Noticing

I’ve been keeping track with things I’ve been noticing in Punjab. As you may know, I went to Punjab, India for vacation the last couple of weeks to visit family. I began to keep track of what I did every day and I noticed something different. We have a personal driver (whose name I do not know of) who was taking us to the shops we wanted to go to. He was driving us around to places for the first couple of days, until the next day someone else was there. Turns out that he had to drive someone else around but I didn’t mind, anyway he was like family to us. I also started to notice a bunch of random people looking at us when we were in the car everywhere we went. No one looked at us when  we went in other cars. Turns out the reason why we were stared at was because our car had a sticker with the word, “Tourists,” on the window (we aren’t technically tourists).

Any way my trip there was an amazing experience, like always. Always going there makes me appreciate what I have here in the US. US is the country where I have many things I want and high chances of becoming successful. I saw children there who were going to cars and people begging for money. these poor children aged from seemingly 5 to 10 years of age. This is a sad thing to even witness. most of these children were either orphans or had parents who needed support. This mainly occurred in cities mainly due to a large population of people who have a lot money. I think if anyone were to go to any part of India, they will notice many different things that occur there which rarely or never occurs here.

 

 

 

Punjab: My Visit and A Little History

My entire family history began in the state of Punjab, India. I always love to go to Punjab to see my home and family. I’d rather say Punjab instead of saying India because as of this month of October, the corrupted government of India had police fire at a peaceful protest. The reason for this protest was because someone most likely hired by the Indian Government had broken into our Sikh temple, stole our holy book “Guru Granth Sahib,” ripped out the pages and threw it out on the street. We Sikhs have not done nothing wrong to the government. This only sparked a peaceful protest. Everything went wrong after the Corrupted Government ordered the Punjab Police (also corrupted) to fire at people who were just praying. Only two people were killed and hundreds of others were injured. The government also issued a statewide television media blackout which meant no news of this event will be shown on television (this sneaky tactic failed). They’ve bribed news reporters and news stations to keep them from spreading the story of this horrific event. But news was able to get out into social media and eventually ended up on news channels. It is utterly frustrating to know that western governments are completely unaware of this horrific incident. Sikhs from around the world and I are wanting justice for what happened to the innocent victims.

Before all of this had happened, I always loved to visit Punjab for its agricultural beauty, my family, my village (villages are much more cleaner, safer, peaceful, and beautiful then the cities), and most of, the holiest place for us Sikhs, the Golden Temple (also known as Harmandir Sahib). It is a great experience in my opinion and I enjoy it more than just sitting at home. I am going to visit Punjab again in November for 2 weeks. This time I am going to be more at home than going outside because of all of the things that are happening.
Don’t get me wrong, India is a beautiful country, it’s just that the government and police are very corrupted. I suggest a visit to India to anyone, but be sure about where you want to go in advance.

Now why am I discussing my trip to Punjab? Isn’t that Cliché? Well this time, it is going to be a whole different experience unlike other trips I have been on. This isn’t really a matter of enjoying and sightseeing trip, but a chance to see how being in Punjab under pressure is like. The last time this similar event in India took place was back in 1984. 1984 was a very dark year in Punjab in recent times because there was something sort of like a genocide against Sikhs. The government had issued an operation attack on our Golden Temple for suspected, “Terrorists,” (there were no actual terrorists at all). This operation was called, “Operation Blue Star.” This operation cost the lives of hundreds of innocent people. But this time I get to see and experience the pressure of what my parents had went through (although there is no “real tension” currently taking place) and yes, right now it is perfectly safe to go, but I will not be going into cities mainly because of what is going on there.

I had enjoyed my trips to Punjab before and I know I will enjoy the upcoming trip. I am going to be seeing family there and learning how life there agriculturally and religiously is like. I also want to explore the backgrounds of my dad’s side of the family there and know a lot more about who my Great Grandfather was. I will also be taking pictures of my house and village there too and how we cook. I will also have things to do there that I must get done like giving people I know there things we have in America (kids will be getting stuff like RC cars and adults are getting home beneficial items like pans, decorative utensils, etc.).