July

Belief in the equality of women in all spheres of life is a fundamental teaching of Sikhism. The Sikh Gurus and saints denounced age old practices that violated the rights of females and contributed to their being looked upon in society as a burden - these included female infanticide, sati, the dowry system, and discriminatory attitudes towards widows which prevented them from remarrying and made them social outcasts. Our father firmly believed that education was the key to social equality.

He was especially passionate about the importance of educating children, nurturing their God-given gifts and abilities, and enabling them to fulfill their potential regardless of whether they were sons or daughters. Throughout our life he provided us with the tools, resources and opportunities to acquire knowledge, to learn new skills and to develop our own interests. To those (within the wider South-Asian community in Britain where we lived) who looked down upon his decision to 'allow' us to go to University (the first girls in our large extended family to do so), he would boldly reply that an "educated mother is an educated family".

In 1980 when he drove us as young teenagers overland to India and back, it didn't matter to him that we missed a year of school. "Travel" he would say 'is the best form of education". A verse which our father often used to quote to us from the teachings of Guru Nanak Ji is the one which questions why it is that women should be considered inferior when they are the source of all life and give birth to great leaders and kings.

This teaching, as well as what he regarded it taught us about the pivotal role of women in society and the sanctity of motherhood, is symbolically conveyed through the artwork we've selected for this page which pays tribute to our paternal grandmother bebeji Harbans Kaur: a woman of great strength of character who (guided by her Sikh heritage) demonstrated integrity, honesty, resilience, resourcefulness, self-respect, dignity, a commitment to hard work, and a deep sense of responsibility towards others - qualities that made her an important role model and respected pillar of the family in her multiple roles as daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother.

The child in her arms (symbolising motherhood) is shown wearing an armlet containing the koh-i-noor diamond - a long established symbol of kingship. Behind our grandmother is a scene based on an historical engraving of the Sikh shrine of Harmandir Sahib, in the holy city of Amritsar. This denotes her birthplace and cultural origins in Punjab but also signifies the special status and role of mothers and women as preservers of tradition and the spiritual educators of the next generation.