Concepts of Equality

Using Karah Prashad to explore equality. Karah Prashad is given out at Sikh temples and is made of equal parts water, butter, sugar and flour.

Jason Taylor, the filmmaker behind the 'Concepts of Equality' video beautiful explains "By using equal amounts of each ingredient, then blessing it and sharing it equally, this simple offering represented to people the message of equality of both men and women, a message the world seems to have forgotten, not just in the east but in the west too. The three ingredients were at one time sourced from local families who farmed the Gurdwara’s surrounding lands. They would donate them as part of their Dasvand, which literally means, one tenth. Whether financial, agricultural or as service to others, all Sikhs believe that one tenth of everything we have to give should be shared with those less fortunate than us."

Click here to read more about the video and here for more about the project.

Freedom of food and the Golden Temple

To the sounds of  DJ Shadow's 'Organ Donor' this video brilliantly captures Langar at Harimandir Sahib aka The Golden Temple. It shows the food being made and served while asking us to imagine a food system based on compassion. Something to think about while people are turning to food banks to eat:

"This short film comes from the kitchens of the golden temple where every day around 100,000 people, regardless of colour, caste or religion, donate, prepare, consume and clean for nothing more than compassion. Are we really moving in the right direction?
This year the world will produce enough food to feed twice the world's population, yet every day almost one billion people will sleep hungry".

Food for thought. 

Jason Taylor, the filmmaker behind the 'Freedom of food and the golden temple'

Click here to read more about the video and here for more about the project.

Tying the Knot - BBC3 short film #Sikh

I was surprised to discover this short film on the BBC THREE youtube channel but I'm glad I did. It touches upon a myriad of subjects. It's worth watching, monologue pieces are hit and miss but I feel this one is strong. 

It's great to see the BBC actually create some Sikh related content, hopefully BBC THREE can help nurture the next generation of filmmakers.

This short film has been written by Rena Dipti Annobil and stars Mawaan Rizwan as Ronnie, a man struggling to prepare for his wedding day. Over the course of five minutes it touches on a variety of topics related to the Sikh diaspora.

It's part of a new BBC venture called 'The Break',  between BBC Taster, BBC Writersroom and BBC Drama Production that has seen five original short dramas written by up-and-coming writing talent from across the UK. Each short consists of a standalone, contemporary individual monologue, the others are really inventive and worth checking out too.

Heart and Soul - Me and My Turban

Here's an insightful radio programme about Sikh women who wear turbans, it's part of the BBC series Heart and Soul. Presented by Nikki Bedi, the episode follows several Sikh women who discuss their decisions to wear a turban as part of their faith and spiritual growth as Sikh women.

Click here to listen to the programme. 

Image of Davinder and her daughter Har-rai who feature in the episode, taken by Rajeev Gupta .

Presented by Nikki Bedi
Produced by Rajeev Gupta