Two Haars

My wife Gurmit and I have known each other since we were kids. Our Dads both knew each other from Uganda before we were born and before they moved to Birmingham.

Through our youth, Gurmit and I would see each other at the gurdwara every week and we became very good friends. We grew up together.

After I returned from India in 2002 aged 18, our relationship led from one thing to another, we liked each other. Within 4 years we were engaged and in June 2011 we were married here in Birmingham. Although we are vegetarian and drink no alcohol, we had a great time with the celebrations lasting about a week.

Photograph

Gurmit has got the faith in me.

She is always saying that it is about time I put myself forward. She is always believing in me. She has known me for a very long time so can support me through the ups and the downs.

Gurmit tells me to give myself credit for what I’ve been through, and what I’ve achieved.

Although this museum is strictly about ME, I have to give credit to Gurmit for helping me become who I have become today.

Cash Books

Sikhs believe in giving back to the community, it is with God’s blessing.

I am a trustee of the charity that manages the gurdwara, I also dedicate quite a lot of time towards managing the financial records and books. I believe this is just me giving something back to the community around me and the spiritual leaders I serve.

I just like to keep my head down and do things for other people.

You get to eat nice food as well.

Rollercoaster

In 2016 I faced a deep bout of depression.

As I said elsewhere, starting a business is tough. There were also family members and circumstances affecting my mental health. Things went from stress, to depression to anti depression tablets. I had lost hope not only in myself but in those around me, and in that moment, the last thing on your mind is work.

I am grateful to my wife and mum for helping me find a way out. And now that I am, I believe that I am bigger and stronger. I know how to deal with that. I know how to control things. It has made me a calmer person.

Two plane models and a series of tickets from my holidays away

I absolutely love going on holiday to Dubai. I am in love with that place, there is always something that attracts me.

It’s just a place I really really enjoy. I love the weather and I love the heat. It is the perfect place for me to switch off, and they can cater for Gurmit and I’s dietary requirements.

Sometimes, to be honest, I just like the luxury.

These are two plane models which I have collected as a memento of that luxury, it all starts on the flight.

The leg room, the food, the entertainment.

Luxury.

My dilruba and a number of competition trophies

Whilst in India, I learnt how to play the harmonium. The harmonium was, to be honest, a little bit old fashioned at the time, so I also learnt how to play the dilruba.

The dilruba is a stringed instrument which you play sitting on the floor. It is designed in a way that makes playing it a comfortable experience, that makes your mind and body calm. It is a bit similar to a violin but with a lot more strings.

I now play at either Namdhari Sangat or Baba Deep Singh Ji Charitable Society every Saturday between 5.30 and 7.30pm as part of our blessings.

I also have played at a number of national competitions and so here are some of my trophies.

Phone and photographs

I have now been married for 11 years. In that time I have lost out on a lot of memories.

Since the pandemic it has been a turning point for me. I have almost 3000 photos on my phone because I want to capture memories with my family.

‘My circle’ is what I call those who are really close to me, I like to just spend time with them. I hope that these pictures are what Gurmit and I will show our kids one day, of our circle.

When I scroll through I often delete the photos where I’m not smiling as I’d like to be remembered as someone who was always smiling.

A jacket and assorted objects relating to my self employed business

Since 2014 I’ve set up my own business as a self employed estate agent. I feel proud of it and wake up in the morning now because I’m excited about what I do.

Starting a business is tough. Working for yourself, you often wake up in the night and on holidays I am sometimes doing pay runs. But, I have faith in what I do and everyone needs a roof over their heads. Now 80% of my headache from setting up the business has gone.

For the corporate companies I worked for before, the amount of time and effort I gave to other people’s companies, including travel, wasn't adding up. I now work for me, often from home, and I never look back.

My badminton racket and shuttlecock

I played badminton on a national level in India.

At the boarding school my brother and I were at, a lot of the kids played badminton. I always had an interest in the sport when I lived in Birmingham but at that time the facilities weren’t in place in the city. As soon as I took it up in India in 1996, I was like ‘yeah, I like this’ and I was kind of good at it too.

Two years later in 1998 I joined a team because you had to be at a reasonable level. It was quite a lot of intense training. The school entered me into competitions, and you move up levels, then state levels, then national levels.

Don’t tell Dad, but at times I used to skip homework to play one more round of badminton. It will always be something I enjoy.

My Mala since childhood

In 1996 my brother Jaspal and I moved from Birmingham to India to study our GCSEs. Our Dad wanted to take us away from the usual distractions we might face here in the UK. He wanted the best for us.

I learnt a lot through my six years in India.

I learnt how to play the harmonium and the dilruba.

I learnt how to play badminton.

I learnt how to read the Guru Granth Sahib.

I also got engaged to somebody and it didn’t work out because it wasn’t quite right. That was a learning too.

I returned to Birmingham six years later in 2002 and have lived here ever since.