Fauja Singh from Taiping passes on

Sardar Fauja Singh has passed on. An steadfast Sikh, a passionate sevadar of the Sabha for so many years. Sabha exco member Balvinder Singh shares some thoughts below:

FAUJA SINGH, 1913-2012

"Ghaley Aveh Nanaka, Sadey Uthee Jaye"

SNSM lost one of its oldest sewadaars today with the passing of Sardar Fauja Singh Ji of Taiping, Perak. He would have been 99 years old next month. He was a retired civil servant and an active member of the Sabha in his younger days. He served as the Sabha Area Rep for Taiping for many years and was one of the most active and efficient area reps. He took this role very seriously and would regulary attend Sabha events including the Annual Gurmat Samelans and voluntered as a speaker at these camps.

He lived a simple and pious life and was very active physically until the last few years when age began to take a toll on his health. After a short illness, he passed away peacefully today (27th June 2012) at his family home in Taiping, Perak. His family was by his side. He will be remembered as a man of principles and always firm in the ways of Sikhi and Gurmat. He was well learned and spent many hours reading articles and books on Gurbani. 

A unique thing about Sardar Fauja Singh Ji was that he was very passionate about maintaining his personal diaries. He would laboriously diarise every important event and milestone of his life. He would make a note of the event, the main personalities present, what transpired and if it was a Gurdwara event, the names of the persons who did the kirtan, Katha, Ardas and took the Hukamnama. Obviously the Hukamnama of the day was an important feature in his Diary.

He was very well liked and highly respected by all who knew him. Sardar Fauja Singh had 5 sons and 3 daughers. His wife passed away many years ago when his youngest son was still very young. After her passing he was both mother and father to his children and brought them up well. He leaves behind a host of grandchiildren and great grandchildren who will remember him always as a loving and towering personality. Many of them are active members of the Sabha.

This writer is related to the family of Sardar Fauja Singh Ji and had the privilege of spending many school holidays at Sardar Fauja Singh Ji's home in Taiping in the late seventies and eighties. Sardar Ji devoted his post-retirement life to the study of Gurbani and Gurmat principles and held a regular Gurbani study class at his home with some of his contemporaries.  

He was also very passionate about his fruit and vegetable patch at his home and would tend to it painstakingly on a daily basis, getting all his grandkids and relatives to help during the holiday seasons. He lived a truly happy, holy and healthy life.

If there is one person this writer has known who would fit the Gurbani ideal of "Gurmukh Janam Savaar Dargeh Chaleya", it must be Sardar Fauja Singh. Let us pray that Waheguru ji forgives all of Sardar Ji's human frailities and grants him the ultimate in Guru Charna Nivas and may his family have the strength to accept this Hukam of Waheguru Ji. 

Sardar Ji's remains will be cremated tomorrow, 28th June 2012 at 3pm at the Taiping crematorium.   

Source: 

http://www.facebook.com/notes/sikh-naujawan-sabha-malaysia/ghaley-aveh-nanaka-sadey-uthee-jaye/10150939298054335

Maiden camp at KKB site

A small step for a Sikh, a giant step for the Sabha and the community. Civil engineering student Premdeep Singh among the first batch of participants to set foot at the KKB camp site. Behind him is Ishverjit Singh and Rajdeep Singh. 

The 25 names made history for Sabha. They are participants of Sabha’s first camp at the Kuala Kubu Bharu (KKB) site for the International Sikh Centre (ISC). The first participant had set foot at the camp site on June 23. A small step for the participant, a huge step for the Sabha and the Sikh community of Malaysia.

Back in 1963, something similar took place. Then, some senior Panthic sewadars had organised the first Gurmat camp for Sikh youth. Almost a similar number of participants took part in that camp held in Port Dickson. How we wish we had the list of the participants!

Here are the names of the participants of the Camp Explorer, the historic camp held at KKB over the weekend.

PARTICIPANTS:

Joginder Singh Dhillon

Kiranjeet Kaur

Parwin Kaur

Gurpreet Singh

Ajitpal Singh

Palwinder Kaur

Mandeep Singh

Kiret Dev Singh

Khusdave Singh Sandhu

Dalip Singh Saheb Singh

Ishverjit Singh

Prethpal Singh

Ajeetpal Singh

Balween Kaur

Premdeep Singh

Trishel Kaur Sidhu

Rajdeep Singh

Simret Singh

Imerpal Singh Grewal

Beldesh Singh

Prabhkirat Kaur

Shaheena Kaur

Vivek Singh Dhillion

Rahulpreet Singh SEWADARS:

Autar Singh

Rajinder Kaur

Wajinder Singh

Balwant Singh Lakhbir Singh Jagdev Singh Sarjit Singh Geet Kaur Kuljit Singh Harbhajan Singh Amarjit Singh TRAINERS: Rajinder Singh Perthtpal Singh KKB SEWADARS: Sarjit Singh (Maktab Police) Paramjet Kaur Manjit Kaur This list may have missed some names.

SNSM 46th AGM

The Sabha AGM is taking place at Sabha House, Kuala Lumpur, this Saturday (June 30). All members are invited to attend. We look forward to your participation in the deliberation. We look forward to your views and input. Together, let us propel Sabha to the next level in Sikhi parchaar and nurturing Sikh youth.

The annual report is available online here. Fateh.

PHOTO: The cover photo of the annual report was taken from the national level Punjabi Bhasha Mela 2012 held at APIIT, Kuala Lumpur.

Selangor emerge champs for Malaysia’s Punjabi Bhasha Mela competition

Sikh News Service | Friday, June 8th, 2012 |

KUALA LUMPUR: The state of Selangor emerged as the champions of the 22nd annual National Punjabi Bhasha Mela 2012 that ended on June 3.

They scored 186 points to take home the trophy for the event designed to promote the usage of the Punjabi language amongst school-going children between the ages of 6-19 years old.

[Singh Sahib Giani Kewal Singh (second from left) and SNSM Jathedar Amarjit Singh presenting the Punjabi Bhasha Mela 2012 champion trophy to the Selangor team captain Sdn Pajan Kaur and other team leaders -- PHOTO JAGDEEP SINGH] 

Federal Territory came second with 158 points while Perak thirs (152). Next comes the Southern Region with 136 and Northern Region with 80 points.

The tournament, organised by the Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia and supported by the various Punjabi Education Centres (PECs) nationwide, includes events like debate, story telling, news reading, poetry recital and spelling bee.

[Judges panel for one of the debates -- PHOTO JAGDEEP SINGH] 

The Punjabi Bhasha Mela, first held in 1991, today hosts some 40 PECs nationwide. This year, the community-run weekend schools first took part at the regional level, with the winners then representing the various regions to the national tewo-day event.

The PECs are run by Punjabi Education Trust Malaysia (PETM), a wing under Khalsa Diwan Malaysia.

Singh Sahib Giani Kewal Singh, former Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, had declared open the event.

“It is important to keep alive the learning and usage of the Punjabi language. You can see today, where the Punjabi language had languished, so has people’s attachment to Sikhi. I’m impressed to see that the Sabha has been undertaking this event for so many years. Its an achievement to have sustained it for so long,” Singh Sahib said in his address when opening the event.

Some 350 participants took part in the national event.

Selangor comprises of PECs from Klang, Port Klang, Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya, Selayang and Rawang.

Federal Territory consists of PECs from Sentul, KL South (Kampung Pandan and Sungei Besi) and Pulapol (national police training centre in Kuala Lumpur).

Perak comprises of Kampar, Ipoh, Taiping, Tanjung Rambutan, Batu Gajah, Sitiawan,
Tanjung Malim, Tapah, Bidor and Teluk Intan. Batu Pahat and Malacca joined regulars Seremban and Johor Bahru for the South Region.

The Northern Region teams come from Penang, Butterworth, Sungai Petani, Kulim and Kangar.
Ajj di taza khabar (Today’s Fresh News) and Shudh akhar jorh (Spelling bee) were two of the ebvents. In the former, a secondary school boy-girl team reads out news. The new items are given to them 30min before they go live. They decide how they present, who goes first, and how their interchange.

In shudh akhar jorh, he three-member primary level teams compete on their spelling prowess. First, they get easier words. The competition then heats up with bigger and more difficult words or phrases. In prashnotri (quiz), participants are tested on their language as well as Gurmat knowledge. There is one round on muhaveray (idioms and proverbs).

For more photos/info, check out SABHA FACEBOOK

Busy Weekend: Bhasha Mela, Leadership Camp, Kirtan-katha

It is a busy weekend. We have the Bhasha Mela at Bukit Jalil, a leadership camp in Seremban and the joint-parchaar initiative (JPI) speakers going over to Klang.

Some 500 participants and team members are at the 22nd Punjabi Bhasha Mela (National Level) which started today (June 2) at UCTI/APIIT at Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil. The facilities are a-w-e-s-o-m-e. This is our first full-fledged function at a college setting. Great. We must thank Prof Datuk Parmjit Singh for granting us use of the place. He even threw in tea and snacks! 

PHOTO ABOVE: Bhasha Mela debate going on.

The debates are vigorous, the story telling simply marvelous, and the mood is cheerful. This programme has really taken off.

Photos above: 'Leader in Me' in progress at Seremban.

At Seremban, another band of sewadars are busy sharing their knowledge with some 50-odd youth from the age of 12-18. They are from the Gurpuri orphanage and children of single mothers from the Ipoh area.

Exco member Harvinder Singh and trainer Col Mohan Singh are conducting a training entitled ‘Awaken Leader in Me, Private Victory’ at a resort in Seremban. It ends tomorrow (Sunday, June 3).

“Some of these youth have never been to a resort. The training is part of our effort to widen their horizons,” says Harvinder.

Under the JPI, ragi jathas Bhai Satvinder Singh and Harvinder Singh (Delhi Walle) are headed to Gurdwara Sahib Klang for a programme tonight (June 2, 7-8.15pm). It will be followed by katha by Singh Sahib Giani Kewal Singh, photo above (8.15-9.15pm).

May the Panth remain in chardi kalaa always.




MORE INFO, CHECK THIS OUT:


Sabha Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SikhNaujawanSabhaMalaysia


Punjabi Bhasha Mela Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Punjabi-Bhasha-Mela/371735186185997

Sabha releases The Sikh Update

Dear Members and Well Wishers,

Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia has just released The Sikh Update. It was distributed at the annual barsi in memory of Baba Sohan Singh ji Malacca, who is also a patron of the Sabha. As with the past few Sabha magazines, you can view it online at: http://issuu.com/thesikh.magazine/docs/may2012_update

Enjoy the weekend. Gurfateh.

Punjabi Bhasha Mela goes regional

PHOTO: Judges at the KL/Selangor level Punjabi Bhasha Mela held in Klang.

The Annual Punjabi Bhasha Mela has taken on a regional dimension this year. It is certain to heat up the national level meet on June 2-3 when participants bare their skills at events like debating and story telling in Punjabi.

The competition is the contribution of the Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia to promote our mother tongue. Taking it to the regional level has enabled more students, especially those form the smaller towns, to participate.

This year, we had many new teams taking part. Take Perak, for example. In the past, it was only Kampar and Ipoh. This year, the regional competition attracted teams from Taiping, Tanjung Rambutan, Batu Gajah, Sitiawan,

Tanjung Malim, Tapah, Bidor and Teluk Intan. Batu Pahat and Malacca joined regulars Seremban and Johor Bahru for the South Region. Selangor’s newcomer is Shah Alam while Gurdwara Sahib Pulapol is the new entrant from Wilayah Persekutuan.

The Northern Region first went regional in 2011. It was a huge success with teams coming from Penang, Butterworth, Sungai Petani, Kulim and Kangar. The 2012 Punjabi Bhasha Mela regional competitions were held in March and April.

MORE INFO, SEE:

Sabha Facebook | Punjabi Bhasha Mela Facebook Page | THE SIKH (April 2012 issue, see page 56-57)

Getting to know Punjabi Bhasha Mela

Kulim debating was one of the participants at the regional level Punjabi Bhasha Mela 2012. Now, we are all set for national-level Punjabi Bhasha Mela 2012. It is happeing on June 2-3 at APIIT College in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. What happens at a Bhasha Mela? Here’s some information on the individual and team events.

INDIVIDUAL ITEMS

Shudh paath:

The youngest (lower primary) will recite Japji Sahib, the upper primary Anand Sahib, lower secondary Asa ki Vaar and upper secondary will recite from the sanchiaa of Guru Granth Sahib.

In the past years, the participants have shown a good ability to read Gurbani.

Sakhi/kahaani (story telling):

Primary students tell stories of their own choice.

Bhashan (elocution):

Secondary students deliver speeches on topics given to them before they come to the competition. Most of them speak without referring to notes.

Tatkaali peshkaari (impromptu speeches):

Primary and secondary students deliver speeches on topics given to them 10 minutes before the competition. Teachers are not allowed to assist them. You will be amazed with the quality of presentations.

Kavita (poetry recital):

Primary and secondary students recite poems of their own chosing.

Sun ke jawab likhnaa (Listening comprehension)

Students listen to a recorded passage in Punjabi and answer questions on an answer sheet. Their listening skills are put to a test here.

TEAM ITEMS

  

Ajj di taza khabar (Today’s Fresh News):

A secondary school boy-girl team reads out news. The new items are given to them 30min before they go live.  They decide how they present, who goes first, and how their interchange.

Shudh akhar jorh (Spelling bee):

The three-member primary level teams compete on their spelling prowess. First, they get easier words. The competition then heats up with bigger and more difficult words or phrases.

Prashnotri (Quiz):

What do call a fan in Punjabi? That could be one of the questions in quiz, at the early level. It gets tougher. They are also tested on their Gurmat knowledge. There is one round on muhaveray (idioms and proverbs).  Fan is pekhaa in Punjabi.

Behas (debate):

Naujawanaa dey jiwan sathi dhi chon maapiaa nu karni chahidi hay. Parents should select children’s marriage partners. The teams will debate on this topic for the first round. In round two, they will debate on the usage of Facebook.

If you have the time, check out the competition.

[MORE at Sabha Facebook, Punjabi Bhasha Mela Facebook page and/or the April 2012 issue of The Sikh]