People
A Gossamer of Children Stories:
Sikh-Briton StoryTeller Roop Singh:
by SHEVETA BHATIA
Once Sikh-Briton storyteller Roop Singh starts talking, stories start tumbling out - of Sikh gurus, of Jack and the Beanstalk and also of Valentine’s Day. He also narrates anecdotes about people he has met in his life, children who’ve inspired him and the moments he has cherished in his life. But all these anecdotes have a common theme that threads them together - moral values.
“That is what I want the youngsters to imbibe. Through my stories, I want to apprise them about Sikh culture,” says this man of many words, who has been traveling across the world since 1984 on a story-telling mission.
It all started when years ago, he went to his daughter’s school to explain to the pupils there as to why the Sikhs wear turbans. Soon, his name was passed around and then there was no looking back.
“The teachers at the school were so thrilled that they asked me to come back again. Soon, I found myself relating stories to an audience - stories that were my exotic versions of folk tales from Punjab and Europe,” he says.
Roop Singh is now working on his first cartoon animation series, Adventures of Roop Singh, expected to release this April. The first season will have 13 episodes - each spanning 12-13 minutes.
"That is the average attention span of a child and we want to make this series absorbing, interactive and educational,” he says.
“Through this series, we want to make children aware about Sikh culture and traditions in a fun and easy way,” adds Sukhwinder Singh, CEO of Vismaad Mediatech Pvt Ltd, Chandigarh, Punjab, who is assisting Roop Singh in the release of the series. “For instance, rather than walking in the woods, the characters stroll through malls and party in clubs. These are the tales that children can relate to,” he adds.
Roop Singh says the series has been compiled taking into account his experiences from workshops, story-telling sessions and interactions with young audience in Europe, New Zealand and America.
“While I engaged them into learning about Sikh culture and Sikh history, I also learnt about their customs and traditions. I added this knowledge to my next lot of stories, all of which has been put together for this series,” he says. In Adventures of Roop Singh, he has based the main character on Mr Bean, so as to impart human virtues and moral values in a light manner.
[Courtesy: Indian Express. Edited for sikhchic.com]
January 7, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Ajay Sodhi (Grove City, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.), January 07, 2012, 3:14 PM.
A true ambassador of Sikhism!
2: Kanwarjeet Singh (Franklin Park, New Jersey, U.S.A.), January 07, 2012, 9:58 PM.
Amazing guy. Heard his interview a few years ago on YouTube - link below - you will absolutely enjoy his enthusiasm and accent. On a side note: "Take that, you so called 'modern' Sikhs who want to fit in - the Garys and Pauls and Harrys - here is a true Khalsa who has truly 'fit in'".
3: Kanwarjeet Singh (Franklin Park, New Jersey, U.S.A.), January 07, 2012, 9:59 PM.
Sorry, forgot the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8CgVbEK7as
4: T. Sher Singh (Mount Forest, Ontario, Canada), January 08, 2012, 1:18 AM.
I have seen S. Roop Singh perform in a variety of settings through the years. He is an utter delight to behold, regardless of whether you're a child or an adult. A confluence of a number of personalities: entertainer and teacher, grandpa and clown, Tony Robbins and Yosemite Sam, there's no one like him anywhere, if you're looking for a teacher for children Sikh or non-Sikh - particularly for introducing us all in the diaspora to Sikhi. Every school or place of worship in the world would benefit from a visit from him. This man needs to be cloned!
5: Sukhwinder Singh (Punjab), January 08, 2012, 6:51 AM.
I first met Roop Singh at The Spinning Wheel Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, and was mesmerized by his persona. I was only "one-animated-film" old then but could not hold myself back from approaching him to suggest doing a cartoon series together. Roop Singh responded with even greater enthusiasm: "Veer ji, I am available for anything to do with Sikhi parchaar. Use me the way you want!" For the next 6 years, Vismaad was preoccupied with the struggle to survive the onslaught of piracy and absence of effective distribution channels to keep Sikh Animations alive. But Roop Singh always remained top of our to-do list. All this while our committed audience kept encouraging us to develop cartoon series for young kids, apart from our regular animations on Sikh History. As our committed audience grew substantially, giving us the courage to create the cartoon series, I called Roop Singh on December 3, 2011. His excitement hadn't faded a bit in 6 years. Within 3 weeks he was in Chandigarh to plan, record and announce the project: "The Adventures of Roop Singh". With the blessings of Waheguru and support of the Sikh sangat, we will soon be dishing out a series of episodes which will be entertaining and educating at the same time.
6: Inni Kaur (Fairfield, CT, U.S.A.), January 08, 2012, 7:37 AM.
I have witnessed the magic of Roop Singh - thrilled that Vismaad and he have collaborated to produce a cartoon series. Can't wait to see it!