Sikh youths ready for curtain call

September 2nd, 2006 by admin

HAYWARD — Amrit Khalsa already knew something about Sikh history before this summer. Although she was a baby when her family moved to the United States from the Punjab region of India, her father tells her stories about the religious community’s past.

But a Sikh youth camp in Fremont this summer inspired her to share that history with others. On Saturday, the 17-year-old Tennyson High School student and 13 others will perform a play about growing up in the tightly knit religious community and striving to become a “Khalsa” — a person free of human weaknesses. Some, like Amrit’s family, take the Sikh ideal as a surname.

The performance of “Reet Khalse De,” or “Tradition of Khalsa,” takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Tennyson High School in Hayward.

The original play, which is in English and Punjabi, is about identity — especially for the younger generation, Amrit said.

“In many years from now, our parents and everything, they’ll be gone,” she said. “We want our generation to know what happened in the past, to know our history.”

The actors were among more than 250 children and teenagers from Fremont, Newark, Union City and Hayward — even a few from Cupertino — who participated in a six-week youth camp this summer. Sarabjit Cheema, vice president of the Gurdwara Sahib, a Sikh temple, started the program last year with her husband, Pritam Cheema. The volunteer-run program was free for the participants.

In the mornings, the children learned the Punjabi language and read scripture; in the afternoons, they socialized and played games, brushed up on their math and writing skills, or prepared for the SAT, among other activities. Some of the kids began rehearsing for the show after a series of workshops and improvisations, through which they wrote the script. Since the camp has ended, they have continued to practice regularly.

Amrit said few of the kids had any experience with acting when they started working with film director Ish Amitoj Kaur on the project. “It was really, really grueling at first, but it was really fun,” she said.

The public is welcome to attend the performance at Tennyson High School, 27035 Whitman St., in Hayward.

Admission is $5.

E-mail Katy Murphy at (510) 293-2479 or kmurphy@angnewspapers.com.
Summer camp spawns student-written script, first-time performers
By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
http://www.insidebayarea.com/

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