Blinded by differences

This article was first published in the Chandigarh Tribune supplement of the print edition of The Tribune on October 31, 2019.

Rameshinder Singh Sandhu

THIS weekend, I was at Kila Raipur — the village in Ludhiana district famous for its ‘Rural Olympics’. I was visiting a friend and brimmed with joy to his idea of exploring the lively village streets on foot. We planted our feet shortly before the Sun’s adieu.

On our way, I headed towards a gurdwara that I saw, with no clue to the fact that my friend would instantaneously stop me from going any further. “We will go to the one which is in the next street as this one belongs to ‘majbi singhs’ (those belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes),” he echoed.

This sprouted discomfort in me and it soared as he unfolded that there are nearly 15 gurdwaras in the village that belong to “every kind” of the Sikh community here. I expressed my shock — first on the number then on the discrimination, clearly against Guru Nanak’s ideology — but to pacify my astonishment, I was reminded “this is not the only village with such a scenario, rather every village in Punjab sails in the same boat.” Of course, I couldn’t agree more.

Even if I talk about my maternal village in the Amritsar district, there are several gurdwaras representing villagers from different castes. I can still recall how gurdwaras belonging to various communities were pointed out during walks with one of the elderly during my childhood. If I peppered them with questions on discriminations,  rarely any answer would satisfy my quest.

We have not only divided the humankind, but also our God. With a large number of Sikhs having moved abroad, one expects some change in their mindset, but the scenario is no different. Name any country, new gurdwaras keep mushrooming on the basis of castes, some even on the basis of region. Unity remains a distant dream as conflicts often break out between worshippers and the management — sometimes within the management also. In the past few years, I travelled to different countries and a majority of gurdwaras I visited across the globe were dotted with such ironies. Wish I had not seen that scary squabble at one of the gurdwaras in Europe, right on the day of Baisakhi, where members of the management erupted, blaming each other for the misuse of funds shortly after the culmination of a ‘kirtan’.

Now, with 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev underway, the differences among several political bigwigs — who are lost in the ‘credit war’ for the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan or in organizing events — are ever-increasing.

Is all this not against the Guru Nanak’s principles?

Though we are excited about the celebrations, do we ever pay heed to the lessons he left for us? Where is our unity? We have created differences that continue to widen the gap in our society. Are honour killings taking place not because of our differences?

Can a majority of us confidently claim to be in line with these teachings?

How could we ever claim to be his ‘true followers’ when we are against his teachings?

The only tribute to the supreme Guru would be waking up each day with a will to follow his teachings. We can certainly never please him with just celebrations without having imbibed his lessons in our life. Let’s not forget, he is watching us!