So Sikh!

Author-columnist Khushwant Singh Ahluwalia (no, not that one) is working on the fourth edition of his Sikhs Unlimited series. MiD DAY catches up

Here's a reason to rejoice for the most fearless community of North India, the Sikhs. Sikhs Unlimited: A Travelogue From Delhi To Los Angeles Via London (Rupa Publishing, Rs 495) is a 200 page dedicatory book on the success of Sikhs in the US and UK. The travelogue captures the lives of 14 exemplary Sikh men and women with emphasis on their achievements and struggles. It also intends to inspire the youth by presenting role models from different fields. But 2005 is long gone, and so, this Hoshiarpur-based farmer-writer has reworked on his book with the latest, major changes in the lives of his protagonists. We settle for a chat.

What inspired you to write this book?
Honestly, the inspiration came from my namesake, the veteran author Khushwant Singh. I met him in December 2004 in order to gain courage to attempt a work, and that's where it all began. Having said that, I always had a deep-rooted desire to map the lives of some of the most extraordinary Sikhs living abroad.

How did you zero on these 14 people?
Dealing with the fifth largest religion of the world, the book aimed to salute enterprising Sikhs who have carved out a niche for themselves, not only as a unique cultural identity, but also through their eminence in various spheres. It includes chapters on filmmaker Gurinder Chadha, the first Sikh woman in the US army Ranbir Kaur, contemporary British artists Amrit and Rabindra who are famously known as The Singh Twins, the 90-something marathoner Fauja Singh, singer Harcharanjit, the first Indian cardiologist in America to hold a US patent Dr Harvinder Singh Sahota and businessman Gurujot Singh Khalsa among others. There is no doubt that there are many other luminaries but some of the major ones were deliberately left out of in order to highlight the achievements of these 14, who have achieved a lot in whatever they are doing. I never wanted to pick up the obvious ones, as a lot has already been written about them. It wouldn't have added value to the readers.

What next? Farther horizons?
Yes, given a chance, I would love to document the lives of interesting Sikhs across the globe. I would like to write a similar work on Sikh-Canadians. And why stop there? Further books on such inspirational stories from Southeast Asia, East Africa and Oceania are also on my mind. But that will require a lot of time.

So what are you working on right now?
I have finished working on Mending Souls a biography of motivational speaker-entrepreneur Ratanjit Singh, who draws his inspiration from Guru Nanak Dev's Ek Onkar. He believes in the Oneness theory, and talks about principles of Sikhism that can help you become a millionaire. Apart from this, I am in the process of finishing a historical fiction on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, which is set in Chandigarh. It should be out early next year. I began working on it in August 2008, and a lot of research went behind it, including studying chronicles of many British and Indian writers on the Maharaja. I wanted to establish a different genre of writing.