Happy Diwali/Halloween/Eid

Well, I am so glad to be done with the exam. Now it is just wait, wait and more wait till January and pray for good results.

Well, during the exam, I met an interesting lady in the mid 20's who was also an EE . She was sitting next to me. During a very brief conversation during the break, she asked me if I was a Sikh. I said yes. Then suddenly out of the blue, she said "I was was thinking about coverting to Sikhism because I liked the fact that they serve delicious food". Jokingly, I said "Well that is a good reason to convert." She continued that the Mosque does not do anything like that. I asked if she goes to Mosque and she replied no. She mentioed that she grew up in Sacramento area and had been to the Sikh Gurudwara there many times to attend weddings and everything. At this point, the afternoon part of the test was ready to begin and I asked for her business card. Looking at the name, I asked what kind of name that was and she answered Iranian. I am even more amazed. The test started and she finished her exam early and left before I did. That was the last thing I got out of the conversation and I wished I had more time to talk and find out more about her. I found this whole thing to be very interesting since this was the first time I had met someone from a Muslim country that had told me about an interest to convert to Sikhism. I wish I had more chance to ask where she was in her search for Truth and Sikhism. It just raised a lot of questions in my mind.

My opinion from all this and a few other little incidents is that there is a great interest in Sikhism in the World, but only sad thing is that I don't even think our Gurudwaras here in the west are prepared and know how to take people in that are showing interest. First thing being that the kirtan and katha are all in Gurmukhi, which is Ok but there should be some English. The granthis should also be able to converse and understand some English. Also, I wish the Gurudwaras would involve kids more in Kirtan and Katha. If someone were to ask me today what they need to do to covert to Sikhism I don't think I will be able to point them to the right direction as far as the Gurudwara/granthi are concerned. Sure I can give them an overall concept of Sikhism, seva, simran, bana etc. But to really point them to the right direction, and provide all details and everything, It would be very difficult. I guess since I find it hard myslef, how can I point someone else. Whenever people ask me about Sikhism I usually end up pointing to them to the most common websites such as www.sikhnet.com or www.sikhs.org or www.allaboutsikhs.com and www.sikhwomen.com . I would love to hear other's thoughts and guidance on this as to how they would handle if some one shows them interest in Sikhism.