Here are some mentions in the press of the Qilla crisis:
Dr. Virinder Kumar Phd., Vibhag Mukhi, Bhai Batan Singh Faculty of Musical Strings, was teaching Sitar, Dilruba and Rabab when the cops attacked the classroom and forced them to vacate the premises or face arrest!
Old Sandook, charkha-s and also a dilruba (1946-8) that Bhai Avtar Singh Ragi gifted to Bhai Baldeep Singh in 1988, all thrown out.
Precious and historic relics including musical instruments, artifacts and manuscripts of religious significance, miniature art portraits of Bhai-s Avtar Singh and Gurcharan Singh, all illegally thrown out by the Sultanpur Lodhi Police!
On May 30, 2016, Bhai Baldeep Singh, Chairman, The Anad Foundation, visited the residence of one of the world’s living legend sārangi maestros, Pandit Ram Narayan. Pandit Narayan speaks chaste Punjabi having worked at All India Radio (AIR), Lahore, until the partition of 1947. This visit was more about Pandit Ji hearing some of the ancient compositions of Gurbani and Khandarvani Dhrupad.
Here are some images that Bhai Baldeep Singh took of the maestro and his illustrious son, sarod maestro, Pandit Brij Narayan.
Happy are the moments spent in the company of an ustād. Their measure is not in their number, but in the quality of the fruit they bear for years to come. During such happy moments, the student—sedulous as he may fancy himself—struggles vainly to cup the subtle and ever-new torrent before him.
When it has passed, he finds the soil of his mind supple and primed for the strenuous tilling of riyāz. He realizes that his fingers are still cupped, and peering into the bowl before him, discovers that he holds not the torrent, but a glistening piece of fruit.
This composition is the student’s to weigh , to trace its contours, to contemplate its hue. It is his privilege and duty to do this, but he would be remiss to then lay the piece of fruit aside as a memento, or else to establish it as an idol. There is nothing to do now but eat it.
He savors the subtle torrent of the fruit’s nectar, and the tilled soil welcomes its seeds. The fruit is no longer before him, but within him. It is a drop in a subtle stream that may someday ferry fruit. But in the meantime, the fruit is his to bear at will—and how wondrous is its ever-new nectar!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
University of California, Berkeley
SHO Harpreet Singh, Former SSP of Kapurthala, Former DSP Devender Singh, Ashish Chodhary IPS, their assisting policemen, and Former Finance Minister of Punjab, Dr. Upinderjit Kaur, you are —squatting in Anad Foundation’s offices, classrooms, residences and lawns inside the Qila. I have waited for you to call me and apologise and invite me back in the Qila for which I along with some of the most fascinating contributors to Punjab have spent energy and blessed with their collective vision.
All of you combined together have shown yourselves as enemies of Punjab – its cultural heritage and now proven to only being good at butchering Punjab’s budding youth – their aspirations. You only know how to serve your petty interests. But sadly for you all, daddy has come home and daddy now asks the kids to behave! Sadly for you all, daddy is not a beggar —daddy is a tough teacher and I hope you all have secretly realized that you don’t mess up with this daddy-boy called Bhai Baldeep Singh.
Navtej Cheema, you have also been lying to people that you brought money —”crores of Rupees” you claimed – and that too for Anad Foundation —I will deal with that video of yours which I have only recently sourced. This Dr. Upinderjit Kaur was introduced to me as an academic and I had thought of adopting her as a mother when my own mother was slowly succumbing to cancer. But what a liar she proved out to be – going around in her election campaign claiming she had given 3 crores to Anad! Her PA even bragged to and taunted me once —that they had actually given 5 Crores.
Never-mind all of that —none of you will ever win an election unless a miracle happens – when you have shown extraordinary regret, some genuine remorse —this is not my curse, it is my blessing!
I never needed to fight an elections —you guys forced me for your kind of legislators have only eaten up Punjab, emptied its coffers and destroyed its prospects —all round prospects at that.
Even if I were to forgive you all —wherefrom will you give the chance back to the youngsters to study with some of the legends like Bhai’s Avtar Singh, Ustad Fahiumuddin Khan, Ustad Hafiz Khan, Ustad Asad Ali Khan, Pandit Panna Lal Upadhyay, Ustad Bhajan Lal, Bibi Jaswant Kaur and others who have all passed away?
Other like Bhai Gurcharan Singh, now at 100, and Ustad Vilayat Khan Ragi at 95 are unable to teach now!
These are just a few names!
Learn your lesson very quickly folks for I will prove to you that you are not the rulers but public servants and from now on you will keep your diktat in your pants only.
Adios for now – I will speak about this all and much more at the Parliament of Worlds Religions!
Listen to the video folks — share it all around — spread this anguish of a set of parents and the near death of their hope! Together, we shall not let the flame flicker away!
Do we want Punjab healthy and wealthy? If yes, come along with me and we will change this paradigm in Punjab and believe you me – things will never be the same!
yours sincerely,
bbs
Another example of recovered riches – that Anad Khand: Conservatory of Arts, Aesthetics, Cultural Traditions and Developmental Studies is a unique endeavour which is not just a school of music or mere arts!
Join the Anad Foundation and save Punjab’s heritage!
Sultanpur Lodhi is the first and foremost seat of Gur-Sikh learning where the tender, that the gentle child with the most challenging of all questions that shocked the greatest of spiritual masters and shook the very foundations all political and religious establishments —their hierarchy, Nanak, became the Guru – that extraordinary master with the most beautiful and transformative of all songs, and the answers from the realms of the Real.
After the tragic partition of Punjab in 1947, it was the first time that Gurbani Sangeet enthusiasts had begun to converge again from across the world to study at Sultanpur Lodhi.
The legacy of this ancient seat of learning had finally been revived!
On August 4, 2015, the local Punjab Police SHO, Harpreet Singh illegally attacked the Conservatory situated inside the Qila, Sultanpur Lodhi, threatening young students from underserved communities with immediate arrest and prosecution, allegedly at behest of local Akali Dal politician, former Finance Minister of Punjab, Dr. Upinderjit Kaur.
It is now time that we joined hands to recover the home of the most precious attempt in Sikh history at conserving and celebrating Punjab’s indigenous cultural traditions from the clutches of the corrupt and unlawful local police, abettor Punjab administration officials and politicians. Anad is a coming together of all those who care for Punjab and have been endowed with the gift of responsibly conserving and celebrating its extraordinary cultural heritage!
Join hands with Anad Foundation to fight against the illegal occupation and desecration of aheritage site by the local Police Station and help aesthetically and socio-culturally rebuild Punjab!
