When you juxtapose the words 'Sikh' and the city of 'Calcutta' (now 'Kolkata' - if you like), two images come to mind; both of them strikingly uncommon. One is that of the historic voyage of the Japanese ship: "Komagata Maru" in 1914 – and the second: of the remarkable Monthly Journal "The Sikh Review", that has recently completed 71 years of publication. The ship made history when 350 Sikhs sailed into Canada's Vancouver harbor – only to be quarantined and compelled to return to Calcutta, where they met with a barrage of firing by British Indian Police that resulted in the death of 18 Sikhs: a bizarre tragedy that made the world award of the Sikh presence in Canada.
How many Sikh Institutions can boast of having started in the mid - 20th century, and continue to march into the 21st century with the same vitality and consistency as had inspired its initial journalist enterprises? Now, soon, The Sikh Review will embark its 71st year. The Journal seeks to provide the readers with a sense of pride and gratitude: Pride in its incredible resilience; Gratitude also for the fact that Sikhs can create successful institutions to serve the new generation provided we are determined. Gratitude also that it is the Sikh awakening and blazing the cultural renaissance of the early 1900s that brought our Faith back to its transcendental realm. "The Sikh Review" is one such example of that dynamics.
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