Editor's Letter

Quoting one of the most famous sayings “A pen is mightier than sword”, this has

always been my vision in life. I want to touch hearts through writing. I want to empower youths

through writing. I want to CHANGE the world through writing.

Welcome to the first issue of the Jaago Punjab Youth Magazine (JPYM)! When I was thinking about

how to involve youths in creativity; the first thing that came to my mind was through writing. Writing is

expressing your views. Your opinions. Your crazy ideas. Your thoughts. Your freedom of speech.

Your desires ...and the list is pretty much endless.

The first issue dishes out a diverse range of topics- from eminent New York writer Navdeep Singh

Dhillon who talks about what’s wrong in today’s Punjabi Music Industry to bloggers who write about

how the practice of meditation can overpower the addiction of drugs. In addditon to that, we also

bring you a crazy and bubbly psychiatrist Rishika Sharma who gives realistic advices on drug abuse.

We also bring you helpful tips from a psychology student - Sneha Kukreja who conveys the

message

And most importantly not to forget our artist of the month- Ikdip Kaur Brar who has contributed to our

cover photo of the Magazine and is our Art Editor.

We look forward to hear more from you! I ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR

MAGAZINE! This is for the youth and by the youths! If you are artist, a photographer, a writer, a

poet, a singer or a healthcare professional or even a Punjab lover: Then please send us your

contributions to punjabjaago@gmail.com

I dream of a drug-free-state-of-Punjab. Do YOU?

Anureet Kaur

Founder of Jaago Punjab

The Celebrity Interview

Navdeep Singh Dhillon

Often it’s said that media heavily influences it’s viewers- what they say, what they wear, how they

behave and perhaps even what they DRINK. Few days ago, I stumbled upon a famous blog piece

on Punjabi Music Industry and it’s relationship with drugs/alcohol written by eminent New York writer

- Navdeep Singh Dhillon. Mr. Singh deeply analyzed as to how Punjab music industry heavily

influences the drug industry and what can we do about it. Jaago Punjab decided to investigate this

topic further by interviewing Mr. Singh on his views and what can be done to save Punjab in this dire

need. Here’s the link to his famous blog piece that received overwhelming comments-

http://thelangarhall.com/india/punjab-doesnt-have-an-alcohol-problem-just-a-drug-problem/

We are thankful to Mr. Singh for answering our questions and providing us with some insightful tips

that would help Punjab in a longer run.

Question) Your blog had mentioned about the evergreen famous song “Chitey Suit te Daag

pe Gia” by Geeta Zaildar. You wrote that there is one part of the song that clearly talks about

a lover who is also drowned in hard drugs. Could you please elaborate on what the situation

was and what kind of message was being spread?

Mr. Singh: It is important to note that the narrative of this song still adheres to the typical 3-

act- boy-girl romantic drama. Act I: Boy doesn’t pay attention to girl (in most other Punjabi

songs, it’s because of alcohol, or hanging with the boys). Act II: Girl reacts by sulking and

being fake angry at boy. Act III: Boy pays her the slightest interest and all is right with the

world again. What is interesting about this particular song is the use of the word “soota.” As

a verb, it means to inhale smoke. What was Geeta Zailidar smoking that knocked him out for

the entire night after he called his “jaan” to his house? Not even waking up to phone calls or

her loudly banging on his door? The line after that, in good jovial fun, she questions their

relationship continuing because he has become not just a “vaili,” (a drug addict), but “vaili

ho gia bhara”: he has become a heavy drug addict. But he seems fine after he wakes up,

completely functional; he smiles and everything is all good. So, perhaps she was just over-

reacting to this Punjabi munda doing what Punjabi munde do: having a little soota here and

there?

Traditionally, whenever drugs were mentioned, it was in relation to the Village Amlis, who

were used more as comic relief characters in songs and scripts. They were never young

guys, or the hero. What is significant about the song is that it is not an NRI like Bohemia

singing about cocaine, or a song talking about the perils of drug-use in Punjab. It’s a light-

hearted song that normalizes the use of drugs as just something boys do, like riding Bullet

motorcycles, whistling at girls, drinking large quantities of Patiala pegs, and wearing jeans

that are much too tight on them.

I don’t know what message is being spread, but it certainly normalizes drug use as

something an individual can handle. In the music video, Geeta does not behave like a typical

drug-addict. And as soon as he wakes up, he is perfectly fine. To make it clear, I am not

vilifying Geeta Zailidar or his music. But I do think contemporary singers, who are clearly

talented, could be par of the solution by writing even occasional songs addressing issues

related to the problem in Punjab.

Q) You had also mentioned that Punjab doesn’t really have a problem with “alcohol”..it’s just

the drugs that are “bad” and “unacceptable”. Do you think it’s because our society has

happily accepted that alcohol is a means of bragging that we live in a rich household and

drugs is just a poor man’s ‘staple food’?

Mr. Singh: I’m glad you got the sarcastic reference to the title of the post! I do think the

popularization of alcohol as a “natural” part of our Punjabi culture has certainly helped to

normalize and romanticize the use of alcohol. Every Punjabi musician, from Asa Singh

Mastana to Malkit Singh have sung songs in praise of alcohol. Alcohol has also been

acceptable, even for many Sikhs because being a Punjabi trumps the religious aspect, where

we selectively interpret “nasha” as only things you inject or smoke.

Q) Do you think that protests in Punjab regarding the drug abuse issue would bring a much

needed revolution?

Mr. Singh: No, I don’t. We have been protesting 1984 since … well 1984 and it is still not

public knowledge. Most people in western countries and certainly plenty of areas in India

have no clue about 1984, or a very limited scope.

While I applaud efforts to publicize events through public protests, it needs to be part of a

bigger movement with specific goals. Nasha harao is not a specific goal. It’s about as useful

as the war on drugs, and not even an original slogan. Indira Gandhi came up with Garibi

Harao decades ago. Public protests rely too much on banners with meaningless slogans and

above all, it needs an audience. Real revolution comes when everyone has a role to play.

There have been successful protest driven change though. Jagdish Tytler was denied a U.S.

visa and he was eventually ousted from the Congress Party because of a combination of

public protests, legal, and a social media campaign.

Take the Egyptian revolution as an example. There were public protests, but the revolution

did not have vague goals. Social media was used and it involved everyone, from the young to

the old, despite their political or religious backgrounds. Bottom line is that there needs to be

specific goals to be met and a solid timeframe with practical methods for achieving them.

And above all, it needs to invigorate the youth and the elderly alike, into participating in some

capacity.

Q) Unemployment is a huge issue in Punjab and that’s one of the reasons why youths are

tempted to live in a world of escapism. How do you think we can reduce unemployment? Can

only Government create job opportunities?

Mr. Singh: There are many government policies that have contributed to the devastating

statistics of the amount of drug users in Punjab. Investing in businesses in Punjab will

certainly help a certain demographic. But it will do nothing for the children of farmers, who

have insurmountable debt and fathers who have committed suicide. Money alone will not

help them. Pressure on the government to change their policies towards money-lending

practices and companies like Monsanto has to be put forth before any progress can be

made. An investment in Punjab will go a long way, but it will not magically solve the issue.

The sale of pharmaceuticals and alcohol are the two biggest sources of revenue for Punjab

because of these policies. The drugs are not all heroin and cocaine. Most of it is available

over the counter and as easily accessible as going to the corner store to pick up some advil.

Q) And finally how do you think youths can change this situation? What can they do about

it?

Mr. Singh: Everyone should make themselves aware of what is happening and spread that

awareness through any method available. Use twitter to coordinate protests. Make speeches.

Use social media. Reach out to organizations who can help. And create a community of like-

minded thinkers and doers. But above all, tackle it with specific goals. What can be done in 6

months? In a year? In three years? Define the short and long term goals. And the most

important – how can it be achieved and who can help?

The Artistic Expression

Ikdip Kaur Brar enjoys expressing her inner thoughts and life experiences through the

creativity of visual arts. Her work ranges from paintings, sketches, portraits, sculptures,

and arts/crafts. She has displayed her work at several invitational and juried art shows and

events within the Greater Toronto Area in Canada.

We congratulate her for becoming the artist editor for Jaggo Punjab Youth Magazine! She

will be in-charge of selecting artworks such as paintings, sketches and photography.

Her message for Jaago Punjab

The drug addiction in India has reached the point of emotional chaos where not even a

single person, nor a single organization, nor the government can stop this on their own.

Drug addiction in Punjab has claimed so many lives, but this will have to stop!

We, the youth, will step forward; will not let the next generations be lost in Punjab!

And we will do this by working with others; with organization; with the government, and

as a unified community, we will have to commit to conquering this problem and saving

Punjab and the future generations to come.

It will take some time to get this issue under control.

We are taking God's 'test of life'...

So let's take the first few steps forward so the future generation can follow our steps and

march into the future with their heads raised with confidence and hands clean and free

from drugs and alcohol.

She has also contributed to the first cover page of our youth magazine. She wants the

readers to use their imagination freely to interpret her work. We would love to hear from

you regarding her artwork and what do you think about it! Do send us a message on

punjabjaago@gmail.com. And we will publish your feedbacks in our next issue.

Quick Four: Helpful Tips

Coping strategies for Drug use and Abuse I had seen a lot of my friends while studying in college being involved in addictive smoking and drugs. I never really understood why they were so addicted to something that could be highly harmful to ones health as well as other's health. It really got me curious, and so i tarted researching as to why people and youngsters really like to smoke so much (because I personally have been taught since childhood that smoking is harmful). So, here is what i found, but i am only mentioning everything in short (although there is a lot to write about). It has been observed that since last decade or more, people and also youngsters (14 years to early 20s') have been using drugs such as cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, marijuana, etc.; for various reasons. So why do certain youngsters or adults start using drugs? Peer pressure and to fit in to the social group. Curiosity The misconception that having drugs makes you feel "good", or "high" (might be true but temporary), To cope with stress (mostly by teens) To increase "self-confidence" (mostly in youngsters) It has also been observed that sometimes people start using drugs or get too dependent on them for coping with psychological reasons such as - anxiety, anger, depression, boredom, etc. But using drugs to "cope" with the growing up challenges of life is not the way to avoid or escape them, problems cannot be solved by avoiding or trying to escape from them by using drugs as an escape route, it needs to be confronted... and from my personal experience i would rather recommend that the solution to a problem is to confront it, and at the end of it is pure joy. A survey done by Buddy T. (2009) found that one of the myths floating around about drug abuse is if it can be or usually is used as a medication, it's not harmful. But the actual truth was that even the "safest" drugs can have negative effects on your health and well-being if they are used too often or over too long a period of time. Stick to the doctor's prescription, and only take the amount of dosage your doctor has prescribed. So what is Addiction? And where to draw a line so as to not get Addicted?

A substance addiction meets two criteria: You have difficulty controlling how much you use or how long you use. For example, one drink leads to more drinks, or one line of cocaine leads to more. You continue to use even though it has negative consequences to your life. For example, you continue to drink even though it has hurt your relationships. Drugs use and abuse/addiction can not only have an impact on physical health and psychologically effect the user, but also can effect your loved ones (wife, children, parents, friends, etc) or those around you- emotionally, health problems, etc. Many times the drug user could unintentionally cause so much emotional problems and hurt that it could almost lead to an end in one's relationship with their loved ones. So if you readers who want to come out of your problems or help your loved ones who are going through drug abuse, and help experience the pure Joy (mentioned somewhere above)... Here are some coping strategies that could be used to help come out of the drug abuse:

1. Avoid High-Risk Situations Some common high-risk situations are described by the acronym, HALT: Hungry Angry Lonely Tired If you're aware of them, they won't catch you off guard, and you can prevent little craving from turning into major urges. Avoid your drinking friends, your favorite bar, and having alcohol in the house. Avoid people who you used cocaine with, driving by your dealer's neighborhood, and cocaine paraphernalia.

2. Learn to Relax Sometimes people use drugs and alcohol to relieve tension. Relaxation is not an optional part of recovery. It's essential to recovery. There are many ways to relax: Go for a walk in the nature: as you walk in the morning, feel the cool breeze, listen to the birds chirping, the sound of nature. Smile: the more often you smile, the more you feel relaxed, and plus it is infectious to the others. So you are also helping others feel good by smiling. Do breathing meditation: just start by doing 5 minutes everyday. Start with slowly inhaling and exhaling gently thrice, then move on to focusing on your natural breathing.

Feel the air entering your nostrils and then your lungs as you naturally inhale, then feel the air coming out from your nostrils as you are naturally exhaling. Listen to some instrumental or soft music: Relaxing music always makes one feel better Walk your neighbours dog: if you love dogs, you could offer to walk your friend or neighbours dog. Dogs are very friendly animals, and they usually make one feel better. Feed stray animals everyday: it is known that feeding stray animals and birds is a way of giving your contribution to the nature, which makes one feel internally calm and joyful.

3. Be Authentic/ Truthful: An addiction requires lying. You have to lie about getting your drug, using it, hiding its consequences, and planning your next relapse. An addiction is full of lying. By the time you've developed an addiction, lying comes easily to you. After a while you get so good at lying that you end up lying to yourself. That's why addicts don't know who they are or what they believe in. Recovery requires complete honesty. You must be one-hundred percent completely honest with YOURSELF and the people who are your supports: your family, your doctor, your therapist. If you can't be completely honest with them, you won't do well in recovery. It wont be easy to be completely honest innitially, so you could start with becoming AWARE. Whenever you have a thought that does not feel rite about what you are about to do, Stop and become Aware of it. Slowly your Awareness of yourself would help you be authentic/truthful with yourself and your people.

4. Start praying: If you are from a family who regularly goes to the temple, or church or mosque, or any place of worship, and you dont. Start visiting the place of Worship and pray for yourself. It always feels good to atleast visit a place of worship with all the Calming and good vibes. It was found in a research (Simon, 2010) that just by visiting the place of worship once a week, many drug addicts were found to recover better and at a good pace than those who didnt go to any place of worship. If you are an Addict and are reading this with a hope to improve, or if any addict who wants to improve follows these simple coping strategies, is on the Correct track. Remember: "Recovery isn't about one big change. It's about lots of little changes. Avoiding those high-risk situations helps you create a new life where it's easier to not use."

Sneha Kukreja is a Dubai based student who is currently studying Psychology at Middlesex

University. She is passionate about helping people through volunteering and community service.

She is also a certified youth meditation trainer. She has been training and empowering youths by

providing them motivational speeches on confidence and career. She can be contacted through

angelic.diva@gmail.com

Ask your psychiatrist

By Rishika Sharma

Rishika Sharma is our joyful and bubbly youth psychiatrist for Jaago Punjab. She is double majoring

in Biology and Psychology at University of Toronto, Canada. She was also selected to attend a

chemistry conference on Drugs at the Liverpool University in UK. We are very excited to have her on

board and help youths to give them the right direction and path. We also ask her some opinionated

questions for our first issue!

1) First of all, could you explain what is peer pressure, how can one identify and most

importantly deal with it? ANSWER 1- peer pressure is often times observed in schools, work places and other situations where in one interacts with their peers. Peer pressure is usually associated with it's negative connotations, however it can also have positive implications. For example when studying for an exam, group study is affective because study buddies can encourage and drive each other into an enthusiastic perception towards school work. In a situation when there is a sense of negative pressure, one should understand where his/her boundaries stand. Thereby the ability to say "no" and withdraw oneself from such a situation is critical. Sometimes the "cool" thing to do might be to succumb or follow along. However, standing out from the crowd sets an example for others and peers look up-to such an individual. 2) A lot of youths take drugs because they believe that it will help them to get over

their depression or their ongoing problems. What is your advice to them and how can they deal with depression? ANSWER 2 - Drugs although might seem promising initially, the truth is they don't eradicate the reason for depression. These recreational drugs are akin to a pain killer, in which the pain is temporarily subdued and once the affect wears off one has to face their depression again. Although these drugs are temporarily 'relieving', they cause permanent damage to the lining of the stomach, kidneys, liver and other vital organs as well. The stomach lining avoids the harmful acid leeching beyond our stomach walls. Whereas the liver and kidneys are critical for detoxifying the body. Therefore, a long lasting and truly beneficial method would be to get at the root of what is causing depression? Talking out your problem, sharing it with someone trustworthy,for example a school counsellor,grandparent, or even an older sibling, could not only provide support but also shine some wisdom to help one in the longer run.

Ask for advice questions from some youths. For privacy

issue we do not reveal the name of the person who has

asked us these questions.

Anonymous : I will be joining college soon and will be making new friends. I am quite excited but scared at the same time. I’ve heard some scary stories that students take drugs and force other students to do so. How should I choose my “friends circle” and if sadly one of my friend’s do so…what can I do about it? ANSWER - Hello anonymous ! Let me assure you that you are not the only one with uncertainity as to what to expect at college. Everyone is in the same position as yourself looking to make friends. As long as you keep a positive outlook and a friendly approach, while greeting your classmates you will come across many friends. But before you get yourself too close to someone make sure you get to know them well enough. However, like you said if one of your friends does get involved with drugs and forces you to do so as well, casually suggest to them that they are foregoing not only a large sum of money but their time and health as well. If in case they fail to comply or that you see there isn't any positive change in their behavior for the better, then you should withdraw your friendship. If you wish, you could report it to the school management or a teacher without their knowledge, so as to avoid negative implications for yourself. Anon: what is drug overdose? And can people die from it? What are the chemical compounds or reactions involved in it?

ANSWER - Hello anonymous! Drug overdose is when one consumes excessive amounts of a drug substance, possibly leading to death. In such a situation Anon: I have a friend who smokes quite often. Sometimes he asks me to accompany him..but I feel like i am becoming like a passive smoker. I am not pressurized to smoke at all but I don’t know how to tell him to quit smoking as I don’t want to offend him. Please tell me what should I do in this situation? ANSWER - Hello Anonymous, it is great that your friend is not pressuring you into this! Quitting smoking isn't an overnight process and the time and effort needed to quit varies from person to person. As important as your friendship is, you are responsible for your own health and he for his own after an extent. Therefore if casually advising him and explaining to him the impact is of no help, you could try setting targets for him that if you reduce by a cigarette or two every month you will reward him and you guys could do something that you both enjoy or even gift him something to motivate his progress. If all else fails then you must understand that you tried your best and the rest is up to him.

The Last Space

By Anureet Kaur

The Joy of Volunteerism

There is a joy that is hidden in every individual. Call it talent or sheer creativity. It’s the

joy of giving back to the community. It’s the joy of volunteerism! Volunteering is an act

of selfless love- The love of helping humanity and improving their quality of life. But

somewhere the joy got lost because either youths do not seem to enjoy it anymore or

there aren’t any opportunities listed.

Honestly you cannot even express in words the happiness you get after you see a smile

on a child’s face that has been going through much tougher times. Today’s youth need to

be taught the true value of life- the value in giving and like they say in Sikhism- the true

meaning of ‘Sewa’.

One of the reasons as to why youths get into drug addiction is because they are

‘unsatisfied’ with their lives. Unsatisfaction + Boredom = Unhappiness. It’s probably

because they lack the “creative” streak in them. What Punjab actually lacks is a proper

volunteering system. Schools need to teach students about nurturing their creativity and

honing their talents.

That was one of the reason as to why I started Jaago Punjab. I want to give back to my

community. I want to encourage people to volunteer. Here at Jaago Punjab, we have

three kinds of enriching and enjoying volunteering programs: a) The Drug Awareness

Project Coordinator B) Drug Awareness Project Volunteer c) Jaago Punjab Youth

Magazine writers. You can either also choose to be a DAP coordinator AND as well as

write for our magazine. You have the freedom to write whatever you like- be it through

your artwork or photography.

The process is simple and easy: Send us an email on punjabjaago@gmail.com telling us

whether you are interested in being a DAP Coordinator, a volunteer or if you want to

contribute to our youth magazine. For DAP Coordinator: Please do specify as to why are

you interested in this position Be as creative as you can. We will reply you back within

72 hours (3 days) for an email/online interview.

For volunteers: Give us a brief introduction about yourself and one reason as to why you

would love to volunteer for us.

Contributions to our youth magazine: Send us your contributions on

punjabjaago@gmail.com. It could be a letter about drug awareness, an artwork related

to this field, your opinions or even HOW YOU spread awareness about drug awareness

in your school/community.