Multicultural Melbourne
Multicultural Melbourne
By Bert Naik, Australia [ Published Date: February 21, 2010 ]
Just in case the readers of this portal did not notice it, Melbourne received a lot of prominence in the Indian media recently. The real picture though is vastly a different from the one fed to the Indian media.
Melbourne is home to people from almost every part of the world. It is rare to see an unsmiling person anywhere.
Scouting Australia, a very active organisation for the young people in Australia, encourages the scouts in many ways to reach out to communities and groups other than one's own. I am on the committee of a Scouts group.
One place that my involvement in scouting has taken me to a few times in the past is the local Gurdwara, or, as our Sikh friends call it, Gurdwara Sahib. Sikhs do not insist that a visitor belongs to their religion to enter the Gurdwara. That makes it very easy for the scouts of other faiths to visit the Gurdwara to experience a religious service other than the scouts' own.
Although the Sikhs hold certain areas of the Gurdwara in great reverence, they also use the venue for social interaction. Everyone partakes of the community meal served at the langar. Langar, a very laborious exercise, is undertaken entirely by volunteers.
On Sunday, 21 Feb 2010, I took a small number of scouts including my son Brian (16) to the local Gurdwara.
Thought I would share some photos with the readers to show you the thriving multicultural life in Melbourne.
It must the International head-gear day.
As we stepped out of the Gurudwara langar into the grilled chicken shop a few doors away, Brian wondered aloud why the head-gear of a guest at the chicken shop looked very different.
The guest, who promptly introduced himself in broken English that he is sheikh something or the other from Bani Yas, Abu Dhabi, took his head gear off and put it onto Brian's head.
Three cheers to all the headgears of this world!
Multicultural Melbourne
By Bert Naik, Australia [ Published Date: February 21, 2010 ]
Just in case the readers of this portal did not notice it, Melbourne received a lot of prominence in the Indian media recently. The real picture though is vastly a different from the one fed to the Indian media.
Melbourne is home to people from almost every part of the world. It is rare to see an unsmiling person anywhere.
Scouting Australia, a very active organisation for the young people in Australia, encourages the scouts in many ways to reach out to communities and groups other than one's own. I am on the committee of a Scouts group.
One place that my involvement in scouting has taken me to a few times in the past is the local Gurdwara, or, as our Sikh friends call it, Gurdwara Sahib. Sikhs do not insist that a visitor belongs to their religion to enter the Gurdwara. That makes it very easy for the scouts of other faiths to visit the Gurdwara to experience a religious service other than the scouts' own.
Although the Sikhs hold certain areas of the Gurdwara in great reverence, they also use the venue for social interaction. Everyone partakes of the community meal served at the langar. Langar, a very laborious exercise, is undertaken entirely by volunteers.
On Sunday, 21 Feb 2010, I took a small number of scouts including my son Brian (16) to the local Gurdwara.
Thought I would share some photos with the readers to show you the thriving multicultural life in Melbourne.
It must the International head-gear day.
As we stepped out of the Gurudwara langar into the grilled chicken shop a few doors away, Brian wondered aloud why the head-gear of a guest at the chicken shop looked very different.
The guest, who promptly introduced himself in broken English that he is sheikh something or the other from Bani Yas, Abu Dhabi, took his head gear off and put it onto Brian's head.
Three cheers to all the headgears of this world!
