December 23, 2014: 
For the past couple of years, we have been cycling as a family along the Lee Valley in East London, United Kingdom.
I have really enjoyed cycling alongside the river. There is so much beauty and joy to be with water and alongside the river. The whole ten-mile route is one of pure pleasure.
No matter how many years we have been cycling along this valley, I have never ceased to enjoy the whole experience and savour the delights of the River Lee.
On Sundays I usually try and do Simran at Amrit vela and have been doing it for many years. I always feel better afterwards; it fills my day with joy.
Our family then goes cycling together, and for years we have never once encountered any trouble along the way.
Expect for one recent Sunday.
I had actually been planning to do a charity bike ride, scheduled to start from a gurdwara in East London, all the way to the West part of the city: a 25-mile ride in total.
I needed the exercise. However, I am not really that confident on main roads but with a group, I thought I would be okay. I really wanted to go on the ride.
But, when the day arrived, for various reasons I was not able to go. Instead, we enjoyed another fantastic ride along the river and we parked a bit further than usual so we could ride for 14 miles instead of our usual 10-mile stint.
I was overwhelmed with joy afterwards.
But when we got back to collect our car, it was missing! We made enquires but with no luck. We headed off and cycled to the train station, and then back home. Overall, at the end of the day, we found we had done around 25 miles each on the bikes.
Ultimately, we found out that our car had been towed away. It had been parked slightly on a yellow line ... a no-no in accordance with our municipal parking regulations and by-laws.
There was a harsh penalty of £250 to get our car back.
With hindsight, we figured it would been better to have done the charity bike ride that we had ended up skipping on for personal, unrelated reasons. The miles covered were the same and the money could have been put to better use.
The ‘cause’ had been a good one: to support a Sikh organisation for Prisoner Welfare to help those who were fighting for the release of political prisoners being illegally detained in India’s jails.
We are all well aware of Bhai Gurbaksh Singh ji’s hunger strike and we know that he is on the verge of losing his life. All for the love of freedom of his fellow Sikhs and for the justice which had been denied to them by their government.
What kind of love is this? For one man to give up his own life for the freedom of others! A love that stretches beyond the self so that the self has no meaning unless it is with the sangat (community / congregation).
So, as a global sangat, should we also not reach out and acknowledge the self that is limitlessness? A love with no boundaries which surrenders to a greater love.
Or at least raises and praises that self which is Bhai Gurbaksh Singh, whose journey may end up in paying a very heavy price if we all don’t join hands with him and participate in the struggle for justice. Now!
