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Dr. Chahals
celebrate 50th wedding anniversary
"Marriage is never 50/50. One of you is always giving more,
always compromising. And we've both done our share of compromising
in these 50 years."....Mrs. Reagan
There's nothing like a 50th Wedding Anniversary! The 50th wedding
anniversary is indeed "golden" -- as it marks the growth
and development from year to shining year. There are few occasions
that are more important and heartfelt than a celebration of 50 years
of married life. A commemoration of an extraordinary half a century
together, the 50th wedding anniversary means the world to the married
couple, to their children, and to their grandchildren.....NRIinternet.com
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Montreal, March 17, 2007
SD Management
Dear All,
I had the honour and pleasure of joining Dr. Devinder Singh Chahal
and his wife Sardarni Kulwant Kaur Chahal to celebrate their 50th
wedding anniversary with family and friends at the Karnack Temple
(Shriners Hall) on March 17, 2007 Montreal. Following sentimental
recall of anecdotes by family members spanning fifty years, Dr.
Chahal thanked guests on his and his family's behalf for braving
the frigid weather and joining them to mark a significant milestone
they will always cherish. .....Tej Thind
In his nostalgic address, Dr. Chahal recalled:
- I was about 9 or 10 years old when I was engaged with Kulwant.
Kulwant's grandfather came for the ceremony.
- About 15 years passed without knowing each other till we married
on 14th February 1957, although I met my in-laws a couple of time
before marriage once at Simla and other time in Chandigarh.
- We did not know that February 14 was a very important day,
"The Valentine Day", in the West.
- Parminder, our son, came to join us on March 26, 1959.
- Neenu, our daughter, came to join us after exactly one year
and one day on March 27, 1960.
- Both filled our lives with pleasure and prosperity.
- They were just growing up in their 4th and 3rd year that I
have to go to States for higher studies in 1963.
- Kulwant with Parminder and Neenu moved to her parents at Jallandhar
and stayed there for three years of my absence.
- This was a great support to my family and I had nothing to
worry about at my home front.
- Here I would like to say that success of married life depends
on many factors. When one marries it is not only between the couple
but much more since two families are involved completely for the
welfare of the
couple.
- In our case it was because of the moral support and love of
two families - the Chahals and the Dhillons and then the colleagues
and friends.
- Now about a ring Kulwant gave me at the time of marriage. It
was three rings in one. When these are put together it made two
hands holding a heart in between.
- I wore it throughout my stay in USA from 1963-1966. You know
the importance of the ring in the USA especially when you are
studying with young people.
- This period was difficult especially for Kulwant not from financial
point of view but of my separation.
- Kulwant developed high blood pressure just because of separation
and anxiety about me and my success in my studies.
- It was difficult for me also that I was away from my family
and two lovely young kids of 4 and 3 when I was supposed to be
with them.
- Besides that I have to work very hard so that I could complete
my mission and go back to join my wife , Kulwant, Parminder and
Neenu who were grown up to 7 and 6.
- On my return we stayed together from 1966 to 1974 for about
8 years at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana then again
I had to leave for USA as Fulbright Visiting Professor at MIT,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
for one year.
- From there I moved to University of Waterloo as Visiting Professor
in 1975. Meanwhile I got Canadian immigration on sponsorship of
my sister Balbir and her husband Mr Baljit Gill. They are here
this evening with their daughter Dr Jasbir Gill and her husband
Luke O'Brian and their grandson, Arjan.
- In 1976 after two years Kulwant joined me and soon Parminder
and Neenu joined us in Waterloo, Ontario.
- Then in 1980 we moved to Ottawa for a couple of years and from
there we moved to Laval, Quebec and I joined the Institute Armand-Prappier,
Universite du Quebec.
- When we are in Ottawa we married Neenu with Gursharan Singh
Sidhu in August 1982. It was the first marriage in the Sikh Community
in Ottawa. Every family known to us celebrated this marriage as
if it is the marriage
of their own daughter.
- We find the Sidhus as the most affectionate family. I have
all praises for in-laws of Neenu who are treating her as their
own daughter. We are so close to Neenu's in-laws that Chahals
and Sidhus are as one family. Neenu's whole family (husband-Gursharan,
daughter-Sheenu, son-Vikram) is here with us. Neenu's Nannan (sister-in-law)
Rajwans and her husband Avtar with their twin sons from Brampron,
Ontario are with us; and Neenu's brother-in-law, Dr Harkirt Singh
Sidhu from Edmonton is here. .
- Next year in July 1983 we married Parminder with Harvinder,
daughter of our dear and close friends Dr Sarwan Singh Sajjan
and Mrs Paul. Dr Sajjan was very close colleague too in the Punjab
Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Sajjans were also very close
neighbors. Although I and my wife could not see each other till
our marriage, Parminder and Harvinder have been playing together
from their childhood to about 15 years before getting married.
- Tonight one brother from Philadelphia and two sisters of Harvinder
from LA and Vancouver are here to represent their rest of the
family.
- My whole family Parminder, Harvinder and grand daughter Neenu,
and grant grandson Shawn; Neenu, Gursharan and grand daughter
Sheenu and grandson Vikram from LA are here with us tonight.
- My brother Dalbir and his wife Harjit and their son Jagdeep
from Brampton are here with us.
- My sister Balbir and her husband Baljit Gill with their daughter
Dr Jasbir Gill and her husband, Luke O'Brian with their son, Arjan,
from Brampton are here with us.
- Besides my relatives there are many close friends and colleagues
from Greater Montreal, Brampton, and Ottawa.
I retired from the university in 1996 and we are living happily
with our son Parminder and Harvinder Daughter-in-law and two grand
children, Deepy and Shawn under one roof - a rare phenomenon. They
are taking very good care of
us. We visit Neenu and Gursharan and three grand children, Sheenu,
Komal and Vikram very often in the LA.
Our in-laws and our Kurms are so nice families that we feel as
if we are a great joint family.
We have spent our lives very happily and visited most of the countries,
almost whole of the Europe, UK, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand,
Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Istanbul, etc.
Finally, I may say we have enjoyed our lives very well and we have
completed our responsibilities without any trouble. We never had
any problem with our children when they were growing up and now
when they are parent also. Today our family consists of one son
and his wife, one daughter and her husband, three grand daughters,
and two grand sons.
Most of the people are worried about their next lives whether they
are going to hell or heaven. They do lot of religious karam kands
to get a seat reserved in heaven. But we followed Nanakian Philosophy
to make our lives easy and adjusted to the environment and other
conditions. We took care of our children to make our lives happy
and easy during the present lives since our next lives are in our
son and daughter and the following lives in our grand children.
We are neither going to heaven or hell or into reincarnation of
any other lives after this life. That is what we learned from Nanakian
Philosophy:
If our lives are happy and prosperous during this life then our
future lives (lives of our children and grand children) are happy
and prosperous. My suggestion to all nears and dears, and friends
to follow this way of life. This is the way of life I learned from
Nanakian Philosophy:
Awgwhw kU qRwiG ipCw Pyir n muhfVw ]
nwnk isiJ ievyhw vwr bhuiV n hovI jnmVw ]1]
AGGS, M 5, p 1096.
Nanak says:
"Think about the future, look not on the past.
Make the present life a great success
Because there is no birth again."
People usually say that they would like to marry their wives again
and again during the next seven lives, but this evening I am asking
my wife, Kulwant, to marry me again at least for the next 25 years
since there is no other life after this. She agreed and put a ring
of diamonds and a pearl on her finger in the presence of all my
relatives and friends in the evening of
March 17 in a reception given to us by our children.
Tonight is our happiest night of our lives that we are among our
relatives and friends. We are very grateful to all of them for joining
with us on this occasion.
Dr. Chahal's profile would be incomplete without reference
to his professional accomplishments - these are:
Professor Devinder Singh Chahal obtained his PhD (Microbiology)
from the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio and University of
Southern Illinois, Carbondale, Illinois, USA in 1966. On his return
to India he established a new Department of Microbiology at the
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He left this institute
in 1974 and worked as a Visiting Scientist at the prestigious institution,
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
as Fulbright Fellow, a prestigious award, for one year. In 1975
Professor Chahal came to Canada as an immigrant. After serving
at the University of Waterloo, Ontario and the Institut Armand-Frappier,
Universite du Quebec, Laval, Quebec, he retired on October 1, 1996
from the position of Professor of Applied Microbiology. During his
professional life he has written a few scientific books and many
chapters in various scientific books and many research articles
in scientific journals of the
world. He has presented his research in many international conferences
held in various parts of the world. During his scientific professional
life he has developed a few processes to produce valuable chemicals
from waste biomass. He has five patents on these processes in Canada,
USA and India.
During his professional life he has also written many articles
on scientific and logical interpretation of Gurbani (Word of the
Sikh Gurus) and representation of Sikhism in various journals of
the world and in many multi-authored books. He has also written
a few critical analyses of some works on Sikhism and Gurbani. He
is continuing this service through the
Institute for Understanding Sikhism, as President and Editor-in-Chief
of Understanding Sikhism: The Research Journal that is published
twice a year.
Publications:
1. Chahal, D.S. 2003. JAP: The Essence of Nanakian Philosophy.
Institute for Understanding Sikhism, Laval, Quebec, Canada. Distributors:
Singh Brothers, Amritsar
2. Chahal, D. S. 2004. Sabd Guru to Granth Guru - An In-depth Study.
Institute for Understanding Sikhism, Laval, Quebec, Canada. Distributors:
Singh Brothers, Amritsar.
3. Chahal, D S. 2004. Sikh Perspectives of Bioethics. In: Annals
of
Bioethics. John F Peppin, Mark J Cherry, and Ana Iltis (Editors),
Taylor &
Francis, The Netherlands, Leiden, London and New York.
4. Sauges, Catherine reported pronouncement by personality: Chahal,
D.
S. 2005. Éthique et la spiritualité: Régler
un désaccord par la discussion
amicable. In "L'éthique et les affaires une quête
de sens. 101 personnalités
se pronouncement. Entreprendre, Hors série no 18 (2): p 148.
(Ethic and
Affairs according to the principles of Nanakian Philosophy.)
5. Chahal, D. S. 2006. Some Salient Principles in Sikhism. Institute
for Understanding Sikhism, Laval, Quebec, Canada.
SD Management extends it best wishes to Chahals on their 50th wedding
anniversary.....SD Management
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