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 organizers' 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".
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
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
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
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
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
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
Keep the music alive in our lives - Ishmeet will live on as long as the music lives.
Zahida Virjee, ardent fan, Canada
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
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 God wards 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
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.
Sikh News
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