Dear Mehmaan,

I appreciate that you have an opinion about people in public spaces in our communities. We all need to continuously improve ourselves and provide feedback to one another. I think if you had delivered your critical feedback with love and respect it would have made more of an impact than how it was done. Although you say you don't write in spite or rancor, it sure didn't feel that way when reading it. And it's catalyzed more hateful feedback, as we've read in the comments.

And while going on about this trivial topic, we overlooked a critical moment for our Muslim sisters in France. On the day that this article was written, the Senate passed a law that banned all Muslim women from wearing burqas in public. Regardless of people's opinion's about the burqa, the fact remains that people from our communities are facing harsh penalties for practicing their faith. We know that fight all too well and we all will pay for the affects.

In New York, we are certainly feeling the heat right now; we walk by daily protests of Park 51, attend candlelight vigils for the victims of the violence and listen to stories of our young Sardar brothers having their pughs pulled off while walking down the street. We are all in this together. And Valarie Kaur had it spot on in the title of her film: Divided We Fall. Waheguru.

With basic human rights being revoked rather than gained, we need to be more united than ever before. We need to cut past the bashing (while still providing constructive feedback) and stand by each other with strength, love and humility. We need to do this not only as Sikhs, but as people who have a stake in humanity.

Thank you for sharing your views and examples in our Sikh Community of women being Panj Piaray. Seeing only men representing the Panj Piaray from Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtans to giving Amrit has always left me questioning our institutions and practices. It is very reassuring to see that some communities have challenged this practice.

Thank you for posting this; it is a small world! My husband and I had the opportunity to have Guru Raj Kaur speak at our wedding last year in Vancovuer. Despite her busy schedule, she came out of her way to speak to us about the union and commitment that we were making. After reading your post, I just realized that Nirinjan Kaur 'taught' me "So Purkh". Prior to my wedding, I had wanted to be as spiritually prepared as possible and was thus advised to do the paath, "So Purkh" for 40 days leading up to our wedding. So I bought Nirinjan Kaur's cd, which was a beautiful repetition of So Purkh.

I had no idea that both mother and daughter played such a big role in my wedding! Waheguru :)