Indian Visa Temple : The Toy Airplanes Sacrifice When Praying for a Visa.

Indian worshippers are undertaking a bizarre ritual and offering up toy planes to the gods in the hope of a better life in the West.

Hundreds of devotees regularly travel to the Sant Baba Nihal Singh Gurudwara temple in Punjab’s Doaba region.

Most visitors dream of emigrating abroad for a better life in London, New York or Toronto.

Dozens of shops surrounding the temple have cashed in on the peculiar ritual – stocking masses of plastic planes in all shapes, colours and sizes.

Devotees then take the toys and place them in an enclosure in the temple, before worshipping to the Gurus of the Sikh tradition.

Kuldeep Singh, 26, who dreams of moving to London next year, said: “A lot of my friends visited Sant Baba (temple) over the past few years. They have all settled down abroad in America and UK.

“So, I have also started coming here and making toy plane offerings.

“Hopefully, my wishes will be fulfilled very soon. I have full faith in Sant Baba. I will land a job abroad.”

A small, narrow alleyway leads to what locals call the Hawai Jahaz Gurudwara (Airplane temple).

Shops in the vicinity sell plastic Airbuses and Boeing 747s, which are snapped up by worshipers.

Another devotee, Gurpreet Singh, added: “My brother used to come here with small size airplanes. He is now settled in Southall in London.

“I come here with bigger airplanes because I want to go to New York. I was denied a British visa this year.

“Now, with the blessings from the Temple, I will apply again.”

But it remains unclear as to how the bizarre trend started.

Local shopkeeper Vineet Sodhi, who sells dozens of toy planes a day at his stall near the temple, suggested: “It must have been someone’s wish to go abroad coming true that must have started it all decades ago. It’s now become a great tradition.”

The Temple managers, however, face an entirely different problem – with countless planes offered everyday, the Temple is now fast running out of space.

Manmohan, a Temple manager, explained: “So many planes are offered by devotees here. The offerings are holy. Instead of storing them here, we distribute the toy planes among poor children of the nearby villages.

“People come and make offerings, but we have space constraints. It’s better that little kids play with them. Everyone is at peace that way.”

Courtesy : Mirror.co.uk

Asia

Singapore Airlines emergency landing after severe turbulence

A Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 Aircraft lands at Singapore Changi Airport (Incident aircraft not pictured)

One passenger passed on, while dozens of passengers were injured when a Singapore Airlines Boeing B777-300ER aircraft experienced severe turbulence while en route to Singapore from London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft diverted to Bangkok, and landed at 3:45pm Local time on 21 May 2024

The flight landed with 211 Passengers and 11 Crew members at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. According to the Airport Director Kittipong Kittikachorn at a news conference, there were 7 passengers who suffered serious injuries, while a number of other passengers suffered injuries of varying seriousness.

It was also confirmed that the passenger who passed on was a 73 year old British Man. In a statement from Singapore Airlines ‘ As of 0505 hours Singapore Time on 22 May 2024, 79 passengers and 6 crew members from SQ321 remain in Bangkok’. In another statement, it was reported that a relief flight with 143 passengers and crew members arrived in Singapore at 0505 hours Singapore time on 22 May 2024.

According to aircraft tracking site FlightRadar24, the 16 Year Old Boeing B777-300ER aircraft descended sharply from 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet in a short time. It was also further reported by FlightRadar24 that the descent was commanded by Autopilot, instead of being caused by turbulence.

Shortly afterwards, the pilot declared an emergency by squeaking 7700 on the transponder, indicating an emergency situation onboard the aircraft. The Boeing 777 aircraft then diverted to Bangkok, instead of continuing on its planned journey to Singapore.

In view of this incident, Singapore Airlines mentioned in a statement that they are working with the relevant authorities on the investigation into this incident.

The National Transportation Safety Board, a US Government investigative agency for civil aviation incidents, is sending an accredited representative and 4 technical advisors to support the investigation by Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB). TSIB mentioned in a statement that it ‘is in touch with its Thai counterparts and will be deploying investigators to Bangkok’.

Boeing, the manufacturer of the Boeing B777 aircraft mentioned in a statement that they are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding the ill-fated flight, and ‘stand ready to support them’.

This situation is developing, more details will be added when they become available.