Saturday, January 20, 2007

Reunited with RSK

Yesterday I paid a long overdue visit to Rajinder Singh Khalsa. I was feeling pretty bad about just how many months had passed since I'd seen him. When I called him on the phone this was our conversation:

"Are you home Khalsa Ji?"
"Yes brother?"
"Can I come to visit you know?"
"Why you asking this question? You are thinking too much like an American. If you know I am hom, you just come here. If nobody is home we willl give you the key. You are our family."

I took the one hour subway trip out to Richmond Hill. When I got there the place looked more or less the same. He had replaced the electric, light-up picture of the Golden Temple with a more classy-looking photo of the same. More VIP photos of him that he had taken in recent months. He had been invited by Councilmember John Liu to speak at a Diwali celebration (for some reason it was called Deepawali on the program) and he also attended a South Asian reception at Mayor Bloomberg's office (he has a great photo of himself shaking hands with Mayor Mike, who looks as frozen as a wax statue).

The man has had his highs in the past few months. But he's having his share of challenges too. The facial fractures he suffered from his beating leaves his face very sensitive to temperature changes -- his whole face aches when it gets cold or damp. He still can't work a fulltime job because he gets tired after two hours - - even in talking with me and sharing all of his recent highlights, he became exhausted (and this is a guy who LOVES to talk about his achievements).

But he was cheered up when he watched the video of his daughter's wedding that I had finally completed over the holidays (the wedding was back in April!) I felt good too watching it - there were some really nice moments and shots that I had captured. And just sitting beside him I did feel like part of the family in some way. There are some people in the world that make you feel right at home, and Khalsa Ji is one of them.

I promised Khalsa Ji that I would see more of him. In fact I want to resume my education in Sikhims under his tutelage. I plan to stop by next Friday to ask him to help me with Ardas, and see what other conversations emerge. It's all part of a process of knowing and growing more.

1 comment:

helpinghands said...

IS RSK IS A REAL HERO IN NY ? . WE HEARD HE IS NOT A MAN OF HIS WORDS.
IN SOCIETY HE MADE MANY FALSE STATEMENTS AND NEVER COME TO HIS OWN SAID WORDS.HE ANNOYING TOO MANY PPLE LIVES.HOW YOU SAID HE IS TRUE MAN OF WORDS. HE BECAME HERO BY ACCIDENT AFTER SOME WHITE GUYS KICK HIM.HE CALL HIM SELF AS HERO OF AMERICA.MEDIA TAGGED HIM AS A HERO OF THEIR PAST NEWS PAPERS FIRST PAGE. AND PEOPLE BELIEVE HIM AS A PREACHE.HE IS NOT A REAL KHALSA JUST FOLLOWING THE LAST NAME AND MISS USE IT.ONE DAY WILL COME PEOPLE COME TO KNOW ABOUT HIS ORIGINAL FACE. WE WILL RELEASE HIM VERY TRUE FACE SHORTLY . HE JUST OWN HIS OWN GET IN THE PEOPLE AND CAUGHHT SOME PICTURE AND SHOW TO THE WORLD THAT HE IS VERY FAMILIAR WITH THEM. CALLING HIMSELF AS A MEMBER OF UNO AND OTHER BIG GROUP ACTIVITIES IN NY. WE LIVE IN NY CITY AND HEAR ALOT ABOUT HIM.

HELPINGHANDS