Handwritten holy book a labour of love

“Not everyone can pick up a pen and write the Holy Book. You have to be blessed by God to do it,” said Sardar Jaswant Singh Khosa who recently completed his fourth handwritten copy of 1,430 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib. The 73 year old Malaysian Sikh was visiting Melbourne as part of Vaisakhi celebrations by the Sikh temple in Blackburn. According to him, this handwritten Granth could be the largest and heaviest in the world. The mammoth tome weighs 84kg and is 91.44cm in length and 66.04cm wide. writing the manuscripts using traditional Gurumukhi calligraphy, Khosa said his copy was special as every word was joined, with each page starting and ending with the took about five hours for me to write two pages. The copy had to be 100 per cent correct as it represents our holy scriptures,” he said.

Mr Khosa ensured that he had baptism (amrit) in 1992 before he started writing. There are many things that inspired Mr Khosa to achieve this remarkable feat. It was his dream to complete four volumes just as Baba Deep Singh, a renowned Sikh scholar and warrior, did more than 300 years ago. Mr Khosa said that he was inspired to write a book version and was donated to a Sikh temple in Southall, London in 1998. His third handwritten book is currently on display in Edmonton in Canada. It was donated to the Sikh Temple there in 2007. His fourth copy was donated to the Sikh temple in Fremont US. “I am not getting any money for it. I just want to encourage the younger generation to write in this traditional calligraphy,” he said.

Mr Khosa intends to continue writing as long as he can. “It is a labor of love, I am blessed by God whose will drives up writing because the long hours have now started affecting

Bhajan samrat and ghazal maestro Anup Jalota will tour Australia and New Zealand this winter, bringing his fascinating music to chase away our winter blues. PRIYA RAJAN talked to this talented singer to find out more about his upcoming trip

Tell us a little about your tour

I will be in Australia to sing in musical concerts in July/August. They will be held in three different cities, including Melbourne and Sydney. I will also do concerts in New Zealand, in a tour that will take two weeks in total.

How do you know Mr. Nawal Moudgil and on what are you’ll collaborating?

Nawal is a very good singer. He has learnt music from me, and he used to accompany me at shoots as well. Nawal has been associated with me as executive producer and line producer in Hindi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri feature films. His experience also extends to TV. Nawal has also been involved in Bhojpuri films as he wanted to gain knowledge, exposure and the operational work culture of Indian regional film industries. He was keen on linking Australian film industry with all parts of India like Kollywood (Tamil) and Tollywood (Telugu) as well.

What made you decide to start a production in Australia/New Zealand?

We are aiming to provide opportunities to all Australian/Indian cast and crew in the Asia Pacific region, while exchanging and promoting talents of producers, directors, cinematographers, story and script writers and all technicians to develop more crossover film projects in the near future.

How did you get your first professional breakthrough and how did it lead to where you are now?

Manoj Kumarji first discovered my singing talent and I sang for many Bollywood

1500 bhajans, ghazals and songs over the past 30 years. I have performed over 5,000 live concerts and released more than 200 albums of bhajans and ghazals

What is your favourite music?

Personally, I love devotional songs and

What projects do you have in the pipeline?

I am producing a feature film called Malik with Nawal Moudgil as the Executive Producer and Line Producer. It is based on Sai Baba’s life with Jackie Shroff playing Sai Baba and is set to release soon. We also have Boyz To Boyz Hain on the production floor Main Osama which is currently in post production. It will release after Malik Ek Which is your favourite place in Melbourne?

I like the Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple which is beautifully constructed. I just love going there.