SILVER SPRING, MD: Baisakhi at Guru Nanak Foundation of America was celebrated over the weekend of April 13, 14 & 15. A special seminar was conducted for the Western audience on April 19, 1990.

The highlights were presentation of citations from the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland Governor to the local Sikh community by Delegate Judith Toth. Sardar Surinder Singh Chahal, Chairman of GNFA accepted the citation from the House of Delegates and Pryiadarshan Kaur Tulsi, GNFA youth representative accepted Governor’s citation.

The key speaker of the day was Dr. Gurbaksh Singh Gill, He emphasized the importance of living the Sikh values practically in life. He made a special mention of use of alcohol by Sikhs. After his speech the Secretary Gurmeet Singh Gahunia, who is Chairman elect for the 1990-91 session, announced that as the new Chairman he will request the Board of Trustees to approve that no alcoholic beverages should be served in any parties or function conducted by GNFA. He appealed to the Sangat to impress upon the Trustees to support such a move. This announcement was greeted by several simultaneous Jakaaraas from the Sangat.

The seminar “who are Sikhs?” was conducted in cooperation with the Maryland Ethnic Heritage Commission. It was arranged outside the Gurdwara Sahib and some 300 people attended this seminar. Attendees included school teachers, Members of various State and County Commissions, police delegates, friend and colleagues of Community members. The program started with National Anthem of America and the Sikh National Anthem, “Deh Shiva”. First speaker was Sardar Daya Singh Khalsa, an American Sikh who talked about the religious aspect of Sikhism. A 10 minute video was then shown about Darbar Sahib. Next speaker was Dr. Iqbal Singh of North Carolina, whose topic was, “Sikhs: a unique personality”. Next item of the evening was a slide show presented by a GNFA youth member Sardarni Surpreet Kaur Bhutani. The slide show gave a glimpse of how the daily proceedings in a Sikh temple are conducted. Starting from the Parkash of Guru Granth Sahib at Darbar Sahib. Second part of show depicted as to how a young boy grows up as a Sikh and she showed and related the importance of the 5 k’s and gave a glimpse of how the Sikhs tie beards and turbans, Her show was followed by a speech of another GNFA youth Daljit Singh Saluja. He spoke of his experience of growing as a Sikh boy in America. And last of all the young Sikh ladies entertained the audience with a captivating Giddha on beat of the famous, “Tootak tootak tootiyan.”

The guests were welcomed by Dr. Ajaib Singh Sidhu, Coordinator of the Sikh Affairs committee of GNFA. The master of ceremony was Gurmeet Singh Gahunia, Secretary GNFA. Mr. Martin Fo1d, Director Maryland Ethnic Heritage Commission concluded the program in the end. He praised the efforts of the community to reach ‘our and educate other Americans about Sikhs and Sikhism.

On the whole the program was very successful. Most of the audience asked it to be repeated for the benefit of those who couldn’t make it this time. The Montgomery county police representative asked this program to be repeated for police department alone and also for various other organizations. She indicated that she would be including the seminar material in the training program of the county police academy.

A good array of display material was prepared on history and religion of Sikhs and was displayed for the audience to see and read. A brochure entitled, “Who are Sikhs?” was distributed along with a flyer entitled, “A day at Darbar Sahib.”

Looking at the success of this program GNFA is planning to hold more of these seminars for non-Sikhs in the future.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 11, 1990