Ripudaman Singh

Ripudaman Singh is a young enterprising Sikh, who lives in Aarhus, Denmark and works as a Chief Technology Officer in ARCEDI Biotech, a Danish biotech company which has pioneered ‘non-invasive prenatal testing’ on rare fetal cells isolated from maternal blood. Ripdaman was born on 12th May 1975 at Patna in the house of Sdn. Gurveen Kaur Lamba and S. Gurcharanjit Singh Lama (A Sikh intellectual, legal expert and editor of community Journal ‘Sant Sipahi’). He had his education and then moved to Denmark in 2000 for higher education. He received a Ph.D. degree in Medicine from Aarhus University, followed by an MBA from Aarhus School of Business. He is an excellent photographer and story teller. He shot to national fame in Denmark in 2015 when the main concert hall in Aarhus hosted a photo exhibition created by him called ‘Time Travel Aarhus’.For this exhibition, Ripudaman created pictures from different landmarks in Aarhus where he merged the old pictures from a public database with the pictures taken by him.The exhibition gave the audience an opportunity to travel in time and experience how life has changed/not changed over the years, and experience how the streets, buildings and other landmarks of Aarhus have borne the brunt of time (www.timetravelaahrus.com).

Although, this exhibition made him popular, but, what made him a role-model is his love and devotion for his religion. Even as a youngster, this love was evident from his active participation in various religious programmes and competitions. When, Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanstha organized its first Spiritual and General Ability (SAGA) contest at Amritsar, he emerged among the toppers. When he moved to Aarhus, he was the only turbaned Sikh living in the city of 300,000 inhabitants. But that did not deter him from propagating the message of Sikhi. Since 2003 he has been associated as a guest teacher with a Danish NGO called Mundu, and has visited a dozen schools around Denmark to give lectures about Sikh faith and traditions, where he also held turban tying workshop. He also fought a high profile case in Denmark for his right to carry the Kirpan. While visiting the American embassy in Copenhagen in 2004, Ripudaman submitted his Kirpan to the security at the gate. While he was inside the embassy, the security officers on duty called the police. Ripudaman refused to sign the conviction paper which led to a series of court hearings He was charged with carrying a weapon. The court case lasted for a couple of years and finally he was acquitted by the Copenhagen High Court However, Ripudaman lost the principle case for the right of Amritdharis to carry Kirpan in Denmark. In 2006, The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee, while acknowledging his struggle and commitment, conferred upon him the title of ‘Brand Ambassador’. The Brand Ambassador role-model is now living with his wife Akalpreet Kaur (an Italian girl converted to Sikhism). They have three children, Jasveen Kaur (8 years), Sargun Singh (6 years) and Livteg Singh (3 and half years).