How I spent my Rakhri – Ravi Singh

By Ravi Singh  | OPINION | IRAQ |

How I spent my rakhri (ਰੱਖੜੀ)? I don’t believe in tying threads to prove my love as a brother etc.

I spent the day with the Yezidi women in Iraq who were held as slaves by ISIS and witnessed the slaughter of their loved ones!

I am a brother to all of them ! I wish we had the Khalsa army and I am sure we would have saved them much sooner.

I heard so many heartbreaking stories from the women about the loss of their family members and about their missing children. Most of the women were from the village Kocho which had witnessed a bloody massacre by ISIS. All of the men were executed and all the women taken as slaves !

I am not a perfect person or a perfect Sikh but I do have the blood of the Khalsa running through my veins !! The Khalsa will protect any woman, regardless of faith or race. We don’t need a thread to do so, we got Akal Purakh !

May Waheguru bring peace to the lives of these women.

Deg Tegh fateh!!

RAVI SINGH is the founder/CEO of Khalsa Aid, the London-based humanitarian relief agency

[Editor’s Note: The Hindu festival Rakhsha Bandhan is celebrated on the occasion of Sharva Poornima which usually falls in day of the full moon in August. Rakhsha means protection while bandhan means bond. Some Sikhs, too, observe rakhari when the sister usually tie rakhi on their brother’s wrist]

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