Anthurium

What beauty!

Jean jacket

This was taken 2 days before my wedding. We had a little get together at my house. He is doing a funny lil dance he thinks he's a Masaai!!!


Dad and his bro - This was taken on the same day.
Both are munching on ladoos!

They were quite close, never seen em argue about anything. Then again - never seen my Dad argue with anyone!

Oh and that jean jacket is his fav! I hated it cos it looked so trashy! hehe!

Dad & Dad

Dad with my father-in-law at my wedding.

I LOVE this pic!
They both look soooo cute!

Just before the pic was taken my father-in-law said to my dad something like "will you marry me where's my engagement ring!!!!" hehe!

My father-in-law deserves a whole blog dedicated to him as well. He's got some super duper powers cos he does so mch paathh (prayers)!!! (im not jst saying this to score brownie points with my in-laws!LOLOLOL!!)
A highly spiritual soul with a solid unshakable faith in the Almighty. He has a particular reverence to Baba Nand Singh Ji. When I got married - he presented to me Babaji's 'janum sakhi' - this is an account of Babaji's amazing 'adventures'. These stories are incredible - almost unbelievable. The best website I have come across is for this is http://www.babanandsinghsahib.org/main.htm

Please share with me any more knowledge you have about Babaji (so i can impress my father-in-law next time we talk about him!hehe!)

Info

If anyone has any photos of Dad or stories bout him or even ideas for this blog - please drop me an email! :o)
I would like to hear about what crazy experiences you have had with Dad!

Baba Dad!!!

"In any enterprise - the greatest asset is the STATE OF MIND, CONFIDENCE, UNSHAKABLE BELIEF.
Also very important is ONE-NESS with the UNIVERSE, being IN-TUNE with NATURE + the ENVIRONMENT, to avoid delusions and assure blessings of HIGHER POWER"

This is an extract from Dad's diary ( i would NEVER dream of reading his diary before - but now i think........ I deserve to - these are the most precious memories he's left behind - his inner thoughts)

Dad - The Philosopher:

Dad had a habit of writtin down his thoughts - be it his diary, or just a blank paper - he was always actively jotting down things, making charts, diagrams etc i think this is a form of thinking whereby you chart all your thoughts to make a logical diagram.

Dad was a deep thinker. He was very much undercover - which i guess are the qualities of a good Baba! Im sure if he commercialised himself a bit more he would have had a gurdwara of his own! hehe! ;o)

Groovy Baby!

Yup! He was a poser!
A rather handsome one at that!

The Poles do it!

I think we're due for another dose of 'The Sati Chronicles':

The Poles do it; the Turks do it 14/12/02

In our continuing struggle to get the required drugs into the UK, I have come with a unique and simple solution - why doesn’t India join the European Union? Well - if the Turks can do it, why not India?
After all, India meets all the EU requirements:

1. Rule of Law. There can be no doubt about this one. Indian constables carry stout sticks (lathis), and any malefactor gets a swift on-the-spot whack on the shoulders or the bum (whichever is handier) so that no one is in any doubt that LAW RULES OK.

2. Human Rights. Top of the list with Indian Police - as demonstrated recently by this Brit that a wimpy Tony Blair got released from an Indian jail resort. I mean - what was this deaf dodderer with only one leg doing with 20 Kg of Cannabis? Why couldn’t he buy 5 grams a go like the rest of us? He could easily have hidden that in his false leg; but 20 Kg! (probably one weeks supply for him) - no wonder he went deaf! All that loud music that must have been playing in his head. As for the leg - he was probably doing a one legged dance until it turned gangrenous and fell off! As to the far-fetched allegation that the Indian Police planted the said drugs - preposterous!

i) 20 Kg of bhang would never have survived in Police custody. They would have smoked it themselves or sold it, not planted it (free) on anyone.
ii) Well what if they did plant it? They were only safeguarding human rights of you and me - to protect society against these one-legged deaf do-gooders who are going around corrupting the morals of decent clean thinking people like you and me (well, you.)

There is a slight hitch of geography, but it is no longer a hindrance these days. India and Britain are connected innumerable subtle siras and dhamanis. This explains how the man you last saw as the village idiot in a remote corner of rural India, you next meet on Southall Broadway wearing a three piece suit, a bowler hat and holding the badge of Britishness - a brolly.

Don’t treat this as the depraved ravings of a mind that’s lost it. Well, on second thoughts, you can treat it as you wish - I will not hold it against you. Please think on this theme and we shall discuss this further at Tarik’s party tomorrow.

Signed
The Deep Thinker Who Only has Good of You lot At Heart

PS Another brilliant Idea!Why don’t we put Tarik in charge of this project? Being vaguely turkish he may know some ways to weasel our way into Europe through the back way.

LOL! Full of great ideas - that's my dad!!!
Please leave your comments.

Clever Boy!

This is one of the family photos from Dad's graduation. awww! cute lil family, eh?! :o)

Look at the big smile on my dad's face! And my mom looks like she's the proudest wifey ever! :o)
The tall guy's my bro, Himmat.
I look like i got smothered with a pink marshmallow!!! eeeek! ;o)
Dad hired the gown and brought it home. All of us had a go at it and took lots of dum photos!

We're sooooo proud of Daddy! He already got a degree in Civil Engineering when he was younger. It takes a lot of guts to manage to complete a degree again at his age! I know i was sweating bricks when i did mine! He's done a degree in Ayurvedic Medicine. How cool is that! He met some really nice people, went to India for training and got a really good rep for being the best message therapist in town!
More that later.

Smart Boy Junior!

Now here he looks like he should be awarded the prize for the most intellectual looking individual! He not only looked intellectual, he was the cleverest guy i know!

He always wore that white pin on his lapel - need to do some research as to what it is.
Will take a photo of it so you can give me an idea. Please let me know if you what you think it is.

Don't you just dig the white turban?! ;o)

ik oankar

IK OANKAR!
GOD IS ONE!

My very clever dad designed this symbol. So all you guys remeber this is patented! ;o)

It is based on the Sikh religious symbol – ik oankar…..meaning God is one. A strong and fundamental principle – emphasising unity of the Primal Being. It marks the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib – the living guru.
Dad had absolute faith and deep set beliefs in the Sikh religion. His religion was a very private and personal endeavour. More about this later!

It also encompasses the Chinese Yin Yang symbol. This describes two primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the universe. The black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

While "yin" would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, "yang" would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong. The shape of the yin and yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, yin to yang and yang to yin.

The concepts of Yin and Yang and the Five Agents provided the intellectual framework of much of Chinese scientific thinking especially in fields like biology and medicine. This is of particular importance to Dad as he was a doctor! The organs of the body were seen to be interrelated in the same sorts of ways as other natural phenomena, and best understood by looking for correlations and correspondences. Illness was seen as a disturbance in the balance of Yin and Yang or the Five Agents caused by emotions, heat or cold, or other influences. Therapy thus depended on accurate diagnosis of the source of the imbalance.

These two symbols are enclosed in a circle – a circle has no beginning…….no end. A symbol of unity and eternity, just like the kara (steel bangle worn by all Sikhs). The Kara being circular in shape, symbolises wheel which itself, when viewed in the background of Indian heritage, simultaneously stands for Dharma and Chakarvarti Raja (universal monarch). Therefore Kara manifests two meanings, eternal and temporal and the Khalsa is enjoined to imbibe both.

Clever my Daddy was, eh?!
Let me know if you can see any other hidden messages in this symbol.

Smart boy!

Aint he a handsome stud! 8-)
Looking smart in this photo, just the way I always remember him.....laughing laughing laughing!!! :-D

My dad the writer

One of Dad's many talents was writing.
He had a crazy sense of humour and concocted the most hilarious stories. I will be posting most of them on this site.
As it was Diwali on Tuesday, here is a little piece that Dad wrote on Diwali:
(please dont be offended - this is not meant to be taken seriously!) :o)

Dear Ayurvedic students,

it is 11 o'clock at night and I realized that I have only just enough time to wish everyone
A HAPPY DIWALI AND SATVIC NEW YEAR

On this day we usually ponder a bit on why we are celebrating this day. This year we only have a few minutes on Diwali left, so here is a mini ponder:

Diwali is the day when Rama came back to Ayodhya after his gap year. He had taken the gap year before starting his job as king. He felt that it would be bad for his career if he took any time off once he actually started to rule. While he was away, Ayodhya was ruled by his SHOES. It is true. Bharat, Rama's half brother, put Rama's shoes on the throne and ruled in their name. So everything was done in the name of the shoes. The court cases went something like " The SHOES versus Babu the Butler" After a time, the population got fed up being ruled by a pair of shoes. That is why they celebrated when Rama came back.

Rama's gap year was extended a bit - to FOURTEEN YEARS. That was because he lost his wife. His wife Sita was carried off by a tall dark stranger after she had sent Rama off on a wild goose chase. This dark stranger (who was very fond of pretty women) carried Sita off in a flying chariot. She was quite enjoying the experience ( having never traveled by air before), when she realized that the dark stranger was actually a dastardly demon, and Rama was a very jealous husband. So she repelled the demon's advances - and quite advanced they were too. So Ravana the demon took Sita to his secret island hideout and decided to wear her down slowly - he had plenty of other women, so he could afford to wait a little.

Rama in the meantime couldn't find Sita anywhere. This was because there are no reliable maps in India and the locals delight in sending you in the wrong direction. Rama was getting desperate. He couldn't very well go back and admit he had lost his wife to a dastardly demon - bad career move. So he enlisted the help of a gang of monkeys, who promptly found Sita for him - thus proving that monkeys have more sense than men.
Rama asked for Sita back. Ravana refused, saying that he hadn't finished with her since he still hadn't had his way with her. Rama demanded that he be allowed to send in a team of inspectors to varify this claim. Ravana reluctantly agreed. Rama got coy - he said that Ravana would show the inspectors some other woman while hiding the true Sita deep inside his stronghold. Ravana protested his innocence - he said that he was just a peaceful man minding his own business. Rama said that he was a dastardly devil who possessed weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to world peace. Ravana replied that Rama was an expansionist bigot who had it in for the demon race and was using Sita as an excuse to wipe the demons from the face of the earth (This was actually true - Rama's true purpose WAS to erase the demon race from the face of the earth). Ravana challenged Rama to come and try - they would fight to the last demon.

Now Ravana was a very clever and learned demon. He had umpteen degrees and a whole alphabet of letters after his name. He had mastered many sciences and had many secret powers. He had TEN HEADS! Though WHY he had ten heads is beyond me ( I have trouble enough keeping one head straight).
A tremendous war ensued. Ravana used chemical weapons and killed a lot of monkeys. Rama use HIS weapons of mass destruction (which he had thoughtfully packed in his back-pack before leaving Ayodhya) and vapourised the island and all the demons, rescued Sita and brought her back to Ayodhya.

The citizens of Ayodhya celebrated by lighting lamps in all the houses - so pleased were they with the end of the rule of the shoes. The houses were built of highly combustible materials and half of Ayodhya was burnt to the ground - sending insurance premiums rocketing. Unscrupulous Indian shopkeepers sold fireworks to children under the age of sense (60) , resulting in a lot of burns which kept all the Ayurvedic physicians in Ayodhya busy for years. Some thought to make millions by giving bastis when none were indicated - hence the term "pipe dream"....but I digress again.Rama lived happily, for a while. Then he got a bit tired of Sita who was putting on a lot of weight - what with all those Indian sweets left over from diwali. So he kicked her out - siting a laundry man who had cast doubts on her purity. Sita protested that she hadn't given in to the demon

im afraid it stops there!!

The Legacy

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
Hello! Jambo! Sat-sri-akal! Namaste! Bon Jour!

Welcome to THE SATI ZONE! ;o)

Here you will have a chance to take a glimpse into the world of........my dad - through my eyes.
What he meant to me, what I think he meant to the world, how he inspired me, etc

Please feel free to post your comments.
Or even post your tributes as a mark of respect to honour my Dad.
Maybe you want to share what he meant to you.
I know dad's unique radiant light left an eternal glow in everyone he came across.
Would be nice if you could share.