Okay, I'm gonna get a little preachy here, so forgive me.
Actually, don't. I don't care.
I'm a bit of a SocMed obsessive, and thus, am connected a lot. Which of course means many hundreds of greetings flood my timelines and inboxes at any given festival. Many are nice, benovelent, and heartfelt; many are "It's gotta be done, so copy-paste Happy-Mubarak-Tabrik whatever". A disturbingly sizeable minority are bigotted, religio-fanatic, divisive drivel disguised as greetings. And then there are those faux greetings from the ham-acted so-politically-correct-that-they-miss-the-point-of-everything-altogether.
Therein lies my rant.
I'd have everyone know: Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhod Divas on the day of Diwali. Not INSTEAD of Diwali. Diwali is our festival too. The Guru Granth Sahib is replete with references to the lessons in Valmiki's Ramayan and other major Hindu texts. That the story of Ram and the Ramayan is mythological and Bandi Chhod Diwas is historical fact has nothing to do with anything. Bandi Chhod Diwas is a significant event in the course of Sikh history - and a celebratory one at that. It was a man's triumph over religious bigotry and fundamentalist oppression. Read up on it - the history and purpose of Bandi Chhod Diwas is all over the internet every Diwali.
I celebrate Diwali. And I revere Bandi Chhod Diwas. So if you're out gambling and drinking tonight and buying gifts for people you couldn't care less about for the rest of the year, and you're sending me messages why 'Happy Diwali' offends you, you need to take a long, hard look at your warped morality.
And the White-guilt laden PC Multi-Culti brigade? I'm not gonna swear today, so I have nothing to say to you.
Remember, on this day just over 400 years ago, the then leader of what later became the Sikh religion, gambled his release from his political oppressors on the release of others who weren't of his own faith, and won. Sadly we no longer have leaders like that any more.
That said, I wish you all a very happy Diwali. And many congratulations to all my fellow Sikhs on the 405th anniversary of Bandi Chhod Diwas.
