Of Heritage & Heartfelt Interactions

There are moments in a writer’s life when the years of research and drafting finally breathe into a life of their own. I had the privilege of celebrating my book, Gurdwaras: Abodes of the Guru, at a special evening in Chandigarh’s Hyatt Regency on 21 July 2026. A gathering of family, friends, and colleagues that coincided with my birthday made the celebration doubly meaningful.

A Transcendent Opening

Gurdeep Singh’s Rabab touched hearts

We began the evening by connecting with a living tradition that lies at the very heart of Sikh heritage. The hauntingly beautiful notes of the Afghan Rabab, performed by the award-winning musician Gurdeep Singh, filled the hall. The Rabab holds a sacred place in our history, most closely associated with Guru Nanak Dev and his companion Bhai Mardana. His rendering touched all of us.

The Vision Behind the Volume

This book is a massive collaborative effort that spanned five years: research, writing, revision, editing and most visibly, paintings that stand out. My publisher, Rajiv Daswani of Gentry Press, unfortunately couldn’t join us in person, but his moving message was read by Aradhika Sharma, the MC who choreographed the event beautifully. Rajiv envisioned this book from the start not just as a text, but as a visual narration.

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Rajiv had the painter Allan Jay Quesada in mind when he first spoke to me about the book. Later, he brought Allan with him when he came to India, and together, we went to several Gurdwaras. Later, Allan would travel to many more. It was a pleasure to work with Allan on the book. The professional knowledge of my long-time editor, Kuljit Bains, proved invaluable. Still, long before the text went to him, I leaned on many friends and family for research and input. It was such a pleasure to share it all with them at the event.

The text and the paintings were brought to life by the stunning design of Art Director Danyel Santos and the meticulous, painstaking production process that Rajiv insisted on—pantone printing, special inks, hardcover embossing, gold-leaf work, fore-edge design and printing, selection of the FSC paper and the material for the cover—the details that went into the making of the book will call for a separate post some time!

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The “Making of” and Luminous Aesthetics

One highlight of the evening was sharing our “curtain raiser” film, which details the journey of creating this archive; for this, Rajiv flew in the producer and the photographer from Manila to New Delhi. I flew in from Kochi, where I was at the time, and Allan from Mumbai, where he was working on another project. Please click here to learn more about the video and to see it. I am happy that among the audience was Sukhpal Sukh, whose mellifluous voice opens the video.

A detail that often surprises readers is that Allan, an architect and Roman Catholic, used water from the Amrit Sarovar for his watercolour paintings. He felt that this poured a bit more faith into every brushstroke.

The eminent theatre personality and cultural icon Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry, who had earlier reviewed the book for The Tribune, observed in it that this transformed a massive historical archive into an “intimate, tactile treasure”.

As I looked down from the stage, I saw the people who had helped me. It does really take a village to produce a book, and I am so glad that many people from my literary village were there with us to celebrate this milestone. A shoutout to the Gentry Press; Rajiv's direction and Art Director Danyel Maxin supported us by providing the graphics that really enhanced the attendees' experience.

A Conversation on Identity

The heart of the event was my conversation with Neelam, Chandigarh’s most distinguished cultural voice. We discussed how these 51 unique shrines—from Stockton, California, to Glenwood, Australia—share an identical “spiritual DNA”.

We explored the three pillars of the Sikh psyche: Kirtan, Sewa, and Langar. I shared how global Gurdwaras adapt to their landscapes yet remain a threshold of integration for the diaspora.

Neelam Mansingh Chowdhary brought out the best in me during our interaction.

She shared her langar experience of being served noodles in Kobe, and I spoke of how we used to get Coke in New York. Perhaps most poignantly, we spoke about the interfaith collaboration behind the project—a Sikh writer, a Hindu publisher, a Roman Catholic illustrator, and an Iglesia ni Cristo designer—which Neelam called a “quiet rebellion of unity” in trying times. From the stage, I could look at Kuljit Bains, the editor of this and practically all my books, whose skill, deft touch, and professionalism I trust my work with.  

This book is deeply personal. I dedicated it to my parents, Giani Gurdit Singh and Inderjit Kaur, whose birth centenaries were marked in 2023. My mother encouraged me to take on this specific project, and my father’s preference for staying in Gurdwaras during his travels gave me a natural curiosity for these spaces from childhood.

Cake and conversations

Jaspreet had organised a cake from Monica to celebrate my birthday. What a cake it was! Beautiful and delicious, as many a guest testified. What a wonderful turnout we had.

Cutting the cake with Selena was wonderful! We share the same birthday.

Demonstrating that age is just a number were Justice S S Sodhi, Bhai Ashok Singh Bagrain and Bhayee Sikandar Singh Bagrian, with whom I had co-authored Sikh Heritage: Ethos and Relics. Many journalist colleagues and friends were there including The Tribune Editor-in-Chief Jyoti Malhotra, the Hindustan Times Resident Editor Ramesh Vinayak, the Indian Express Editor (North) , Manraj Grewal and Dainik Tribune Editor Naresh Kaushal, and people I worked with spanning decades—Amar Chandel, Nonika Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Sarabjit Dhaliwal, Vandna Shukla, Gautam Singh, Sandeep Joshi, Vishal Gulhati, were all there, as were some friends still working in the office,especially the Spectrum and Internet teams.

What’s a book event without a book signing!

On the academic front, we had Professors Rumina Sethi, Shelley Walia, Indu Banga, Bhupinder Brar, Ramnajit Johal and others. One could go on with the names, but reading 300 names would be boring. Each is etched in my mind!  Jaspreet had invited her friends and colleagues, as had Jansher. Family members, schoolmates and collegemates all came; many of our dear friends from Chandigarh were there, and they all found common ground, chatting with each other, some reconnecting after years!

Conversations continued, and guests interacted with each other long after the event was over. Jaspreet and Jansher looked after them while I was happily autographing books, even as so many of the people dear to me waited patiently for their turn.

Thank you all for being there for me and my book.