Sugarcane Agriculturist

One good turn deserves another

Before my Dad passed away, he had made every effort to make things far better for the Sikhs of Queensland. Every year on India’s Independence Day, he was always invited by the Indian ambassador for the flag hoisting, which he always made it a point to attend. People also respected him a lot. I decided to follow in his footsteps.

In the 1980s, I decided to open a gurudwara in Queensland but our Sikh brethren were split in two groups, which made me unhappy and I gave up the idea of the Sikh temple. However, while in India in 1982 I heard a ‘voice’ inside my head coming as if from the Guru, urging me to go back to Queensland and build that place of worship. I returned forthwith and donated land for a gurudwara at Gordonvale. We raised money to build the temple and Ken Chappell, the architect who was inspired by Indian temples, designed the gurudwara. The first gurudwara in Queensland, Guru Nanak Gurudwara, was thus opened on 20 November 1983.

I was also instrumental in starting a school in my village, an initiative that resulted in ending age-old enmity. In the 1990s, Vice Chancellor of Ludhiana University, Dr Khem Singh Gill and Chairman of Akal School, Solan, Sant Iqbal Singh visited Australia with a group of students who recited Gurbani in English in Guru Nanak Gurudwara, Gordonvale. I was so impressed by the kids that I requested the Vice Chancellor and the Chairman to open a branch of Akal School in our village also. They said they would require 10-acre land and Rs 10 million for this project.

I bought 4 acres and was looking for the remaining 6 when an estranged uncle, who harboured an old grudge going back three generations, had come down from Canada. Three generations of our family members had not spoken to each other because of an unknown dispute. When my uncle learnt I was planning to start a school, he transferred all his assets in my name. “Let us forget the past,” he said, “and begin a new story with sewa.” While I needed just 6 acres, I now had 18. The school was named Akal Academy, Bilga, and today has over 1,000 students.

As I had learnt from my father, my children follow me in the practice of sewa. My elder son, Rajinder, actively works with gurudwara and is its member.

All the children follow the traditional culture. My daughter, Paramjit, completed her degree in psychology and has now opened a business in education. She is married to Kirpal and has two sons, Anthony and Alex. My son, Rajinder, has done Electrical Engineering but works on the farms with me. He is married to Jasvinder. They have three children, Jasmeet ‘Jessica’, Gursimran ‘Suzen’ and Gurkirat ‘Neilson’. My younger son, Surinder, holds a diploma in agriculture. He is married to Rajinder and has two sons, Ranbir ‘Andrew’ and Kirandeep ‘Michael’.

We all live together with love and support for one another, in complete harmony and amity. For a century, we have been growing and selling sugarcane worldwide. But my grandson, Michael, worked in the army for some time and then diversified our business to buying and selling bananas. As of now, we have around 1800 acre land for sugarcane and 200 acres for banana cultivation. As we started our journey from a small village in Punjab, I hope my grandkids and their future generations will take this march forward.