Abandoned Sikh boy...

Today, at least for this post, I am taking a break from the war between Israel and Hamas with all its horrors. Yes, it continues. Of course.

Today, however, I have an update on an old story from April of last year. Does everybody remember the story of the little Sikh boy with the beautiful kesh found wandering around Southall, London? If you don't, please go and read the strange story of Gurinder Singh. The mystery of who he is and why he was alone in a strange country where he didn't even speak the language seems to have been solved by the power of DNA. (Every time I look at this picture, I have a burning desire to tie a patka on him. He looks very, very exposed and vulnerable, even with the brave smile on his face. Especially with that brave smile on his face. That mother thing, I guess!)

Read on...

FROM THAINDIAN NEWS

DNA test confirms abandoned London boy is from Punjab
January 4th, 2009 - 11:55 pm ICT by IANS
Hoshiarpur, Jan 4 (IANS) The DNA tests of an 11-year-old Sikh boy found abandoned in London last year have established that he belongs to a family near Tanda town in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district and would be returning home soon, family members said Sunday.Several families, including those from Punjab and Bihar, had laid claim to the boy after he was found abandoned in London’s Asian-dominated Southall area.

Clearly a case of rampant illegal trafficking from Punjab, the boy, Gurinderjit Singh, had no idea how he landed in London and could converse only in Punjabi in the English-speaking country.

The confirmation of the DNA tests has been informed to Hoshiarpur’s Lok Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee through an official communication.

“Our High Commission at London has informed that as per DNA report of Oct 27, 2008, Kuldeep Singh has been identified as the paternal uncle of Gurinderjit Singh,” the minister wrote to the MP.

“The child - at present under interim care of Ealing Council, London - has desired to return to India to stay with his paternal uncle. A local court has consented that the council should make plans for the child’s future and send him back to India,” according to the communique.

Kuldeep Singh, a farmer who lives in a village near Tanda town, 180 km from Chandigarh, had laid claim to the boy after media reports about him.

“We are overjoyed with this news. We are eagerly waiting for him to return and his ordeal to end,” Kuldeep Singh said from his village.

A court in London has decreed that the boy should be sent to India in the custody of his paternal uncle. It stated that the boy should not be handed over to his mother at all.

The boy is believed to have been abandoned by his mother, who entered Britain illegally through France. The boy’s father, who himself is an illegal immigrant in a European country, also could not come forward to claim his son for the risk of being deported.

All's well that ends well, right?

WRONG!

We are Sikhs and nothing can be simple and clear cut. At least little Gurinder Singh his Didi ji, Navjit Kaur, seems more interested in bringing her brother home than in using him in some sort of a power struggle. I also note in this second story, just barely mentioned, there is also a daughter missing We move on to this second story...

Also FROM THAINDIAN NEWS:

London’s abandoned Sikh boy now has family trouble brewing

January 7th, 2009 - 2:06 pm ICT by IANS -Tanda (Punjab), Jan 7 (IANS) A Sikh boy found abandoned in London last year is headed for family trouble in India even before he sets foot on home soil to be reunited with relatives.As if last year’s drama of 11-year-old Gurinderjit Singh’s mysterious appearance outside a clinic in the Asian-dominated Southall area was not enough, his maternal family has now demanded the boy’s custody.

A London court had recently decreed that the boy be sent back to his paternal family in a village near this town in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, 180 km from Chandigarh, after his DNA samples matched with his paternal uncle Kuldeep Singh.

The boy is believed to have been abandoned by his mother, who entered Britain illegally through France. The boy’s father, who himself is an illegal immigrant in a European country, also could not come forward to claim his son as he risked deportation.

But just before the boy is headed for home to be reunited with relatives, his maternal family has threatened to take legal recourse to seek his custody.

“We want his custody. We had spent money to send his father abroad. Our daughter is also missing. His (the boy’s) sister also lives with us. We will take legal help to get his custody,” Mohinder Singh, the abandoned boy’s maternal grandfather, told IANS at his home in Jalalabad village in Hoshiarpur district.

Gurinderjit’s 13-year-old sister, Navjit Kaur, is also waiting to meet up with her brother.

“I have been missing him for so long. I want to be united with him now,” she said.

But his paternal uncle, Kuldeep Singh, disputed the claim of the maternal family.

“He is being sent to us under court orders from London. No one else has any claim on him. We have proceeded legally. Where was this family when the boy was found abandoned last year. We sent DNA samples from here to get him back. A divorce case of his father and mother is already on. We will not let anyone take him,” Kuldeep Singh told IANS.

“We are overjoyed with this news of his return. We are eagerly waiting for him to return and his ordeal to end,” he said.

Several families, including those from Punjab and Bihar, had laid claim over the boy after he was found abandoned in London’s Asian-dominated Southall area last year.

Clearly a case of rampant illegal trafficking from Punjab, the boy had no idea how he landed in London and could converse only in Punjabi in the English-speaking country. Investigations into his case in London had revealed that he was abandoned by his mother after she illegally came to Britain from France.

The boy’s ordeal seems to be headed for a conclusion after the latest decree by the London court to send him back to his paternal family. The confirmation of the DNA tests was conveyed to Hoshiarpur’s Lok Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee through an official communication.

“Our High Commission at London has informed that as per DNA report of October 27, 2008, Kuldeep Singh has been identified as the paternal uncle of Gurinderjit Singh, the child - presently under interim care of Ealing Council, London - has desired to return to India to stay with his paternal uncle. A local court has consented that the council should make plans for the child’s future and send him back to India,” the minister wrote to the MP.

Mai? Mai. Mai!

A very dear friend of mine is impatiently waiting for me to explain how I came up with this strange, unSikh sounding name of Mai Laya. Since I haven't told this story online before, I decided to put it here, in case anyone has ever wondered. Actually, it ties together two of the great events in my life, my birth and my marriage.

First I'll dispose of 'Laya.' Blame that on Google. I was always Mai, just Mai, but when I registered for an account, they wanted, no, they insisted on a second name. I could have - probably should have - used Kaur, but at that time, I had not yet returned to the Sangat and all things Sikh and I felt I had no right to use that name. I almost randomly chose Laya from Himalaya. It does sound euphonious with Mai, eh?

"Mai", however, has a real story.

Chapter One
I Am Born
(That reminds me of Melanie reading David Copperfield from the movie Gone With The Wind.)

When it was time for my birth, my mother went to stay with her family. I'm not sure why. I think that she and Dad were not getting along and she didn't want him around. She waited and waited, getting angrier and more impatient by the day. It seems I was in no hurry to get into this world and arrived two weeks after the projected due date.

In being born, though, I made up for lost time. There was no time to call the doctor, much less get her to the hospital. It must have been the shortest labour in history.

After all that, I was a girl.

No, not that silly Punjabi prejudice against the girlchild. Dad had enough sons anyway. In his family, there is a genetic condition that affects all the girls born. Usually, they die as babies or very young children. My mother said, "They live just long enough to break your heart." She had three girls, all of whom died, before me and was not at all willing to go through that heartbreak again. She hadn't wanted another child to begin with and now she had as little to do with me as was possible. Beyond feeding me, she paid little attention to me.

Of course, Dad was called and he and my brothers, all seven of them, came running, along with a friend of the youngest. He arrived in a few minutes, bellowing "Waheguru!" partly from joy and partly he wanted that to be the first word I ever heard. (It wasn't, of course, my mother was cursing in furious anger the whole time.)

In those days, doctors were more willing to make housecalls and her ob/gyn came to the house. I don't know all the details, but she stayed home and didn't go to the hospital until going to be checked up a few days later. I guess there weren't as many malpractice suits then as now. After a time, all the medical details were taken care of - it was not true that Dad cut my umbilical cord with his kirpan, I'm not sure who started that story - I was cleaned up, wrapped up in a baby blanket and my mother gave me my first meal and then went to sleep.

Dad and eight boys were left in charge of a tiny baby girl. (My mother's family never accepted our father and brothers. They were/are not nice people. They didn't like me either.) According to my Dad, I was the most beautiful baby ever born, with a full head of hair - after all, they had an extra two weeks to grow - and huge blue eyes and I gurgled nicely.

He whispered "Waheguru" in my ears a few more times and slipped a tiny kara on my wrist.

So what to do with me? Dad was very comfortable with young babies, but my brothers weren't. Dad teased them all a bit and I was passed from brother to brother until I came to my brother's ten year old friend. He was terrified to hold this new, little life, but finally Dad shamed him into taking me. I was laid in his waiting arms - and promptly threw up all over him! The boy and the new-born baby just stared into each other's eyes.

Dad threw back his head and laughed and laughed and laughed. Finally he bellowed, "This one won't put up with cowards. I see we have another Mai Bhago on our hands!" I have been Mai ever since.

So, you see, I was actually Mai before I was Harinder.

Mai is, after all, a Sikh name. At least my Mai is. I was always brought with that lady as my ideal, a true warrior princess and servant of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

How does the marriage come in?

That ten year old boy was Mani. We were married 18 years later to the day.

None of these pictures are actually of me. I chose that particular painting of Mai Bhago (Mata Bhag Kaur) because I used to ride a white horse, as well. Not that I am much like this great Singhni!).
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WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!