Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

see S. Gurbakhsh Singh Kala Afghana in Seattle, Washington, which I did, and I invited S. Kala Afghana
to visit us at Sikh Center Roseville for a week or two and he very kindly agreed.
I then spread the word around Sacramento to invite people with knowledge of Gurbani
to come to listen to him. Sarbjit Singh Sandhu was one of them and he brought with him late S. Gian
Singh of Elk Grove, who not only commented favourably on discourses of S. Kala Afghana but also
became a very active member of our reform movement. His
own discourses on Gurbani
were also extremely valuable and he
gave freely of his time. He is sorely missed. He was a graduate of both the University of New Delhi and
Missionary College Delhi.
Gian Singh 1941-Feb. 11, 2013 Dr. Sulakhan Singh Dhillon (1927-2004) Gurpal Singh Khaira
Soon after we started on this course of reformation in Sikhi, I had the good fortune of meeting late Dr.
Sulakhan Singh Dhillon of Berkeley, California. I being so green in matters of knowledge of Gurbani and
paucity of acquaintance with scholars in this field, he took me under his wings, so to speak. In the words
of his wife, Darleen Dhillon, “He was a wonderful Sikh, embodying all the best teachings, and showing
by example what a Sikh should be. He was my hero and best friend as well as my dear husband of 42
years.”
I first met him in his role as a founder member of the group that started teaching of Panjabi at the U. C.
Berkeley. He helped me hold educational and informational seminars at the Sikh Center Roseville to
which he brought as speakers and resource persons educators from the faculties at the University of The
Pacific in Stockton and Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B. C., Canada. His passing, in blissful sleep,
was a great personal loss to me but even more so for the Sikh community because he was a unifier and a
bridge builder.
He helped arrange our first annual conference in November 1999 to which Dr. Pashaura Singh was
especially invited, his first appearance at a gathering of Sikhs since his thesis controversy. Notable
achievements of this conference were:
1. Adoption of Nanakshahi Calendar, as presented by Pal
2. Singh Purewal, in its original form, at this conference, long before the SGPC finally approved it.
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