There are some creative people who express themselves through their work. They seek to change things to how they ought to be, to shape opinions, through art. That was how Sikh Park came into being. Initially, the long-running cartoon strips by ad film producer Dalbir Singh provided the entertainment on a Sikh diaspora site SikhChic.com. But it wasn’t entertainment of the ‘Sardar jokes’ variety.
Speaking with MediaNews4u.com, Dalbir recalls the early days of Sikh Park, which to date has a presence only on social media channels.
“There were issues with the way the (Sikh) community was perceived by some in the US post 9/11 and that was the purpose of its existence back then – to define us for who we are. We showed that people from the community were ‘just like any of you’. They would be at the beach, hanging out, just normal, fun-loving, progressive people,” he explains.
From the sincere intent to break the perception of Sikh people being part of the Taliban, was born a toon strip that makes people smile even today. The contexts are different, but humour around the community’s culture, its people and their quirks remain at the core.
In 1700s, #NadirShah and his troops passed through Punjab after plundering Delhi and massacring 1000s of people and taking women captive. Vastly outnumbered Sikhs would attack Nadir’s camp at midnight and free the women. People in jest would say Sikhs come to senses at midnight. pic.twitter.com/02G19HFhiS
— SikhPark (@SikhPark) June 16, 2022
Even the social platforms used have changed. When it launched, Sikh Park was on MySpace. Facebook didn’t exist back then and MySpace is now history. Today Sikh Park boasts of over 30k Facebook followers and over 16k on Instagram.
This growth has been slow and steady, literally. Dalbir explains that influencers are expected to constantly post content, respond to comments and remain immersed in their online presence. He, in contrast, admits that he hasn’t the time. “I hardly do anything beyond posting. To really increase following, you really have to be very active, which I am not,” he confesses.
The content has moved beyond humour to profiling folks from the community. Collaborations with musicians and artistes has helped. Most recently, for Pride month, Dalbir ran a series on prominent sikh LGBTQ figures. Eye-openers on how well Punjab’s students have done also stoke the community’s pride. While the repertoire of content on the Sikh Park handles grows, its creator is clear on what not to do.
My #Pride month 🌈 series on prominent Sikh #LGBTQ figures.
Sundeep S Boparai is an advocate, a model, a healthcare administrator, a fashion influencer. He has become a champion, a trailblazer, and a leader for LGTBQ+ Sikhs around the country (US). #Pride2022 #PrideMonth pic.twitter.com/yg4Q3G2Xus
— SikhPark (@SikhPark) June 25, 2022
“I ensure that the humour is always on the situation, not the person. When you do something around religion, you have to be very careful. It becomes very limiting sometimes,” Dalbir reflects.
“I stay away from controversy for my own sanity. Social media can become very creepy. There are times when I have to delete a comment or two because it could offend someone,” he adds.
He has also steered clear of politics. A political party wanted him to run a Sikh Park series as part of their 2022 assembly election campaign in Punjab, which he refused. His intent is not to commercialise the venture but keep it passion-funded.
https://twitter.com/SikhPark/status/1495421102344261634
Dalbir recalls that at a Comic Con conference in Delhi a few years ago, people wondered why he wasn’t selling merchandise and the like. It was not on his agenda. He did however take the NFT route more recently, with over 20 people picking up items from his rather respectably priced collection within a month. When we checked on 1st July 2022, several items were priced on OpenSea at the crypto equivalent of over 94 USD.
My NFT collection on Sikh women.
Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. Her father was Maharaja Duleep Singh. Get the NFT on @opensea https://t.co/2GDEALYz2u #WorldOfWomen #WomeninNFT #NFTs #WomensArt #WomenOfTheMovement #NFTcollections pic.twitter.com/rr0S41sj55
— SikhPark (@SikhPark) February 6, 2022
“There’s a lot that can be done, be it meet-and-greet or exhibitions and the like, It takes a lot of time. This is a small part of what I do,” he explains.
But the passion keeps pushing him to create more. At some point, he wanted to create a web series, but with real people.
“I wanted to go to Netflix. I had even done the look and feel. But the day job takes so much time,” he notes.
Dalbir is not ruling out the possibility, though. Someday, maybe we will see a Sikh Park web series with real people in it. Our guess is that it will be funny without offending anyone, much like the cartoon strips. To create something like that today, is indeed an achievement.
