Traditional Punjabi Attire

Regardless of what others say, there is something special about wearing traditional outfit such as Punjabi Attire of Kurta-Chadra or even Kameej-Pajama; my favorite! In fact, now that I think about it, I wonder why the hell do I not wear it more often outside the home or maybe Gurdwara? Isn't it just another self-imposed rule of wearing western clothing and dumping our traditional attire for the sake of fitting in.

Even in Punjab, you can see the new generation wearing jeans and t-shirts. Even when you go to Pind, you don't see lot of people wearing kurta chadra or pajama as they used to. Feel sorry for them!

Speaking of which, here is what Punjabi attire generally consists of:

Courtesy of Jarnail Arts

Jutti (Punjabi, Kasoori)
Traditional Punjabi shoe for both men and women. beautifully done hand embroidery


Chaadra
Men's wrap, usually tied by bhangra dancers around their waist these days but also worn by men in Punjabi villages.


Loi
Men's shawl or wrap used for cold winters of Punjab!

Cheera

Sikhs need to look forward

Below was the article published in Economic times about how Sikhs in Punjab are fighting many wars:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Special_Pages/The_Big_Story/Simmering_discontent_Sikhs_in_Punjab_are_fighting_many_wars/articleshow/2846479.cms

While reading this article, I noticed that it is very true! We Punjabi sikhs have been spending so much time and energy looking in the past that we don't even realize that it's affecting our future.

There is widespread dis-content amongst Punjabi Sikhs on various issues and while we love to blame external enemies such as RSS, Indian Govt. and other anti-panthic forces, we usuall don't look inwards. We don't try to find out what we as a community have done and what are we doing for future to make things better!

All the issues discussed in this article can be traced back to a very common factor. Lack of education and opportunities for Punjab and Sikhs. The problem is not just confined to Punjab but it has been travelling with Sikhs to wherever they migrated outside Punjab. So far behind we are in terms of education that we are really becoming a community of drivers, convenience store clerks and these stereotypes are not just carried over without exaggeration.

Punjab is severely lacking basic education and condition is much worse in rural Punjab villages. Vast majority of Sikh populace is from these villages and if we as a community don't do much right now, resullts will be far worse in near future. We are looking at a whole new generation of young sikhs without much education, which means they can't get jobs in this new economic powerhouse India and take advantage of the new oppotunities. They can't rely on agriculture anymore and infact it's a loosing business. The rewards are just not there for small farmers. So what would Punjabi Sikh youth do without any employable skills, no land for agriculture and growing debts?

All these problems of growing casteism, dera culture and drug addiction is cause of severe lack of education and employment opportunites in Punjab. Perhaps we should start holding SGPC more accountable for all the money it receives in bheta and wastes on Badal and family. Instead of having multiple gurudwaras in every village, use those funds to have a school and teachers! We need to start taking care of our own problems rather then looking at our political and religious leaders, who have done absolutely nothing for Sikhi so far!

Live Gurbani Broadcast from Harimandir Sahib

Zee tv used to broadcast live gurbani keertan from Harimandir sahib. Then they switched it over to Alpha ETC Punjabi, which is additional $14.99 per month! Nice business move for Zee tv because lots of Sikhs would subscribe to this channel to get live gurbani broadcast.

So my question is, Zee tv is watching their interest and trying to milk the most money. But who is watching Sikh interests? Why can't SGPC broadcast on their own with collaboration with some other channel so they can broadcast live gurbani keertan to all basic cable channels without Sikh households having to pay additional fees. Is it not the great seva they will be doing?

I guess, when it comes to SGPC, there are so many questions and their bureacratic ways leave a lot to be desired! But how do we change that and get them to adopt better ways? Any thoughts....