Last Friday evening, Bhai Baldeep Singh, is a rare combination of musician with rich inheritance, a searching mind within and beyond the Sikh tradition. He is the 13th generation of musicians since his forefathers sang and played music for the Sikh Gurus in 16th century as he also plays with many contemporary European musicians.

The Cow is Sacred – Full stop

Cow is sacred. If you are an ardent Hindu, you worship her; even use its picture as your political symbol. If you are an artist paint her, everyone shall clap for you hale you as a successful artist. This is how it is done in India.

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Saturday, 23 January 2010

Avtarjeet was invited to give a talk by The Press Club of India, New Delhi

Most people when they get the chance to address the press, they talk about their achievements, it is more so the case when one returns to his/her home country after having spent few decades abroad. It is only natural, since most of us when we leave our countries, we go to achieve something.

I have come here to you, NOT to tell you about my achievements, , I have come here only to share my realisations. As all achievements have a short lifespan, where realisations are life long, sometime they remain in the public space beyond one’s life.

I walk on this planet,
looking looking
wondering, wondering
being amazed
at the beauty around us.

At a friends house in Amritsar, I was sitting in front of the computer, it was the last day to write and send my regular page for ‘Universal Colours’.

I was struggling to find the hook to hang may thoughts together; Roopa walks in with a big smile and pair of bright eyes, eyes those exude the delight of being alive.

Curiosity – First Step to Creativity

We human beings are born as curious animals. The first thing children do is to observe and explore their surroundings; based upon these observations they form images and ideas to make sense of their surroundings.

Once children know what is around them, they start to imagine the things those are not within their visual field, taking cues from sounds and other indirect perceptions. A child’s ability to imagine/dream things those are beyond their direct experience is the first step towards creativity.

Time as concept

When a Maori villager came to visit London for the first time, he was amazed at so things, and he tried to make sense of everything from his perspective. After spending over a month, he returned to his village in New Zealand. Every evening people from his village would come to his house and he would tell them stories about London, and entertain them.

During the 80s, Panjab, my homeland went through a difficult period. Indira Gandhi government created a Sikh separatist leader in the Panjab, as result a lot of young Sikh joined this separatist movement.

At one time on this planet, there were only fish, animals, birds and insects, and one of the animals looked like humans, yet they were not different from the other animals. They were all fighting and killing and eating one another and that made God very unhappy.

In 1985, I was invited to take part in St Louis Arts Festival. During my stay with two local artists, one of them very kindly arranged an appointment with a director of gallery, where he was showing.