To support my quest for the field research of my sequel book for which I travelled deep across the north-west frontier region to explore the abundance of the vestiges of the Sikh legacy, I owe immense gratitude to the Government of Pakistan for embracing my madness! On the second day...
Travelling in a remote region of Pakistan to research on the abandoned vestiges of the Sikh legacy, I spotted a roadside vendor selling samosas. Due to hunger pangs, I decided to take a break. Savouring the samosas, I could not help but reflect that its triangular shape with wide upper...
Our entry in Jaisak village in Pakistan was slowed down by a stream of donkey carts passing in the opposite direction. At a distance, I could see the moss-covered dome of the Kair Bawa Gurdwara. A man riding a donkey cart shouted, “As-salamu alaykum, Sardar Ji,” and brought himself to...
Nanak dived into the Bein River and emerged three days later with Japuji, the spiritual verses which were his first gift to the world. Symbolically, being lost in the river was his surrender to the Supreme, implying one must give up himself to merge! As long as I exists, HE...
At Murree hill station in Pakistan, after dinner, strolling through the by-lanes, I came across the ‘Butt Snooker Club’. Curiously, I stepped inside to experience the British legacy of Snooker game in modern Pakistan. In a large, dimly lit hall, some boys were playing a game of snooker. Excited to...
At Nowshera in Pakistan, during a battle against the Durranis in 1823, the Sikhs lost two of their brave Generals, Akali Phoola Singh who was leading the Nihang battalion and Balbhadra Kunwar who was leading the Gurkha battalion. Walking past the remains of the battle memorial, I made it a...
At Jhelum city in Pakistan, I was wonderstruck by the sight of a large unkempt yellow-coloured building, on which a board read, ‘CIA Staff’, indicating that it presently serves as an interrogation Centre for the intelligence department. This premises was once the Bhai Karam Singh Gurdwara, built in memory of...
Every year, as flags unfurl to celebrate the birth of India and Pakistan, I reflect on my personal teary moments while visiting the scores of abandoned assets across Pakistan during the research on Sikh legacy. Only after 10 million were made homeless and 1 million left dead, in August 1947,...
Within the walled city of Lahore (Pakistan) exists a lathe market near Masti Gate, wherein once existed a gurdwara to mark the site where Bhai Mani Singh was martyred in 1737 AD by the Mughal administration by severing every joint from his body. After the partition of 1947, the gurdwara...
The more I see the vestiges of the Sikh legacy across Pakistan, the more I believe that even though most of it has vanished over seven decades, it would still take more than a lifetime to document. In a remote village, as I positioned myself within the hollowed foundation of...
Thoha Khalsa village in the region of Potohar (Pakistan) had experienced the first act of ethnic pogrom in the Punjab in March 1947, which later led to the maddening violence across all communities and culminated in the division of Punjab in August 1947 across India and Pakistan. Seven decades later,...
While tracing the remnants of the Sikh legacy in the making of the sequel book “THE QUEST CONTINUES: LOST HERITAGE The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan”, as I entered the deserted Jahman gurdwara, I saw hundreds of bats hanging upside down! Their screeches reverberated in the hall, where, before the partition...
“Mr. Singh, you should not give so much credit to the divine,” I was advised by an elderly gentleman after I spoke at the Islamabad Literature Festival in April 2017. In response, I could only smile and remain quiet because only I know that no rationality can explain why the...
It has been seven decades since the Sikh community departed from the lands that became Pakistan in 1947. While the footprints of the rich legacy now stand nearly erased, I have remained bewildered at the sight of many flagpoles on which, the Nishan Sahib, a flag hoisted at every gurdwara...
In the precincts of the police station at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Administered Kashmir, stands one small section of a wall, the only remains of the historic Chatti Pathshahi Gurdwara. The hills of Muzaffarabad once had a large Sikh population for whom this historic gurdwara held a special place because it...
Reflecting back, in October 2014, when a burning desire catapulted me on a quest to explore my community’s roots across Pakistan, I had become a matter of concern for family and friends. I guess, my well-wishers were unable to comprehend the calling that was sucking me into a tunnel of...
In search of the remnants of the Sikh legacy in Pakistan, at Multan, a visit to the mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Shams Tabrez was a must because it was here that Nanak, the first Sikh Guru had visited in 1530. It is believed that till the partition of 1947, a...
In ecstasy, Nanak would often call out to Mardana, his life-long Muslim companion, “O Maradana, pluck the Rabab, divine verses are descending.” Impromptu, the two would thereafter tune their spiritual antennas, allowing the music of wisdom to flow freely. Close to Lahore, in village Manak, once existed a sprawling premises...
In Pakistan at the city of Rawalpinidi, as I navigated through the dark alley on the first floor of the gurdwara that now serves as the premises of the Special Branch of the Police Department, the remains of a grand chandelier caught my attention. While it was still anchored to...
In the Corporate, where I worked for 25 years, as leaders we were trained to communicate by ‘defining reality and giving hope’. It’s because, psychologically, everything that makes man work and get excited, hinges on hope that springs from the reality of the present situation. At Rawalpindi in Pakistan, when...