Art

Through The Looking Glass

by GAYATRI RAJWADE

 

Sikhism  -  the eternal search for divinity and a path of life to live honestly and purely. It is this intrinsic vitality of the faith, barely five hundred years old, inspiring with its profound ideals, that has been captured so poignantly, so arrestingly, by photographer Malkiat Singh and writer Sandeep Goswami in their coffee-table book, The Great Glory: Sikhism.

Publisher Kapish Mehra of Rupa & Co lauded the efforts of the writer-photographer duo: "They were so promising in their ventures that it egged us on. But what is more important is that, apart from the fact that the book contains rare, wonderful photographs from all over, it speaks at a level that you and I share."

So how did the book come about?

Both Malkiat and Sandeep are friends based in Delhi and work together, often contributing text and photographs to travel and in-flight magazines. So, collaborating on this project was just a matter of course. "We wanted to do something more permanent than just articles," explains Malkiat.

The book took them four years of research and photography, and the result is this ode to Sikhism.

 

The Lensman's Eye

Journeying all over Punjab, Uttaranchal, Patna, Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh, and even Pakistan, Malkiat has taken some rare and hitherto unrealised visuals. "I went with the Vaisakhi Jatha last year to Nankana Sahib, Punja Sahib and Lahore to take photographs of gurudwaras and the Sikh communities there."

The photos taken on the Kar Seva of the Sarovar in Amritsar are very close to his heart "because these are once-in-a-lifetime pictures. There is a purifying plant there now and the process will not need to be repeated for another fifty to seventy years."

Of 5000 photographs, approximately 110 find a place in the book. Was the whole thing a struggle? "Anything you do not want to do is a struggle; otherwise, what is difficult about it?" says Malkiat.  "Photography is more than a passion for me and everything I want to say, the photos speak for me."

Born in 1974, Malkiat graduated in fine arts from the Rajasthan School of Art in Delhi in, ironically, applied arts. A brief foray into painting soon led to photography, which he took to like a fish to water, simply because the results were faster!

His subject is primarily his faith and his community, where, "every person within the community is like family. This is my way of giving back to my family for the faith and way of life that I have been infused with since I was a child."

 

The Writer's Muse

Sandeep's father emigrated from West Pakistan and his mother is from Sangrala. Therefore, his roots are very much from Punjab. An aeronautical engineer, he now has his own factory which manufactures shoe components and which also affords him the luxury to write.

"It is a form of communication for me where the other person has the time to think and react. In talking, you lose the depth in sounds; the written word is, therefore, better," he states with a smile.

Having spent two years researching, travelling (which he loves to do, especially on his motorcycle), and talking to people just for the pure pleasure of listening to their perspective, brought him the insights he needed for this book, which to him is, "the soul behind Sikhism, seen from the perspective of an outsider."

In the offing are three other projects that Malkiat and Sandeep are working on. A book on Nihangs, which is almost complete; one on the colours of life in India; and the third on life in the Garhwal Himalayas, which is not a travelogue "but a way of travel for the body and the mind," as Sandeep puts it succinctly.

After all, travel is his self-created destiny, writing his muse and the hills his passion.

His parting refrain: "Be like putty, be ready to receive, make your own path and, most importantly, believe in what you want."

[Article, Courtesy of The Tribune. Photos, Courtesy of Malkiat Singh: from top to bottom -  Kar Seva at the Durbar Sahib; Self-Portrait; Nihang-Singhni; Phulkari.]   

 

[Please note:  The book, The Great Glory: Sikhism, is now available at various book-stores, including at the Sacha Sauda Bookstore, Brampton, Canada: ISBN # 81-291-0936-0] 

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