The deep ex­pres­sive eyes of 4-year-old Tanya Kaur of Kabul are search­ing your soul. This kid’s photo touched the soul of the young artist Gurleen Kaur. She has painted oil on can­vas por­trait of Tanya Kaur in her sweet re­mem­brance which will be pre­sented to her fa­ther Aren­dar Singh and sib­lings Gur­jit Kaur and Gagan­deep Singh. The poet in Gurleen Kaur has penned a poem on be­half of the kid who ques­tions you, me, every­body and the gun­ner who was on a shoot­ing spree, the day she was killed. This is a unique dis­play of love and em­pa­thy to steal your hearts and to im­mor­talise the mem­ory of Tanya Kaur. A World Sikh News Spe­cial Ini­tia­tive. 

ICOULD NOT KEEP MY EYES OFF TANYA KAU­R’S PHOTO. The de­ci­sion to paint her was spon­ta­neous and so were the out­pour­ings in the verses. The burst of a gun in the hands of a ha­tred-filled man snuffed the life of this bril­liant kid -Tanya Kaur, ten days away from her fourth birth­day, in the lap of her mother in Gur­d­wara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul on March 25, 2020. Her mother Sor­pal Kaur and grand­fa­ther Nir­mul Singh -who was the head Granthi -chief priest of the Gur­d­wara, were also killed. Many oth­ers were also killed.

When art touches re­al­ity, the soul is touched and the in­ner rev­o­lu­tion be­gins. It is my hope and prayer that this paint­ing and poem soothes the fam­ily, Afghan Sikhs and send the gun­ners into soul-search­ing.

Ask your soul
Ask your souls
Surely, they carry the holes
While giv­ing us wounds.

Out of ha­tred poles,
Emerge sui­cide bombers, as­sailants
And play their roles.
Killing us and you too,
This devil ha­tred achieves its goals.

You are de­feated by it,
Long be­fore you start,
Ask your soul
Which vic­tory does it glo­rify?

Bow­ing be­fore the om­nipresent mole,
I had no clues,
About the ‘blues’,
This morn­ing will lead to,
For the ever­last­ing gloom,
To my peo­ple who were go­ing to lose their beloved sun­lights.
Does it sat­isfy you?
Ask your soul.

Am I in some other world,
Never saw such sight,
The men ‘sim­i­lar’ to my fa­ther are up for the fight,
Killing me. Wait.
‘Sim­i­lar’, then am I not sim­i­lar to your daugh­ters?
Ask your soul.
Why this dif­fer­ence in your eyes shows?

I felt my moth­er’s call,
Say­ing, this demise might bring a change
When we were about to fall,
In the mouth of slaugh­ter.
And we left with this hope.
Ask your soul.
For the peace­ful globe,
Can it give up the loathe?

Do you re­mem­ber the re­cent mas­sacre of Sikhs in Afghanistan ?

Among them was 4-year-old Tanya Kaur, killed in Kabul, with her mother, grand­fa­ther & other Afghan Sikhs.

This re­mem­brance por­trait paint­ing & a poem are a trib­ute to the lit­tle Sikh girl.https://​t.co/​8px8I­CymIA

— Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja (@Singh­Lions) June 8, 2020

Gurleen Kaur is a Pun­jab-based bud­ding artist and writer, in­ter-twin­ing her taste for paint­ing and writ­ing in a unique way.  She de­picts com­mon day life on her can­vas with ease and writes es­says to bring out the good­ness in peo­ple.