KOBE KOBE KOBE
Again, late in the game for this, but still have to chime in on just the historical greatness of this game that Kobe put together. 81 POINTS!! No I know the haters are saying "Kobe shoots to much" and "What a ball hog". To that I respond, GET A LIFE! If Tim Duncan, Jason Richardson, Vince "Half man-half amazing" Carter, or T-Mac -- or whoever your favorite player may be -- put up anything cloes to this you would be going NUTS. So shut up and just appreciate the level of play that Kobe has elevated his game too.
I have been critical as well this year of Kobe's shooting tendencies, read he shoot too much for one man to be shooting, but the
62 against Dallas and the nonsensical performance against Toronto are just something to marvel at.
While I don't agree with everything he writes always,
Sccop Jackson wrote a great piece on Kobe and his recent dirtiness on the court, which I recommend for you to read.
Also, an awesome utility I just found was a
spliced video of the game that just shows ALL 81 points Kobe scored.
Nutrient Lobby Attacks the Turbaned Masses
So I was going to write about this a bit sooner, but
SepiaMutiny did a good job and there is some intersting dialogue, nad let you figure things out for yourselves. Also I will leave you with the direct link to the
press release from which this thread began.
Surat Sikh Conference -- post-game analysis
So first and foremost congrats and respect to the organizers of the
Surat Sikh Conference. I think they did a commendable job of putting together a strong conference, were masterful in keeping to time with acitivites, presentations and workshops, and really created a great environment for our generation of Sikhs to get together and talk and reflect on their faith.
The theme of the conference was
Seva -- or selfless service -- which is really a mandated part of a Sikhs day to day like and I would argue part of their destiny given to them by the Ten Nanaks. The speakers did a tremendous job in talking about their work and several were very inspiring to me. I must admit that I went in thinking what the hell would they tell me or cause me to think about, but I was blown away by the depth of passion and sheer tenacity they all had in their dedication to seva.
Additionally, there was a really great sangat at the conference. Now clearly I didnt get to meet everyone, but from those that I did interact with, they were pretty legit. The
divaans were excellent as well with really great kirtan. While I missed the Sunday morning
divaan, it was awesome to see some great young kirtanis some of whom I had known or known of and others who I didnt but were amazing nonetheless.
I also really had a great opportunity to meet some cool new peoples from allover the country (NY, FL, MD, TX, DC, and even freaking Canada), as well as see the old skool homies and connect back with them. Overall it was good except Sunday which was DAMN COLD! It snowed the night before -- so that was cool for the Cali folks who dont regularly see it. But, dude, whenyou go out in it, ITS COLD! What is up with that!?!?
All-in-all, it was a solid experience, that I would attend again next year, and hope to see this groups or organizers expand and continue their impressive work from this year to an even more impressive venture for 2007.
Back from NYC
So got back last evening from Surat and have to say that they did a great job on the whole. The conference itself was well-managed, the workshops and lectures were solid, and most impressively, they managed to stay to the timeline almost always.
More will follow later as I am CRAZY TIRED and need to work before I pass out and have to go home.
BIRJINDER SINGH ANANT -- 1974-2005
Tragedy struck during Christmas Week when my friend and brother Birjinder passed on from this Earth. I dont think I can truly put into words the genuine love and affection that I had for Birji. He was perhaps the most noble and decent man I ever had the privledge of knowing. I cannot really remember a negative word about anyone else uttered from his mouth and his jubiliant and caring nature were just overwhelming and drawed people of all races, colors and creeds towards him.
Birj was a character in the truest sense of the word. From the 35 metric tons of sugar he used in all the iced tea he drank, to his penchant for creating totally fallacious stories he would tell to get people to believe some oddity about his life. One such story I remember was when he was doing his MS at UC Santa Cruz, he would tell people that he was living in a campground as he couldnt find housing on campus. Now this may not seem like the most intersting of story or even that funny at all. To that all I can say is, you just didnt know Birj.
In Anand Sahib, the prayer of bliss, Sikhs read everyday:
"Eh Sarir(a) Meria, Es Jag May Aae Kai, Kia Tudh karam Kamaaeiaa.
O my body, why have you come into this world and What have you really earned.
This thukh from Gurbani has always stayed with me as a guiding principle of how I would want to live my life. While I have probably not lived up to it too often, Birjinder did on a daily basis.
His passion for the cause -- whatever cause it was he felt was valuable -- was unwavering. As an undergrad student at CAL, he was a tireless cog in the Sikh Students Association machine of the mid 90's. After he graduated he still stayed true to his activist roots for the environment, global justice and social reform. It was after 9/11 that Birjinder truly shined, as a co-founder of
ASATA that he really came into his own. While I cant speak to all of his work in detail -- see below for people who can -- I can speak to his passion for his work.
Birj took the troubles of the world onto himself and felt that he could be the one to solve them all. He was ever vigilant in working to a common goal and was a tremendous team player; be it drafting a proposal, working on a human rights presentation and poster till 5am for an 8am conference, or making 10,000 copies for handouts.
I las saw Birj at a film festival in San Francisco just before he was leaving for Hong Kong for the WTO Protest last month. As always we gave each other a huge hug as though it had been years since we last saw each other. I invited him to lunch with some friends and I, but he had to wait for some people and I went on my way. I remember how excited he was about Hong Kong, his research on worker conditions in India for his thesis and just in life in general. I remember thinking how proud of him I was to see him really having all parts of his like clicking on all cylinders and him having them going in the exact direction he wanted. That is most likely what made it even more difficult when I heard the news of his passing.
While I have so much more to say and feel I am not doing justice to my dear friend, I can only hope that those that knew him will continue to look to him for advice, counsel and inspiration. We need to continue his fights and struggles, as a tribute to him, AND becuase we OWE it to him.
I will end for now with a poem that many have posted in response to Birjinder's passing:
I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There's nothing more to say.
The poem ends
Soft as it began-
I loved my friend.
Langston Hughes
For more on Birjinder's life, struggles and passions please read the following:
http://www.asata.org/about/birjinder_anant
http://www.revoluxindesigns.com/RememberingBirj/
http://neelanjanabanerjee.com/?p=51
http://www.livejournal.com/users/illogic82/3724.html
http://bayareawt-no.blogspot.com/
And so it begins....
So I have been thinking about following the maddening trend of starting a blog for sometime now. The visions of writing real issues and news and things that I care about and hope to get others to care about as well; social justice issues, matters of concern to the panth and kaum, and just for me to rant about the Lakers, CAL, UMICH and other obsessions.
Another reason would be to update people on what I end up doing when I am travelling for the community work I do outside of my job-job.
While both these are valid rationales to start a blog it is tragically one event that has got me off my ass to begin this endeavor, as you will see in the following post.......
