Ajay Banga is the Chief Executive Officer of Citi Asia Pacific, a geography spanning markets from Japan to India. In this role, he is responsible for all the company's business lines in the Asian region, including institutional banking, alternative investments, wealth management, consumer banking and credit cards. He is a member of Citi's Senior Leadership and Executive Committees.From 2005 to 2008, Ajay was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citi's International Global Consumer Group, which included all credit card and consumer banking operations outside of North America. Before this, he served as the President, Retail Banking North America. At that time, he was responsible for branch banking, commercial banking, commercial real estate, commercial financing and leasing, mortgages, student loans, and the Primerica Financial Services distribution channel. He also had additional responsibility for the operations and technology of all the real estate businesses in the consumer bank.
Ajay joined the Citi group in 1996 and has served as the business head of CitiFinancial and the U.S. Consumer Assets Division from 2000 to 2002. Previously, he worked in London as Division Executive for the Consumer Bank in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent from 1998 to 2000. Early in his Citibank career, he was based in Brussels, where he was the Head of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Ajay began his business career with Nestle in 1981. He spent the next 13 years in a variety of assignments spanning sales, marketing, and general management. He later joined PepsiCo and was instrumental in the launch of its international fast food franchises in India as the economy liberalised.
Mr. Banga also serves on the Board of Kraft Foods Inc. In addition, he is on the Board of Trustees of the Asia Society and has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York Hall of Science and was a Board member of the National Urban League. Ajay graduated with a BA in Economics Honors from Delhi University and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Dr. Chiranjeev Kohli is a professor of marketing. He holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Indiana University. His dissertation received honorable mention in the International Doctoral Dissertation Competition. As a Professor of Marketing at California State University Fullerton, he was honored with the Business School’s Best Professor Award for 1998/1999 and Distinguished Faculty Award for 1999/2000. His research has been reported in academic journals and newspapers including Business Horizons, European Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Marketing, The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register. The Young Presidents Organisation of Southern California has honored him for excellence in academia. He has consulted for major companies including, Bionutrics, Canon USA, Contact East Networking, Dean Health System, Odetics, Regency Healthcare, Transamerica, and Verizon.
Nirvikar Singh is a professor of Economics at the University of California Santa Cruz where he directs the he directs the Business Management Economics program and is codirector of the Santa Cruz Institute of International Economics. He has also taught at the Delhi School of Economics. He has been a visiting researcher at Stanford University; the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University; National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi; Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi; Centre for Development Economics, Delhi; and Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Nikky-Gunninder Kaur is a Professor of Religion at Colby College in Maine, USA and she has written several books on Sikhism, focusing on the equality of Sikh women. Nikky received her BA in Philosophy and Religion from Wellesley College, her MA from the University of Pennsylvania and her PhD from Temple University.
Suneet Singh Tulli is an entrepeneur who is the CEO of Datawind. Suneet's company Datawind has created the PocketSurfer2 which is currently the world's fastest handheld Internet device, it is an ultra thin, sleek mobile device, the first of its kind to actually deliver the full power and original graphic intensity of the desktop web, rapidly and wirelessly - to the palm of your hand. Suneet was 11 years old when he and his family moved from India to Canada. He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto and soon after formed his first company with his brother Raja called WideCom that addressed the problem of fax machines only being able to handle small documents. The product which they produced was featured in the Guinness book of records and this helped generate business for it as it was expensive at 20,000 Canadian dollars. Suneet's second company DocuPort Inc focused on portable peripherals, making handheld scanners and battery operated handheld printers. By 1999 the Tuli brothers were excited by the possibilities of the wireless Internet and launched Datawind Ltd which launched PocketSurfer2 which has been released in the UK, Germany and Spain, as well as Canada and the USA. Always on the lookout for new opportunities Suneet is now focusing his attentions to India and other emerging economies.
Jatinder Rakhra, born 9th April 1989, is a wrestler who is currently the British junior champion in the under 55kg division, and he was ranked 10th in the world juniors in Beijing 2007. He is training to represent Britain at the 2012 London Olympics and is expected to be a serious title contender. Jatinder was born in Slough, England but now resides in Manchester, England where he trains most days. Jatinder began wrestling at the age of 4 when he joined the gym of his dad's friend who was a wrestler in India. When that closed he joined the Slough Olypic club and he quickly progressed to British Championship level. Wrestling is not a very popular sport in Britain, as it does not have a foothold in schools, as a result there also not many wrestlers and especially not at an Olympic level. So Jatinder hopes to raise awareness of the real wrestling, which unlike the WWE wrestling is not that well-known. Jatinder was awarded the Best UK Asian Athlete of the Year in 2006 and the the Most Up and Coming Sports Personality of the Year 2007 at the British Asian Sports Awards.
Jot Singh Khalsa is a weapons master who is a trained metal smith. Jot Sing grew up in Mills, Massachusetts and when he was 19 started studying fine arts at college, with a focus on gold and silversmithing. He started studying Kundalini Yoga, which he has done for over 30 years, and through this he met Yogi Bhajan. He found the Sikh religion appealing so decided to become a Sikh. Coming into contact with the Sikh religion he came across the Sikh Kirpan (
Bhai Ram Singh was an architect who designed 
Parmjit Singh Dhanda, born September 17, 1971, is a British Labour Party politician for Gloucester. He is the youngest Asian MP in the UK parliament. He was elected Member of Parliament for Gloucester in the 2001 general election, succeeding Tess Kingham as the Labour MP for the seat. He was re-elected in the 2005 general election. Parmjit attended the University of Nottingham, where he received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1993, and a MA in information technology in 1995. Parmjit Dhanda is married and lives with his family in Matson, Gloucester. Has been a member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) since 1999. He speaks both Punjabi and French, in addition to English. Parmjit Dhanda became a Labour Party organiser in West London, Hampshire and Wiltshire in 1996, then went on to be assistant national organiser with Connect in 1998 where he remained until he was elected to Westminster. He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hillingdon in 1998 and served on the council until 2002. He was selected to contest the House of Commons seat of Gloucester at the 2001 General Election following the retirement of Tess Kingham. Parmjit Dhanda held the seat with a majority of 3,880 and has remained an MP since. In parliament, Parmjit Dhanda became a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee from his election until 2003. He helped setup an all-party group on Telecommunications, of which he's a Secretary.
Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, born 15th April 1919, is the only officer of the Indian Air Force to be promoted to five star rank, equal to a Field Marshal, to which he was promoted in 2002. He is also the first Marshal of the Air force. He was born in the Punjab Lyalpur, British India, into an Aulakh family. After the death of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in June 2008, he is the only living Indian military officer with a five-star rank. He was educated at Montgomery India (now in Pakistan). He entered the RAF College Cranwell in 1938 and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in December 1939. He led No.1 Squadron, Indian Air Force into command during the Arakan Campaign in 1944. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944, and commanded the Indian Air Force Exhibition Flight in 1945. Arjan was the Chief of Air Staff or CAS, from 1 August 1964 to 15 July 1969, and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1965, India's second highest civilian honour given for exceptional and distinguished service to India. He was Lt. Governor of Delhi and was made Marshal of the Air Force in January, 2002. He has flown 65 different types of aircraft. His life story is the subject of a book by Roopinder Singh called Arjan Singh: Marshal of The Indian Air Force. Rupa & Co (2002). Arjan has also been an ambassador fr India to Switzerland.
Talvin Singh, born 1974 in London, is a producer, composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of classical Indian music and drum n bass. Talvin Singh is generally considered to be involved with an electronica sub genre called Asian Underground. Talvin grew up in Leytonstone and began playing the tabla, breakdancing and listening to punk rock as a child. At the age of 15, he went to India where he studied tabla under Pandit Lashman Singh, returning to the UK after just one year. In spite of this classical training, Singh's tabla playing was not accepted by British promoters of classical Indian music, as he incorporated too many western influences. By the late 1980s, Singh had decided to turn towards the fusion of sounds, and soon he began working as a musician with such artists as Madonna, the Indigo Girls, David Sylvian, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Sun Ra, Björk, Massive Attack and the Future Sound of London. Talvin signed to Island records for a compilation including several of his own productions. He worked as a remixer until releasing his solo debut, OK, in 1999. The album was recieved well and he won the Mercury Music Prize for 1999.
Sir Sobha Singh (1901-1986) is arguably the most well known contemporary painter Punjab has ever produced and is amongst the greatest Indian artists of the twentieth century. He was born on 29 November 1901 in a Ramgarhia Sikh family in Sri Hargobindpur, Gurdaspur district of Punjab and his father, Deva Singh, was in the Indian cavalry. He learnt and mastered painting by self practice. In 1919 he was present at the Jalianwala Bagh at the time of the shootings. Later, he joined the British India army as a draughtsman and was posted at various places in Iraq. He studied European Paintings and got inspiration from the works of English painters. At the age 15, Sobha Singh entered the Industrial School at Amritsar for a one-year course in art and crafts. In 1949 after the partition he was forced to move from Lahore, where he had opened a studio at Anarkali, he then settled down in Andretta near Palampur, a remote and picturesque village in the Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh beginning his career as a painter. His paintings of Sohni Mahiwal and Heer Ranjha proved very popular, his series on the Sikh guru's Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh are amongst the most mass produced pictures of the Guru's. Some of his murals are displayed in the art gallery of the Indian parliament House in New Delhi. He painted Sohni Mahiwal, one of the most popular love legends of Punjab, for the first time in 1937 and he also worked on other love tales of Punjab. Heer Ranjha, Sassi Punnu, Shirin Farhad and Mirzan Sahiban are other beautiful paintings. Sobha also dabbled in sculpture, sculpting the busts of eminent Punjabi's such as M.S. Randhawa, Prithviraj Kapoor, the patriarch of the Kapoor family, and Nirmal Chandra. The originals of his works are still displayed in his studio at Andretta. Sobha Singh died in Chandigarh on 21 August 1986. In his honour the Indian Government issued a postal stamp in 2001 and the road linking the Palampur town and Andretta has been renamed in his honour. Sir Sobha Singh is pictured with Amrita Pritam of whom he was sculpting a bust of, but did not complete. Below are a selection from some of his best artworks, from top Sohni Mahiwal, Palace of Bhutan and Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
Jeev Milkha Singh, born born 15 December 1971 in Chandigarh, India, was the first Indian golfer to become a member of the European Tour. He has been the highest ranked Indian golfer in the world and first broke into the top 50 in October 2006, moving from 104th to 48th. He is the son of the famous Olympic athlete Milkha Singh who represented India in 200m and 400 races for the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olypics. Jeev won the NCAA Division II individual golf championship in 1993 and his first professional win was also in 1993 at the Southern Oklahoma State Open. In 2006 he won the Volvo China Open and he also won the Volvo Masters, taking home $840,000 in prize money which was at the time the biggest cheque won by an Indian in individual sport. In 2007 he became the first Indian player in the US Masters. He won the Asian Tour's Order of merit, given to the number 1 player, for 2006 and again in 2008, becoming the first player to do this. He was awarded the Player's Player of the Year award in 2008 and became the first Asian golfer to earn more than $1 million in a single season, amassing a whopping $1.45 million in 11 tournaments. In 2008 Jeev won the Australian Open title, Singapore Open, for which he was awarded $792,500 and the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup for the 2nd time. Famous Sikhs thinks golf is a very lucrative sport and Sikhs should definitely be encouraged to play, especially now that there are players like Jeev who are great role models.
Valerie Kaur is an up and coming film maker who made the film Divided We Fall (2006), which tells the discrimination faced by the Sikh and Arab communities after 9/11 in America. Valerie wrote and produced the film, which has been featured on CNN, the BBC and in Frances Moore Lappe’s book You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear. The film debuted In 2006, which was five years in the making, in 60 cities acros America. It premiered on September 14th, the anniversary of the death of Balbir Sodhi, around whose story all of the other stories in the film revolve. It has received numerous awards including Best International Documentary at the ReelWorld Film Festival of Toronto, Best Documentary - Audience Choice at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, and Best Documentary at the New Jersey Independent South Asian Ciné Fest, and is currently being toured by the filmmakers at selected sites around the nation. The film has also now been released on DVD. The film can be bought at 
General Joginder Jaswant Singh, born 17 September 1945 in Bahawalpur (now in Pakistan), was the first Sikh chief of army staff of India, the second largest army in the world. He served as chief of army staff from January 31, 2005, to September 30, 2007. He was named 22nd chief of army staff on November 27, 2004, and took over the role when his predecessor, General N C Vij, retired on 31 January 2005. He was succeeded by General Deepak Kapoor. He is the first Sikh to have led the Indian Army and the 11th chief of army staff from the Western Command based at Chandigarh. His selection did not come as a surprise, as at the time of his appointment he was the most senior officer in the army after General Vij. Following his retirement, he became governor of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in January 2008. The new governor is taking a keen interest and monitoring all the developmental activities of the State, as well as taking care of his special constitutional obligation with regard to maintenance of law and order in the State. In fact, with his presence the pace of development has multiplied manifold. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the 9 Maratha Light Infantry on 02 August 1964. Hailing from a family of warriors, he is a third-generation soldier. Born on 17 September 1945 his family migrated to India (Patiala, Punjab) after partition in 1947. His grandfather served in the 1/67 Punjab Regiment during the First World War in Mesopotamia and Kut-al-Amara, both in present day Iraq, along with the 103rd, 105th, 110th, 114th and 117th Mahrattas. These five battalions subsequently joined the Maratha Light Infantry, the same regiment General Singh was commissioned into 50 years later. His father, Lt Col Jaswant Singh Marwah, served in the Electrical & Mechanical Engineers from 1943 to 1973 and is also a veteran of the Second World War. Recognising the distinguished contribution made by Gen JJ Singh towards India’s Security and Nation building ‘The Sikh Forum UK’ a renowned World Sikh body awarded him with the coveted ‘Sikh of the Year 2007’ in London, UK on 28 Oct 2007. He is married to Mrs Anupam Singh and they have a son and a daughter. He is fluent in Arabic and French, the widely spoken languages in Algeria. His nickname is "JJ". He has also been awarded the Life Time Achievement Award on the 26th April by the Mother Teresa's International & Millennium Awards Committee, for being a protector of the country and a social worker.
Gurukirn Kaur Khalsa is an artist, poet and story writer. She is a creative person who rejoices in the beauty of spiritual life, nature and people who live inspiring lives. On her art she says that, "I try to find a point in time and space when something essential is revealed. By capturing these transformational moments, I have been able to create a number of iconic works which convey something greater than what the image or words portray." Gurukiran began studying art as a child and her mother would take her to art classes from ayoung age. She was born in Redlands, California. She knew she wanted to be an artist by the sixth grade. For high school she went to the Ethel Walker School, in Connecticut. Where she was in the company of other creative students and was able to explore art, crerative writing and modern dance. Whilst there she became the president of the Art Club in her senior year. She continued studying art in college, both at Pomona College and the University of California, Santa Barbara where she earned her BA in studio art. Whilst at Pomona College she met her spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan and took Yoga classes. She comments that, "I had been searching for a lifestyle with a deeper commitment to spirituality for some time, and the Sikh way of life that he shared with us, with the practice of daily sadhana as its foundation, fulfilled this longing." She has used her talents to share aspects of the Sikh lifestyle that have been important to her, for example inn 1994, she began the ‘Pure Longing’ series, writing a poem and making five paintings of a Sikh woman doing ishnaan seva. Presently, women are prohibited from doing this service of the early morning cleaning of the floors of the Golden Temple because of gender discrimination which ironically is not inkeepin with Sikh beliefs. Yogi Bhajan presented the poem and painting to the acting Jethadar of the Akal Takht and in 1996 she was one of a group who participated in the sewa, although the issue remains unsettled to this day. Gurukiran has a studio in Phoenix where she continue to write and paint. She has also published the books, Pure Longing Fulfilled (1999), which was written to commemorate the tercentenary celebration of the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, India in 1999 and Living with the Guru (2000), which is collection of Sikh stories from history for children. Famous Sikhs recommends that you visit Gurukirans website 
Kanwar Singh Dhillon, Born in Amritsar, India is an up and coming young artist. He has been influenced by great artists such as Sobha Singh, Caravaggio and J.W Waterhouse. Kanwar grew up in Toronto, Canada, wher he has explored several paths that would allow him to work as a professional artist including animation and book illustration. However, it wasn’t until he started to take an interest in the history of the Sikhs that his art took a definitive turn for the better. With his painting style Kanwar Singh Dhillon aspires to combine the grace and beauty of Sobha Singh’s portraits with the documentary style of Sikh history painters such as Devender Singh. Punjab’s history is rich with the exploits of heroes and sages from the time of Alexander to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The spread of the Sikh faith and the rise of the Khalsa have featured heavily in his recent works. Kanwar sells his artwork through his website 
Harjinder Singh Sidhu owns Air Slovakia, which is a European Airliner and the longest running airline in Slovakia. Air Slovakia is the first Sikh airline which Sidhu has tranformed into a Punjabi experience that takes passengers to Amritsar,. He has said that, "We have Slovakian airhostesses who speak with the passengers in Punjabi. It's an amazing achievement, because Slovakians don't speak English, but here they are speaking Punjabi.” The airline has its headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia whilst its regional headquarters are in Jalandhar, Punjab. The airline fleet consists of 1 Boeing 737-200's, 3 Boeing 737-300's and a further 2 Boeing 757-200's. The priority of Harjinder's was to improve the flight connection between Europe and Asia. Initially the furthest destination was to Amritsar in Punjab in North-western India, but has now expanded to Dhaka, Bangladesh. The airline also operates flight to and from, Tel Aviv, Isreal, Kuwait City, Kuwait, Birmingham, England, Bergamo, Italy, and Barcelona, spain. The airline has a turnover of over $30 million annually. Sidhu came to the UK from Patiala, Panjab when he was 16 and began working as a cashier in a Russian-owned petrol station and after only 9 months he was able to buy out his bosses. Within time he had a monopoly of 35 petrol stations which he sold to Shell and is now in the wholesale petrol business. He has a portfolio of property in Canada, America, India and Britain, which he says is still his main concern.
Jagmohan Singh Malhi is proud to have fulfilled his late father's dreams and become the first New Zealand police officer to wear a turban on duty. Jagmohan had grown up wearing a turban, but he shaved "because of peer pressure" when he moved to Nelson, New Zealand eight years ago. Then, when he graduated from police training college three years ago, he also shaved his head. Jagmohan said that his father had wanted him to grow his hair again, but he was unsure then whether any police protocol existed in relation to wearing a turban. When his father died last year, he decided to fulfil his wishes and began researching what other policies were in place for police around the world. "It was his wish to see me in my turban as a police officer. So I thought I would make it happen." While his family were proud to see him in a turban again, he also had a good response from his colleagues, who had been eager to see the turban worn for the first time on the beat. Nelson Bays police area commander Inspector Brian McGurk said he was delighted that the police had been able to help Malhi nurture his religious and cultural beliefs.
Lieutenant Jasbir Singh Tatla, 35, is the first turbaned Sikh to become a regular officer in the Canadian Air Force as Air Field Engineer. He was born in the Dhothar village in Ludhiana district of Punjab, India. Tatla earned his Bachelor of Engineering from G.N.E. Engineering College, Ludhiana, and Master of Technology from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Jasbir emigrated to Canada in June, 1999. He completed a one-year Architectural Drafting certification from Kwantlen University College in Surrey and worked in different fields, including as an Engineering Technician in PMC Sierra in Burnaby. His great-grandfather, Inder Singh, took part in the First World War, his grandfather, Mall Singh, took part in the Burma War, and his father, Gurdarshan Singh, retired as an Honorary Flying Officer. An uncle of his, Sukhdev Singh, was also a brigadier in the Indian Army. With thais distinguished millitary background, Jasbir passed the Canadian Forces entrance examination in 2003 and waited four years for a security background check from India. He was detailed to undergo training at Venture Naval Officers Training Center Esquimalt, Victoria, in April. His graduation ceremony was held on July 12 2008. After a struggle of five years, Tatla not only achieved his goal, but has also brought honour to his community. Tatla gives all the credit to his mother Hardial Kaur and father Gurdarshan Singh Tatla for their dedication. He has two sisters, Jasvinder Kaur Mann and Kamaljit Kaur. He is married to Pawandeep and has two sons Sahib and Jugraj. Jasbir can speak five languages, that include English, Punjabi, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu. In addition to these Jasbir is also going to learn French, which he says will give him a greater chance for promotion.
Jarnail Singh, born 5 February 1962, is an English association football referee of Indian descent who officiates in the Football League. He is the first Sikh referee in professional football. He moved to Wolverhampton, West Midlands, at a young age, and now lives in Hounslow, Greater London with his wife and two children. Aswell as being a referee he has a full-time occupation in the Metropolitan Police in London. Singh took up refereeing in 1985, after taking his exam in order to improve his frequent outings as club linesman for the Asian youth team he managed. He progressed through lower leagues in the Wolverhampton area and then into the Conference South regionally, before being appointed as a Football League assistant referee in 1999. Whilst still a Conference referee, he was put in charge of an FA Vase semi-final first leg tie, between Oadby Town and Brigg Town on 22 March 2003, and shortly before his elevation to Football League referee for the 2004-05 season, he was appointed to the middle for the Football Conference Playoff semi-final first leg between Aldershot Town and Hereford United on April 29, 2004. Jarnail Singh has recently become a FA Ambassador, which entails promoting and encouraging minority groups and individuals into football and raising awareness of the FA’s race equality work.
Arpinder Kaur is the first turbaned Sikh pilot to fly a commercial airline in the United States. She was hired by the American Airlines Corporation (AMR) in March, 2008. Arpinder flies Embraer Jets for American Eagle, a regional airline that is part of AMR and she is based out of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. On her feat she has said that, "Two of the reasons I did this were: first, my love of flying and, second, to set a precedent for the community so they know you can be in your Sikh appearance and do anything out there; so that my younger brothers and sisters [the rising generation] will pursue their passions while practicing their Sikh faith,”. She has said that she knew she wanted to be a pilot the very first time she was in an airplane. She was 14 and moving from the Panjab to the United States. The crew let her sit in the cockpit and see everything that they did. “That is the day I found in me this passion for flying,” Kaur said. She lived in Virginia after the move and attended George Mason University (VA) where she graduated with a degree in information systems, but she did not forget her dream of flying over the years, though her mother told her that girls should not be pilots because it was too dangerous. It was the love and support of her husband, Pritpal Singh that pushed her forward on the path toward becoming a pilot. From 2003 to 2005 Kaur was trained by Jesse Sherwood in Kansas. In 2005, Kaur moved to San Antonio and spent two more years as a flight instructor at Wright Flyers Aviation at the San Antonio International Airport. In January of 2008 she applied to be a pilot at American Airlines; her application was accepted in March and from 17 March through 7 June 2008, she underwent their pilot training program. She stated that just recently she had resolved the issue of her flying turbaned – the American Airlines manual allows “regulation approved hats” – by filling out an Accommodation Form. Kaur received help from The Sikh Coalition (SC), while she was planning the best way to secure an accommodation agreement about her turban. Harsimran Kaur, a staff attorney who consulted with Kaur said that, “the Sikh Coalition appreciates American Eagle’s willingness to accommodate Ms. Kaur’s religiously-mandated turban consistent with state and federal anti-discrimination law.” Harinder Singh, executive director of the Sikh Research Institute (SikhRI) in San Antonio, Texas said, “This is a great day for the Sikhs in America. Religious accommodation, not assimilation, is what the founders of this great nation envisioned and we are thrilled American Airlines celebrates the rich religious and cultural diversity of all American populations.”
Harry Perry who is also known as Har Nar Singh, born March 5th 1952 in Detroit, is a Venice Beach boardwalk musician famous for playing an electric guitar on rollerblades while wearing a turban. He has released three CDs: Harry Perry Band's Video Commander, Skate Town Ball and Harry Perry's Greatest Hits Of The Millennium. He typically uses distortion effects and plays in a style reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen. He began playing on Venice Beach in 1974. He is dedicated to health and fitness, running twenty miles daily and practicing Kundalini yoga. He has made cameo appearances in the movies Fletch, Dragnet, White Men Can't Jump, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Gift and Point of No Return, Marching out of Time, as well as the television shows CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Vengeance Unlimited. He also performed one song on the soundtrack to the movie Point of No Return. He made guest appearances with System of a Down during Ozzfest concerts of 2006. Perry and his partner Robert "Jingles" Newman were also instrumental in winning a California Court decision involving free speech rights of artists to earn their living as buskers in public places and the rights of artists to sell copies of their own original work.
Victor Harvey Briggs III, born 14 February 1945 in Twickenham, London, England is a former blues musician. Briggs played guitar and piano with various groups in the 1960s, including The Echoes (Dusty Springfield's backing group), Steampacket, Brian Auger's Trinity, Johnny Hallyday and Eric Burdon and The Animals. On his musical ability Jimi Hendrix compared him to other greats by saying “I like the guitar playing of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Vic Briggs” in 1967. In the 1970s Briggs became a Sikh and changed his name to Vikram Singh Khalsa. He moved to San Diego where he had a plumbing business in the 80s. He has made several albums of Indian music and was the first non-Indian to perform kirtan at Harimandir Sahib, Amritsar, India. It was in 1979 when he went to India singing in Gurdwaras all over the North of India, he was invited to sing in the Golden Temple. In 1980 he had the privilege to repeat this pleasurable task. Vikram was a follower of Yogi Bhajan who was sending people out to cities across the US and Canada to open yoga centers and teach. It came to Vic in meditation that there was a great opportunity to start a yoga center in London. Yogi Bhajan was delighted at the idea and in December of 1970, Vic rented a basement flat in Notting Hill and began to teach Kundalini Yoga. One day while he was teaching a young woman came in to his class. She was stunningly beautiful. Vikram Singh, being the devoted yogi that he was, pointedly ignored her. Or, at least, pretended to. Her name was Kirsten Lindholm and she was a model and an actress, having already appeared in several Hammer Films horror movies. After a few months she and Vikram fell madly in love with each other. Each one realized that something had to give. Vikram would not have anything more to do with the entertainment business, while Kirsten did not want to leave her rich and famous lifestyle. Finally, love won out. Yogi Bhajan called Vikram to come back to California (for which he will always be grateful) and Kirsten came with him. Soon they were married, becoming Vikram Singh and Vikram Kaur Khalsa. Back in California, the couple settled in Marin County near San Francisco where they soon had their first child. Vikram became the President of Sikh Dharma of San Diego, which was the religious non profit corporation, and also the representative of the 3HO Foundation which was the educational non profit set up to teach Kundalini Yoga. The image shows Vikram with his family in 1978.
Dr. Lonnie Smith, born July 3, 1942 in Lackawanna, New York is a jazz musician, recognized as a player of both the Hammond B3 organ and piano. He has been performing for over five decades and many consider him as the world's top jazz organist. Lonnie was born into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music. He was part of several vocal ensembles in the 1950s, including the Teen Kings. Art Kubera, the owner of a local music store, gave Smith his first organ, a Hammond B3. His affinity for R&B melded with his own personal style, and he quickly became a local legend. He moved to New York City, where he met George Benson, the guitarist for Jack McDuff's band. Benson and Smith connected on a personal level, and the two formed the George Benson Quartet featuring Lonnie Smith, in 1966. After recording several albums with Benson, Smith became a solo recording artist and developed a career that has produced over 30 albums under his own name. Several legendary jazz artists have joined Smith on his albums, including Lee Morgan, David "Fat Head" Newman, King Curtis, Blue Mitchell, and Joe Lovano among others. Smith has performed at several prominent jazz festivals with artists including Grover Washington, Jr., Ron Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Lou Donaldson and Ron Holloway. He has also played with musicians outside of jazz, such as Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Etta James, Joan Cartwright, and Esther Phillips.
Navdeep Singh Bains, born 16th June 1977 in Toronto,Canada is an MP in the Canadian parliament and is currently the Liberal Critic for Natural Resources. After completing high school Navdeep attended York University where he received his Bachelor of Administrative Studies in 1999. He then went on to finish his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Windsor in 2001. He has also received his Certified Management Accounting designation. Before entering politics, Mr. Bains worked in the Finance Department at Ford Motor Company where he worked as a revenue and cost analyst. In addition, he worked as a financial analyst at Nike Canada. In 2004 he won the Liberal nomination for the riding of Mississauga-Brampton South where he defeated three political veterans, winning on the first ballot. Before taking part in the race he was considered an underdog due to the fact that he was only 26 years old. When Mr. Bains was elected for the first time in 2004 he was the youngest Liberal MP in Parliament. He was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in 2005 as well as being sworn in as a Privy Councillor. He is one of 5 Sikh MP's in the Canadian government. Navdeep is seen as a rising star in politics and has been voted 3 years in a row as the best up and comer in a survey by the Hill Times. He currently resides in Mississauga with his wife Brahamjot and their daughter Nanki Kaur.
Vijender Kumar, born 29th October 1985 is an Indian boxer from the Kaluwas village, Bhiwani district in Haryana. He became the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal when he won the bronze medal in the middleweight category at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He used to box recreationally in his childhood and used to go to the Bhiwani Sports Authority of India center for boxing practice, this was where coach Jagdish Singh spotted his talent. Jagdish Singh is a boxing coach who trained four of five the boxer's India took to the Olympics. He also won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne for the Welterweight division. His father, Mahipal Singh, is a bus driver who worked overtime to raise funds for Vijender's training and his mother is a homemaker. His younger brother Manoj is also a boxer, but is now in the Indian Army. Vijender has also worked as a model in magazines to fund his boxing training. Vijender has become a national hero in India after winning his medal and has made several appearances on Indian TV. He has also worked as an inspector with Haryana police. He is tipped to make a Bollywood film because of his good looks, but he wants to concentrate on boxing and wants to make boxing on par with cricket as a popular sport in India. He also hopes to open a boxing academy in the future.
Andrew Singh Kooner, born May 11, 1979 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England is a professional Canadian boxer. He moved to Tecumseh, Ontario at a young age and began boxing from the age of 13 at a Windsor boxing club. He has won 10 national boxing titles and has boxed in 2 Olympic games. In 2002 he won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in the Bantamweight division. He holds the Quebec Boxing Council Super Featherweight Title and the Canadian Bantamweight Title. At the 2002Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England he nearly won Gold, only losing the final on a nail bitingly tight count-back which promoter Mick Hennessy thinks he should have won. To date he has had 9 fights, winning 8 of them with 4 K.O's. He sports several tattoos including an ek ong kaar sikh symbol standing for there is only one God on his arm. He is ranked as #1 in his weight category Bantamweight in both Britain and Canada.
Snatam Kaur, born 1972 in Trinidad, Colorado, is an American singer and songwriter. She performs Sikh devotional music called kirtan and has toured around the world as a peace activist. She currently lives in Española, New Mexico with her partner Sopurkh Singh Khalsa. Kaur's family moved to California when she was was two, living in Long Beach and Sacramento. When Kaur was six, the family went to India where her mother studied Kirtan. Kaur lived on a ranch near Bolinas, California as an adolescent, playing kirtan with her mother in Sikh temples and attending Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley. While at Tam High, she played violin in the school orchestra and began songwriting. Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead coached her and her classmates before they performed her song Saving the Earth at an Earth Day concert in San Francisco. Snatam was also active in social and environmental causes while in high school, serving as president of the Social Action Club, which started a campus recycling program and organized environmenal awareness programs. The Club also led the effort to change the school mascot and sports team names from the Indians to the Red Tailed Hawk in 1990 and 1991. After graduating she attended Mills College in Oakland, California, receiving a bachelors degree in biochemistry. She then returned to India, to study Kirtan under her mother's teacher, Bhai Hari Singh. In 1997, Kaur began a career as a food technologist with Peace Cereals in Eugene, Oregon which is a company started by followers of the Sikh Dharma that donates 10% of its profits to peace causes. Snatam Kaur was nominated for a Grammy Award for her album Shanti(2004) in the new age category.
Dalip Singh Saund (September 20, 1899–April 22, 1973 pictured shaking hands with President John F.Kennedy was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served the 29th district of the state of California from January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1963. He was the first Asian American, Indian American and Sikh member of the United States Congress. Unbelievably he is to date the only Sikh to have served in Congress. Dalip was born in Chhajulwadi, Punjab, India and received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Punjab in 1919. He emigrated to the United States, originally to study agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the university, he obtained a master's degree (1922) and a Ph.D. (1924), both in mathematics. His stay was suppose to be for 3 years but, thereafter he decided to remain in the United States and became a successful farmer. Later, he campaigned to allow "Hindus," as all people of South Asian descent were identified at that time, to become naturalised citizens. After the Luce-Celler Act was passed in 1946, he applied for naturalization and became an American citizen in 1949. He ran for election in 1950 as a Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland township, California, and won the election, but his election was thrown out as he had been a citizen for less than a year. He later ran again for the same post and was elected again. In November 1955, he announced a campaign to run for the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat and won an election for an open seat against a famous Republican aviator, Jacqueline Cochran. He was re-elected twice, becoming the first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to Congress. In May 1962, he suffered a severe stroke which left him unable to speak at all, or walk without assistance, thus ending his congressional career.
Kiran Kaur Matharu,born 27 February 1989 in Leeds, England is a professional female British golfer currently playing on the Ladies European Tour. She is the first female British Asian Golf champion. Kiran started playing golf from the age of 11. She was a member of the Nick Faldo Series development programme and 2004 and 2005 Faldo Series Girls' Champion. She received an invite to play in her first Ladies European Tour tournament at the 2005 Open de España Femenino Castellón, the year she was Welsh Ladies' Strokeplay Championship Runner Up. 2006 saw her represent Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup after winning the English Ladies Amateur title. She was named Sony Entertainment Asia 2006 Female Junior Sports Personality of the Year for the second successive year. Kiran turned professional in August 2006 after winning the English Ladies Amateur title and finished 15th in her first professional tournament. She says she gets ispiration from Tiger Woods because he is a great sportsman and Lorena Ochoa because she is the No.1 lady golfer in the world and a very down to earth person.
Jagjeet or Jay Singh Sohal is a Television Journalist from Birmingham,UK. He currently works for ITV Thames Valley for whom he produces the news and reports. He has always been interested in politics and he studied Politics at University. He says that is one real skill is writing, and he has worked for newspapers and magazines since he was 16. This eventually led to him trying out radio in New York, and setting his sights on TV after studying post-grad Broadcast Journalism. It all happened a lot faster than he thought, just 4 months after finishing his course he became a trainee journalist for ITV. He also organised the first Siikh awareness day at ITV to inform his fellow journalists about the Sikh faith.
Amardeep Singh Dhanjal is "Magic Singh" a member of the Magic Circle he is a brilliant magician. He is one of the youngest magicians ever to be alloweed into the Magic Circle. Magic Singh has been performing since the age of 11 and he now provides a professional service from weddings to charity events. He has performed for the BBC, Breast Cancer Research UK Charity, the Queen's Golden Jubilee, BritAsiaTv and Groove Armada DJ's. He can be booked from his website at www.magicsingh.co.uk. Singh is one of the UK's finest magicians and he performs with a unique modern style of magic that captivates and amazes his audience performing at close range. His ambition is have his own show televised on National TV representing the Sikh/Asian nation and also eventually produce my very own magic stage show in the West End.
