Tuesday, May 06, 2008

BBC Asian Network Discussion

Today I was invited to take part in a discussion on BBC Asian Network on the Nihal show (10am till 11am) at the BBC London studio in White City. The topic was "what comes first religious law or civic law." I was meant to arrive at the studio at 9.45am, however I got late for various reasons. Firstly, two out three of the ticket machines at the train station were out of order. Secondly, because of the ticket machines not working, the queue to buy the train tickets was huge and so I missed the train. Thirdly, the next train that was meant to leave at 8.08am was 30 minutes late! Chalo, I eventually got to the studio (15 minutes into the show) after rushing in the underground!

As soon as I got to the BBC, someone took me straight to the studio. Because I had rushed to get to the studio I was out of breath. As soon as I sat down, the presenter asked me a question (I thought at least let me catch my breath!). I was struggling to breathe and talk at the same time! Waheguru. It was a good show and some "interesting" callers.

>>Tuesday 6th May - Nihal Show's Divine Debate
(the 'Divine debate' starts at 1hr into the programme)



BBC Studio


Standing with Nihal (the presenter). He is a really down to earth and nice guy.


On the way back home I decided to take the train to Southall. I visited Park Avenue Gurdwara Sahib. As I entered the Gurdwara Sahib I thought there was an audio CD of keertan being played. When I entered the diwaan hall I was pleasantly surprised to see a keertani jatha doing keertan. The keertan was so beautiful and sweetly sung. Waheguru. Bhai Santokh Singh from Damdami Taksaal were doing keertan. The jatha were young in age. It's the first time I have seen or heard them! May Waheguru continue to do kirpaa on them.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good discussion and you put the Sikh perspective across well. Nihal show recently done a show on “should there be a khalistan” which was interesting. (show comes on mon-fri 9am - 12am)

mandeep

Anonymous said...

i feel for you Manvir Singh, how could "Ranjeet Singh" say that about the kirpan, must of been a prankster

Paman Singh said...

Paaji, i listened to the show and i thought that you raised excellent awareness, and made ignorant statements like "sikhs shouldnt be given special rules to wear knifes" look caveman-ish in their logic

i also admire how you talked of sikhi as for all humanity, and to be a good sikh is to intrinsically be a good person!

Anonymous said...

Wjkk wjkf, bhai sahib with gurus kirpa you handed a difficult discussion really really well.

Guru kipra karay and keep you in chardikala and in this seva.

Dhan guru nanak.

Anonymous said...

Wgjkk Wgjkf,
I just listened to the show online. An inspiration, you conducted yourself with humility and grace. - thank you veerji.

GURU said...

bhai Manvir ji
I just cliked google for some other person and found link to your blog. Its good and I have heard your views at woodville hall also about Sikhi past, present and future. Keep going in right direction. God bless u .
Unfortunately I can't listen any show from 9 to 18 due to my job. Pl inform if any repeat telecast

Manvir Singh (UK) said...

Bhai Sahib the show was last week. It has been recorded and is on the BBC Asian Network website audio archive.

Whenever you wish to listen you can click on the link in the post (above the photos).


Guru Raakhaa.

Anonymous said...

Manviiiiiiiiiiiiiiir : )

I came to your blog today to say thanks for doing a great job on the radio - and lo and behold you wrote a whole post about it : )

You know when I first heard that BBC Asian Network were going to do this debate and include Sikhs I was a bit pessimistic because so often there are very few Sikh youth/people who can articulate themselves in a proffessional manner in order to be taken seriously. But I'm really glad you did it, and with Guru Ji's blessing more of us will take inspiration from such spokespeople so we can stand up for ourselves clearly.

p.s. Did you recognise the name in one of the emails at the end? : )

Manvir Singh (UK) said...

"b" jee - Thanks for your comment.

Sorry, I don't know which email you are refering to. Did you send me an email?

Anonymous said...

It's okie : ) twas an email on the show but don't worry about it.

Unknown said...

veer ji waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji ki fateh
veer ji tuhada show nahi sun pa reya .. cant find it on the BBC net.

Manvir Singh (UK) said...

Sorry Siddharth bhaji. The link has expired. The link now is playing last Tuesday's show which is different topic.