Our Beloved – Ajeet Singh Matharu

The following was written by a Jakara Movement sevadar in honor of a wonderful GurSikh activist. Known to many in the Jakara family as Ajeet Singh, he had been part of the movement from its very beginning in 2000. We love, miss, and honor you Ajeet.

I always had a huge extended family in Fresno.  No mamay, chachay, phuas, or thaiys; they were all in Punjab.  Still somehow halfway across the globe my parents and their friends had reunited and created a community.  Those famous ‘batches’ from the 1970s in Patiala, now along with a few others, had all come to settle in California’s Central Valley.

While there was ‘New Years at the Sidhus’, “Father’s Day BBQs at Woodward Park” and “4^th of July at the Ranus’, it was the almost-monthly birthdays, weekly Punjabi school sessions, and other family gatherings where friendships and relationships were formed.  Ubiquitous at all these functions was Jaswant Auntie’s affectionate hugs and Joginder Uncle’s garish Hawaiian shirts.

Their son was a late addition.  However in a world of simple “Abhi’s” and “Arshi’s”, “Neilo’s” and “Paulo’s”, there was only one Ajeet Singh.  It wasn’t that the rest of us didn’t have “Singh” in our name, but somehow it conjoined and seemed most appropriate with Ajeet.  Named after a prince, he, himself, was a prince.

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