Toffee Uncle leaves no leaf!

He is a face in the crowd. But is know as ?toffee uncle? among the people who know him. Surjeet Singh derives pleasure from helping the mankind and doing God?s ?sewa?. And people who know him fondly call him ?toffee uncle?.

He is a face in the crowd. But is know as ‘toffee uncle’ among the people who know him. Surjeet Singh derives pleasure from helping the mankind and doing God’s ‘sewa’. And people who know him fondly call him ‘toffee uncle’.

HT Image

And over the years he has become an artist who has never bothered to sell or exhibit his creations. And in his art only two things reflect apart from creativity—religion and love for all religion.

A sports photographer by profession Surjeet Singh has developed several interesting hobbies and some of them are ‘hobbies with a purpose’. All his hobbies have a mission attached to them. “I want to spread humanity, mankind and oneness of religions. No no big guru kind of way, but in my small ways—just trying to influence by friends, neighbours and other people,” says Surjeet.

One of his hobbies is to paint on dried up peepal leaf. “I draw figures of God’s and religious symbols on these leaves. It is a hobby that I cultivated almost 45 years back. It gives me immense pleasure when I engage myself in this activity,” says Surjeet.

The technique that Surjeet uses to paint these leaves is quite tedious. He tells, “First, I soak the leaves in water for at least 20 days or till the time the green colour on leaves washes away. Then wash the leaves carefully and leave them for drying.” He adds, “However the entire process requires a lot of care and patience.”

Another hobby is to write scripture or parts of scripture on drawing sheets. “I have written the entire Bhagwat Gita and parts of Guru Granth Saheb, Quran and other scriptures on drawing sheets. It takes almost six months to write these scriptures on sheets because they are written very minutely and requires a lot of attention and hard work,” says Surjeet.

“And you cannot go wrong while writing these scriptures because they are religious scriptures,” says Surjeet.

Apart from all this Surjeet also contributes articles to the newspapers. He has also written several religious papers and booklets.

He says, “I like writing on religious subjects and topics. It makes me feel good and in this way I also contribute to humanity.”

Interestingly, all the people who know him also call Surjeet Singh ‘Toffee Uncle’.

“The reason for this is that I always carry toffees with me, and give them to the people I meet,” says Surjeet.