two, young ladies at the cusp of being two decades old, will be going halfway around the globe the next day, all too soon. 24 hours left before they flew off. I wasn’t worried about them navigating through such a long-haul flight all by themselves.
Sukhinderpal and Samelans

May 11, 2024 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

I wasn’t that tired. The excitement hadn’t subsided. After many years missing the Annual Gurmat Parchaar Samelans, it genuinely felt good to be back seeing so many familiar faces. I had been distracted for a few years, and strayed away from this part of my youth, from the people I’ve made friends with at these Samelans during Christmas weeks.
My spiritual Home

Mar 19, 2024 | asiasamachar.com | Country IndiaOpinion |Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

The chai was piping hot, just off the stove. Local Punjabi tea leaves boiled with fresh milk, milked only the day before. There’s only one way to enjoy chai like that; tiny mini sips, slurped in the crisp spring morning air temperature still in its teens. How hot liquid travelling to the stomach soothes the coldness on our skins, is the simplest of joys. I’ve been blessed beyond what I deserved, to be able to make trips to Punjab every couple of years or so, ever since being a teenager.
Tell me how should I sing

Feb 9, 2024 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

There was an opinion shared about how a certain style of singing or chanting during Keertan was somewhat not the opinion giver’s cup of tea [See: Letter to Editor: Going ballistic with Waheguru chant]. Suffice to say, as I sip my cup of cha reading comments and feedback on that opinion, that this opinion proved to be somewhat unpopular. Was this opinion tone deaf (no pun intended)?
How a 60 year old institution is part of our lives

Dec 27, 2023 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

By Jagdesh Singh | Opinion |My eldest girl drove our old trusty Saga right in front of my car, all ready for the trip home from Khalsa Land in Kuala Kubu Bharu. This was a huge milestone for us. Seven days before, she had driven the old Saga herself, with her younger sister as passenger, to attend the Annual Gurmat Parchar Samelan. This wasn’t her first Samelan, the annual event organised by the Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia (SNSM).
Serving food and affirmations

Oct 6, 2023 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

The Darbar Sahib had an airy ambiance. I had swallowed my degh in one attempt. It wasn’t much but it was fulfilling, I thought to myself as I bowed down to head towards the Langgar Hall downstairs. But I couldn’t find her on my way out. My youngest daughter was the only company I had today for my weekly sojourn at the local Gurdwara. Curiously, I rushed downstairs to see if she had found some acquaintances her age to hang out with.
Between the safety of my child and being a liberal

Jul 26, 2023 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

By Jagdesh Singh | Opinion |My heart dropped a beat. For just short of a second. I’ve witnessed my eldest girl rough it out on the football pitch with boys who can be as robust as you can imagine. She’ll pick herself up, brush it off and carry on playing. But this was one of the first few games after a long period recovering from a torn PCL ligament, and she didn’t seem any more careful than before her injury. Naturally, as her father, I can’t bear to see her getting injured again.
Why this Sikh boy knows the Bismillah

Jun 12, 2023 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

By Jagdesh Singh | Opinion |In the 80s, growing up in a small town like Sungai Petani, tucked up north in this thin sliver peninsula we call Malaysia, discrimination wasn’t really something blatantly in my face. My earliest memory of not being allowed to be with my buddies in class because of my race and religion was during my earliest year as a primary school student. We start at Standard One at seven years of age.
Gurdwaras and our youth

May 11, 2023 | asiasamachar.com | Asia Samachar |Jagdesh Singh

By Jagdesh Singh | Opinion |The smell of vegetarian rendang chicken wafted ever so gently, my nostrils sensitive to how my stomach would greedily accept the rendang along with scented rice and peanuts. Clutching a With a full plate, I walked to the Langgar table with my good friend already swallowing his second bite, oblivious to his good manners of waiting for me. I didn’t blame him one bit. Wadda Gurudwara Sahib Kampung Pandan is sort of an enigma.