Once There Was Me: The Extraordinary Life of an Unknown Indian

by Bobby Sachdeva

‘Blood is thicker than water,’ I had often heard, but now I knew this to be true.

Are Indians so hard-hearted that they cannot feel the pain of the poor and needy around them?’

It is easy to step up in life, but it is very hard to take a step down.

Sikh boys are told from childhood that they are the bravest of men and can never show any sign of weakness under any circumstance.

Brought up on stories of valour and sacrifice, even very young Sikh boys dare not display any sign of even perceived weakness.

Indians like to portray their country as a picture of unity in diversity, which was a sentiment proposed by the Sikhs’ first guru, Sri Nanak Devji. But neither Sikhs nor Indians lived by this any more.

If there’s place in the heart, a place in the house can always be found.

I realized that religion was not for display. True religion is a belief system to be internalized, not imposed externally.