Dear Puppa: Where has this world gone?
Amar Singh Kaleka
Puppa. I used to, once and a while, call you from afar to get your perspective and opinion on matters of importance. This is one of those rare times. Though now, since you passed from this Earth, it seems you’re further along in time, space, and dimension, I can still hear your voice in the resonance of my own heart during night time meditations. Thus, given what has taken place during these past five years, this letter is needed now more than ever.
Five years ago, today, you ascended into Waheguru. Into oneness. At the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on a Sunday morning, just like this one.
After fighting off a twisted Neo-nazi man, a former US Army sergeant from the psyc-ops towns of rural Colorado, you, and the other six martyrs, including Punjab Singh, sparked a significant amount of conversation and action, in the form of niskam seva (service) around the world. A discussion that is an age old one on racism and equality was fielded in action by both, Pardeep and I, among many thousands of others over the past 5 years.
Even just yesterday, on the 5th Anniversary of your ascension, one of the heroic leaders of the Sioux Nation, Dave Archambeau II, declared 8/5 the National Water Protector Recognition day. During Standing Rock, I was happy to volunteer my time to help protect us from one of the biggest climate impact situations on planet Earth. And with a new Jesuit brother in Daniel Sheehan and my diverse teammates from Unify and Elevate, our water protectors will continue to impact the dialogue at the highest levels. Manapa Hocini Ga is one of them. He’s a benevolent full blooded brother who needs some of the best blessings to come his way.
Puppa, you’d also be proud because our Yoga tribe (Yoga 4 Change), adopted a new orphanage in Varanasi (Benares). Beautiful young boys and girls with glowing auras are keeping some of the most ancient texts alive. We documented the revitalization of the Vedic scriptures on the footsteps of Bhai Sahib Buddha, in the shadows of the Mahabharata. The friends who came from wide and far included Christina Fernandes, from Dubai and Germany, wife of Glen from Marquette. Her images speak clearly to the love and camaraderie amongst the new team.
The Jesuits and Catholics in general, amongst our most extended network, have been going on amazing missions of human redemption over the five years. I’m sure our Protestant friends, like Bill Bravener and Nick Nanton, are also doing some amazing work whilst battling life and health concerns.
Our brothers and sisters of progressive and classical Islam, like Dr. Yasir Kazmi and Masood Akhtar, are also out in full force repairing and stitching the blanket of peace. So are each of the families affected by the tragedy, itself, like Raghuvir, Prabhjot, Kamal, and Harpreet. Each is crisscrossing the Punjabi and American family together in a tightly woven string.
Our new martial arts team, BJJ 4 Change, adopted Paris as a new getaway to help revitalize their economy after it had been sacked by major terrorist attacks. My brother, 4 time black belt, and entrepreneur extraordinare, Patrick Bittan made a compelling argument for peace and prosperity through fellowship. His play was backed by Chris Martin, and now we are on our way to Israel to discuss peace, once again. I’m sure you remember Chris well, along with Ed and John, Rob, Paul, Lucky, Will, Matt, and Jason.
Jason Alonte’s doing great things, just like all of them, as a firefighter in New York. Harpreet, “Happy”, is still serving benevolently as an FBI agent in Madison, last I heard. Dulai Sahib and the rest of the trustees, especially Dr. Dhaliwal, have done amazing work on bridging the divide between the immigrant and American side of rural Southeast Wisconsin. The Sikh temple of Wisconsin is, overall as you left it, strong, despite some cracks which were afflicted during the tragedy and the trying years afterward.
Pardeep, meanwhile, has held down the fort with Serve 2 Unite and the homestead. All the Grandkids are doing super magnificent.
Mummy is doing much better, she’s helping Chachiji with her inner city elementary school: United to Serve. Of course, her heart breaks after our divorce from the lying, defamation, and exaggerations. Not to mention, the utter disregard of two little grand boys — Sahib and Aaris, and their connection to our deep, but complex family. I should’ve listened to you, Puppa, about my marriage choice.
You and I fought like gladiators to the death over that argument. And I’m sorry to say that, like a young and prideful man, I didn’t listen to your wisdom. And for that, I’m paying my penance, and finding a way to detach from the situation in the most benevolent way.
On a brighter side with Mummy, the whole Sikh community honors and adores her. She is invited to all the functions from all over. Our maternal side, the Nagra family, are making big moves around the area. Pabla Veerji just bought a massive estate for a great price. I see how each of them and their children brighten up when she walks into a room. Amaris, Jai, Rohan, and Taran dote on her so lovingly that it would make even a falcon cry. Preeti is as darling as ever. One of the best sister in laws a man could ever ask for. Jugunu, Harpreet, is one the best brother in laws. His marriage made us all blast off with happiness. You’d be proud of how handsome and chill he is as a man in your model.
All your friends, and extended family, from near and far, like Bullar and Sidhu Sahib and Dr. Sidhu, and Bachan Sahib, and even Darshan miss your smile, laugh, and cool headedness. So do all your great friends at the Gurudwara. The tragedy was such a shock to most of them, and of course, was moreso a shock to Jagjit Thiaji, Gurwant Chachaji, Jass, Raj, and Baby buaji. Even Amarjit Thiaji and family still send their love and closeness to you. Everyone, including Simran, Baz, and Guggi, Amy and Sam, to Manvir, Chaman, Kirat, Kabir and many more, it seems, were stricken with grief and sadness. They still tell many stories about you at every gathering, forced, at times, to exchange a laugh for a solemn moment.
The outside Sikh community also picked up its pace with another national Sikh campaign after Gurbaksh Chahal and their family’s “Be Proud” campaign. Remember that bright young man, Gurwin Singh Ahuja, and the many millennials of the Obama White House (http://www.sikhcampaign.org). They’ve been doing a splendid job of getting the Sikhi principles out despite their difficult and esoteric and intellectual nature.
However, still, they won’t concede to my advice to create a better characterization of the Indian Immigrant through more traditional mass media — like TV, film, print, and documentaries. Although, they try. Hopefully, they’ll get to hear my pitch again, at some point soon.
Many more bright stars shined over these past years with messages of peace, bridges of gold, and pearls of prosperity. Valarie Kaur was definitely one of them. Her husband, Sharat Raju, and her bend time and space to help the Sikh diaspora whenever she is called upon. And may many more call upon her for she is a bright and articulate voice in such a sensitive and sticky situation.
Of course, Puppa, for you, you’d also want to know about the many business men who funded and pushed forward these massive global service agendas. They were, also each, among the brightest stars. Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah of California, was especially kind. He hosted a dinner in the honor of our film, Peacemakers only this past month in Malibu, California.
Even my friend Indy Rishi Singh, the young yogi with a sense of humor, got the South By South West (SXSW) Austin, TX crowd jumping. He also attracted the ire of the Indian Army when he seemed to be laughing at the resting place of Queen Mumtaz in Agra. Lol. 🤣😂😝😬🤓 #newAgeYogi
Indy also serves one of the largest communities of homeless people in Venice, California every Thursday with seva dar Bhai Sahib Ravi Singh and his wife, Jackie, at Share A Meal. The West coast and Canada has been fertile ground for Sikhi to take root.
After all the many great initiatives by our tribe, bloodlines, and many progressives, no one jewel of Sikhism seemed to shine brighter than that of your brightest sons, Pardeep.
From mass media to the on the ground action, over these past five years, he’s touched thousands of lives. He and the Milwaukee community, especially the community leadership from Oak Creek, have put forth such an outstanding effort to fight racism, injustice, and poverty that they might just have held off a total collapse of the system like what happened in Detroit and Chicago.
https://www.facebook.com/s2upeacemakers
During the filming and researching of our sixth feature film, Peacemakers, I had the duty, as the cinematographer, editor, and director to bear witness on a wide variety of fronts and situations across the nation. During all this, Pardeep was truly an exceptional person to watch and learn from. Thank you for giving me such a beautiful older brother.
After the Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, our National Compassion Fund, and some of the founding board members, including myself, went down to help organize the situation. We made an impact, but I still had a dark thought.
It seems that no matter how many hundreds of thousands of people, or dare I say, millions are touched by our massive network of do gooders in the peace movement, we still don’t seem to be making a dent in the problem. If we are, then it might be alleviating the suffering, but not reversing or ending it once and for all. The wave of violence is just too strong.
For five years we’ve seen the number of mass shootings jump from under fifty a year to almost four hundred a year, two years consecutive. Before your murder, the numbers were only a fraction of that.
During this stretch of time the gun lobby and conservative congress shut down the US government, economically harming the whole global economy for the second time in two years. They did this so they can continue supplying more weaponry to every conflict on the planet, including the ones here in the streets of the barrio or the hood, or in the hands of domestic terrorists without safe and careful background checks. Right now, it’s legal to sell firearms out of the back of a car, or online, bypassing through the many loopholes that leak in every state constitution.
Our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers from such tragedies as Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Charleston amongst many other survivors, organized thousands of people and worked tremendously hard on legal solutions only to be sold out by politicians and lobbyists. I know you would be, specifically proud of Khary Penebaker, who like me, took to battling for a congressional seat to shift the vote despite being outgunned and outmanned.
Now, after him, many potential young leaders are approaching me with news that they might run. Like for him, I continuously offer my knowledge collected in political consulting for little to no charge. This was decided in the vow of poverty I took when I began the road of politics for the South East Asian voice in America.
Over the past five years, my friends from around the world continually asked me why the American police officers are going crazy? African American people are alarmingly being gunned down, it seems through video evidence, at the hands of authorities who are prematurely frightened, and display high levels of anxiousness in their voice and tone of pitch when dealing with the people of diversity.
All of this, and then the election of Trump, after he used the solid language and rancor of division and overt racism to mastermind a political win despite selling our Internet out to global hackers, including our Cold War enemy: Russia.
It seems now, more than ever, after the crisis in the White House, that our country’s leadership is trying to Re-Segregate the nation. The GOP, especially Trump, have made a steering offensive against immigration, while still arming the Middle East, and ignoring the dissenting voices of education, climate change, and responsible health care in America.
As this is happening, more and more people are being sucked into the cave of the Internet. They are being silo-ed by corporations to be sold and advertised to. The public is quickly becoming misinformed, disenfranchised, and even worst, losing literacy and patience for even minded conversations. They are slowly being locked in to materialism, dualism, and competition and rivalry as they fight for scraps from an even larger table.
This is why I write you now because it’s easy to lose the way.
From your heavenly perspective, do you see the arc of moral justice bending to the good, yet? We all have faith that the world will grow more and more benevolent over time, but when is that time for collaboration instead of competition?
At what point will people stop spreading exaggerations, rumors, and lies about each other in the news and on social media threads? At what point will people stop throwing stones at each other. Those who can’t commit violence against one another, still try to find a way to destroy each other with verbal and apathetic actions. At what point will we see a society who wants to heal, restore, rejuvenate, and repair major areas of conflict from the past and present to build an even brighter future?
In the famous words of Malala, “why is it so easy to build tanks? Yet, so hard to build schools?”
I have faith that wherever you are, Puppa, that you’re working and motivating many hundreds of heroes on Earthly ground in this battle between bigotry and liberty. Your face and voice still light up many people’s hearts. The echoes of your words and lessons still linger on the minds of many. Your final words resonate in the hearts of all your family and friends.
And here we are, at the temple, meditating for peace and prudence in light of many chaotic dealings. Through you and your actions, we are enlivened with the spirit of chardhi kala, “relentless optimism”, that these times, though they may be trying, are transient and short. We know that because the moral arc bends to the good that there will again be many centuries of peace and prosperity for all.
It’s in your presence, Puppa, that we ask blessings, forgiveness, and temperance for all those who come in contact or trespass against us. Each of us in this peace discussion, around the nation and the world, are tasked with carrying the water of peace and prosperity to each and every child of God. Because you, like many others before you, carried the ultimate burden for each of us: the final sacrifice in this life. And through your rising, and the rising of six other beautiful souls, you carry on your back the best hopes and dreams of mankind: peace.
This goal is written in each who are touched by your story, Satwant Singh Kaleka Saraow, though I’m fortunate to call you, “Puppa”.
They are honored, none more than Pardeep, Preeti, Mom, and I, to carry forward the legacy of peace, joy, and good will to all men and women of any age, class, creed, or nationality. In your sacrifice, Puppa, and of those around you, we have each, hopefully, built a cornerstone and bedrock of an even brighter dream — unity across all languages and faiths.
Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa
Waheguru Ji Ki fateh.
