SFI Awardee Dr S S Kapoor awarded OBE for services to community relations.
Dr K T S Lalvani awarded OBE for services to the pharmaceutical industry.
Ms Baljit Ubey awarded OBE for services to the CPS.
Miss I K Sandhu awarded OBE for services to education.
Mr D S Ahluwalia awarded MBE for community and interfaith relations.
WE CONGRATULATE THEM ALL!
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The Sikh Forum International, led by the community activist and philanthropist Ranjit Singh OBE, held a prestigious event at the Carlton Club to commemorate the presentation of a portrait of the first Sikh to live in England, Maharaja Dalip Singh. This is the very first portrait of Maharaja to be unveiled to the public.
Maharaja, son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Punjab, led a colourful existence. He was born a son of fortune but this led to hardship early in his life. After the death of his father, he was exiled from his own kingdom and thus converted to Christianity. This must have been a humbling experience for the young Maharaja, but he made his own destiny. As a result is one of the most revered Sikhs in the history of the religion.
Ranjit Singh, President of the Sikh Forum International, graciously gave thanks to the distinguished guests and luminaries who attended the event in particular, His Excellency General JJ Singh who had flown in especially from India to unveil the portrait, The Lord Sheikh of Cornhill, the Right Honourable Lord Cope of Berkeley and The Lord Slim.
Ranjit Singh said, “It is a great honour to witness the unveiling of this portrait of a man whom I greatly admire. Although he was forced to abandon his culture he returned to Sikhism. He should serve as a lasting example of triumph over adversity. I have authored a book titled, ‘Sikh Achievers’, which lists all of the prominent Sikhs in the world who have made a lasting contribution to our culture.”
On 13th April 2010, the Sikh community celebrated the festival of the Sikh New Year – known as Vaisakhi. Vaisakhi is always on the first day of the Vaisakh month of the Nanakshahi calendar. This celebration gives Sikhs the chance to remember the establishment of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh. This day is of supreme importance to the Sikh community as it marks the time upon which Sikhs were given instructions on how to lead their lives and what is expected of them as followers. Guru Gobind Singh Ji baptised the very first Sikhs using Amrit, which is a type of sweet nectar from Amritsar.
Amritsar is the holy city of Sikhism, it was founded in 1577. Amritsar houses the Golden Temple, which was built by Arjan, the fifth Guru of the Sikhism in 1604. Amritsar means the tank of nectar or immortality. The Golden Temple is the main centre of Sikh devotion. Vaisakhi is a time for Sikhs to reflect upon the teachings of the Gurus and to also commemorate the birth of the Khalsa. The Khalsa instructs that followers of Sikhism must show dedication to fighting all forms of oppression. Every male who participates in the ceremony of the Khalsa is given the middle name Singh, which means lion whilst every female who engages in the ceremony is given the name Kaur, meaning princess.
Mota Singh, the UK's first Sikh and Asian judge, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, receiving the highest civilian honour for his services to the administration of justi
ce and community relations
