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 emotions, with only one exit – a trip to Pakistan. Observing my passionate demeanour, a few friends went as far as declaring that insanity had begot me.
I didn’t know if I was being foolish
I didn’t know if I was being wise
It was something I believed in
I had to make the trip!
Just short of three years later, my passionate belief in the purpose that I set forth has become the most significant life changing experience! Having travelled to 126 cities and villages across Pakistan, fueled by nothing more but just a curiosity to explore the vast footprints of a rich legacy that is now on the verge of extinction, I, a turban wearing Sikh, had also become a subject of curiosity. Descendants of migrants, who have lived for seven decades in the abandoned gurdwaras and havelis of the Sikhs, were for the first time interacting with a Sikh!
At a village gurdwara, having satisfied the curiosity of the crowd, as I aimed my camera upwards to click the beautiful floral designs on the roof, I could not help reflect on the present state of my own community, which is the least curious to learn about our glorious past that had once churned on these lands that became Pakistan.
To them, I pronounce that in the death of curiosity is the burial of existence!
Photographed in Jan 2017, during the research for the book “THE QUEST CONTINUES: LOST HERITAGE The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan”
