Dr. Inderjit Singh, a well known Sikh scholar in USA, was born in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) and
had started his school education in Lahore. His father was a learned Gursikh who had retired as Secretary
of Punjab Public Service Commission. After partition, the family shifted to Jalandhar, where he completed
his school education. He graduated from Govt. Dental College in Amritsar. When the MURRY and LEONI
Guggenheim Foundation announced a competition for two fellowship to Indians for study in Pediatric
Dentistry, he applied for the same and got it. He landed in New York on 11 August 1960 and did his
graduation and then received a Ph.D. in anatomical sciences from the University of Oregon Medical School
(now Oregon Health Sciences University), and a DDS from Columbia University. After the Ph.D., he
completed a two years stint as a special research fellow of the National Institute of Health and then joined
the faculty of New York University. Since then he has been in teaching and research. He has published
and presented more than 100 research paper and reports in professional journals and books. He has also
been associated as adjunct Professor with other universities like Colombia and Cornell University and has
lectured at many medical and dental college across the country. At present, he is Professor emeritus of
Anatomical Sciences at New York University. He has earned an excellent reputation and popularity among
the students and as he says that he never forgets while appearing before the students that he is a Sikh,
meaning a learning student. He is a role-model not merely as a popular medical teacher, but also as a Sikh
scholar who has studied Sikh religion elaborately and has adopted it as his way of living. When he lived in
Oregon, he was perhaps a lone Sikh with a turban and many missionaries started inviting him to speak on
Sikhism. He was always proud of his religion and identity. However, when in 1984, a turn of events with a
bias against the Sikhs took place in India, he took keen interest, made a deeper study of Sikhism and started
actively writing and speaking about his religion and co-religionists living in countries outside India. Apart
from many essays and book reviews by him, his books, namely Unquestionable Truth, s.n. (1975); Sikh Way
: A Pilgrims Progress, Centennial Press (2001); Sikhs & Sikhism : A View with a Bias, South Asia Books
(December 1997); Sikhs and Sikhism, The Centennial Foundation (2006); and The World According To
Sikhi, published by The Centennial Foundation, Ontario, Canada, 2006, clearly show his vast knowledge and innovative thoughts about various concepts of Sikhism. For example, in his last book ‘A Collection of
25 Essays’, he deals with various sensitive issues like interfaith marriages, same sex unions etc. to provoke
Sikh minds to think about all kinds of issues in the light of Sikhi. He uses the word Sikhi and not Sikhism, as
according to him “The Sikh way is best labeled Sikhi, for this word speaks of a way of life and encompasses
Sikhisms history, doctrine, dogma, traditions and institutions. The emphasis in Sikhi teaching is less on
fences or rituals and more on a way of life.” Undoubtedly, this role-model gursikh being one of the greatest
Sikh thinkers of our times, he serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Sikh Review (Calcutta) as well
as Nishan (New Delhi), and writes a regular internet column on Sikhi.
