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Ishmeet Singh –So
Near and Yet So Far
Jagmohan Singh
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Ishmeet came like an Angel and disappeared like one.
Perhaps, some
people are destined that way. World Sikh News pays
tribute to the young singer alongside many on his 21st birthday
and also looks beyond to the still unresolved questions relating
to his untimely demise. |
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 While
still unable to grapple with the truth of the death of their beloved
son, the parents and well wishers of Ishmeet Singh celebrated his
birthday on 2 September by announcing the setting up of the Ishmeet
Singh Foundation. In attendance were the glitterati of the
Punjab music
industry –Harbhajan Mann, Hans Raj Hans and the life-size wax statue
of Ishmeet Singh, built by a Ludhiana based artist. Everybody
wished that the wax statue could speak and somehow Ishmeet could
come roaring out of it belying his sad death.
The other
announcement that was made that day made everyone unhappy than
before. The organizers of Ishmeet’s programme to
Maldives, where
he died, the famous Star Plus company has not yet come out with a
plausible explanation of his demise. To counter the theory that he
died of drowning, his father Gurpinder Singh and Uncle Dr. Charan
Kamal Singh decided to themselves go to Maldives and uncover the
truth behind the incident.
 Since then, Dr.
Charan Kamal Singh has returned from Maldives and he told World Sikh
News that, “according to what we have gathered, the statements of
the so-called witnesses, the child artiste Vyom and Arnima, the
statement of the organisers’ representative Mr. Sanjit Shah are
contradictory –they have given different statements to the Maldives
police and the media, the threatening SMS that Ishmeet Singh had
received a few days prior to his death –these are all pointers to
something fishy”.
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I Wish I Could Bring You Back
All my tears have fallen down, soaked into the soil,
Down into the ground
My heart is shaking; I do not want to believe you are gone.
My world has started to shrink,
The violets are dying, the roses are turning black.
I wish there was some way to bring you back
But I know in my heart that in heaven you are safe!
Manjot Kaur, student, Brunswick, Canada
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He was so naive, generous, and delightful. He represented all
of us. He lived in many houses and he'll always live. He
will always be remembered.
Kim Dhillon, financial accountant,
Hong Kong
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There are people all over the world who are blessed with many
more years on this Earth than Ishmeet was. Yet, they are not
able to serve their community and people in the manner that
Ishmeet Singh has. You grief and sorrow will be unbearable,
but your sense of pride should be unquestionable.
Gurpreet Singh Rana, Sofware engineer, Auckland,
New Zealand
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I think the company which had taken him to
Maldives is
totally responsible for his not being with us today. They
should be held responsible. We won't get our Ishmeet back
but definitely we would want to see some action taken so
that no one else meets a fate like Ishmeet.
Harjinder Singh, Sikhnetwork, Ludhiana
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The deliberate errors of the Star Group need to be exposed.
Everyone who believes in this must sign the online petition,
Justice for ishmeet.
Vaneet Singh, mechanical engineer, Utah, USA
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He proved that a pure Sikhi swaroop is no hindrance to
success if one has the required talent.
Jasmeet Singh Bhogal, software engineer, New Delhi
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Keep the music alive in our lives - Ishmeet will live on as
long as the music lives.
Zahida Virjee, ardent fan, Canada
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We praise Ishmeet for his talent
as a young Sikh Punjabi star and we do not think that is an
endorsement of Bollywood in any way.
Soni Kumar, mass communication student, USA
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Dr. Charan Kamal
Singh and Gurpinder Singh while holding on to their side of the
story, were insistent that “we need to know the truth –whatever it
is we will accept it.” We suspect foul play and the onus is on the
organizers and the government to prove it otherwise. An enquiry by
the Central Bureau of Investigation was requested by the family when
they met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a few days back.
WSN learns that
the
Maldives police is also set to reinvestigate the matter and with the
Punjab
government pushing the case, there is likelihood of more murky
details coming up in the matter, though Star Plus is attempting to
brush everything under the carpet.
Though
I am not a forensic expert nor I have been trained in police style
investigation, I can safely conclude that the company was grossly
negligent in handling its duties. God forbid, if the young 8 year
old artiste Vyom had jumped into the swimming pool alongwith Ishmeet,
then who would have saved him? And as Dr. Charan Kamal Singh asks,
“why was Ishmeet alone to go four days in advance while all others
were to reach there on the same day?
World Sikh News
joins all its readers in posthumously wishing greetings to Ishmeet
Singh just a few weeks after his untimely death. We thank all our
readers who chose the medium of the WSN to express their feelings
for the departed soul.
Little Taranjeet
Kaur, desirous of meeting Ishmeet’s parents some day, had these
pleasant words for Ishmeet’s parents: “When you miss Ishmeet, look
to the skies and you will see Ishmeet playing between the clouds and
smiling. On a clear night, do not forget that he is the nicest star
of the sky.”
Ishmeet Singh’s
classmate Ekta Mehta has not had the courage to face his family.
Manjot Kaur, a student from the
University of
Brunswick could not undertake music lessons from him but has
promised to learn music in memory of Ishmeet Singh. And Zahida
Virjee has hosted online a whole lot of digital creative work on
Ishmeet Singh and his songs.
Manjeet Kaur,
who lost a child of two years and has pulled back in life with
support from family and friends empathized with the family of
Ishmeet Singh and urged them to look Godwards and remember that he
was Angel who had come to accomplish some designated task and has
left the world after achieving that mission.
 We are grateful
to Jasvir Kaur, Ekta Mehta, Taranjit Kaur from Spain, Lakhvir Kaur –
a student studying Accounting and Financial Management in Leicester,
UK, Kim Dhillon –an accountant from Hong Kong, Bhupinder Kaur Preety,
a merchandising student from Hong Kong, Phavanjeet Kaur from
Malaysia, Manjeet Kaur from Singapore, Gurjot Keerat, Paramjit Singh
Cherra, Sarabjit Kaur -a freelance event management professional
from Delhi, Pavandeep Singh, a student from London, Abineet Kaur,
Maninder Sanghera from Surrey, Canada, Kiran Kaur Dhillon from
Ilford, Soni Kumar -a mass communication student from US Soni Kumar
from US, Amrita Arneja –a homemaker from Luxembourg, Mahanjot Singh
Sodhi –a Consultant from Toronto, Canada, Jasmeet Singh Bhogal –a
senior software engineer with IBM from New Delhi, the husband-wife
team of Ravinder Pal Singh and Sumeet Kaur, Zahida Virjee –an artist
and an ardent fan, Vaneet Singh -Mechanical engineer from Utah, USA,
Manpreet Singh from UK and our fabulous actor from Mumbai –Manmeet
Singh, who wrote in their replies in response to our questionnaire
on the website
www.worldsikhnews.com.
The cheeks of
Ishmeet Singh enveloped with tears when he received the award from
renowned singer Jagjit Singh Chitra Singh some months ago at the
Guru Nanak Dev auditorium. By a sad quirk of fate, now awards will
be presented in his memory too.
10 September 2008
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