A love for books inspired by Sidhu Moosewala

With cheerful photographs of Sidhu Moosewala in his mobile and a red and black tattoo of him on his arm, Pardeep Singh Sidhu from village Musa whose book stall on Punjabi literature, Sikh history and contemporary commentary on Punjab, showed signs of being inspired by the slain Punjabi singer, drew attention at the 33rd Mela Ghadari Babeyan Da.

Hailing from a family that has an interlocking tiles factory (key business), Pardeep Singh Sidhu inherited the penchant for reading books from his uncle and the hobby gradually turned into a profession – with generous aid from “friend” Sidhu Moosewala. Pardeep says the singer’s life and tragic death altered the village’s destiny – popularising an area about which earlier no one even knew of.

Himself a resident of Makha village, Pardeep’s bookstore is in Musa village – a stone’s throw from Sidhu Moosewala’s house. Pardeep has been setting up a stall at the Mela Ghadri Babeyan Da for the past two years.

“Our family had business in tiles. I picked up the habit of reading from my uncle. Then I set up a book store at Musa village near Sidhu’s house. He was a regular and we became friends. After his death, I became attached to the place. He spent time with us. I owe a lot to the inspiration he provided,” he says.

An Instagram book page set up by Pradeep today has 7.5K followers and 8,000 to 10,000 people are also associated with him through his website kitab.hut.in.

“Weapons weren’t his only subject-matter, which is often overlooked. The world couldn’t understand Sidhu. People thought his songs were borne out of aggression. But they were a response to what was happening to him, to people, who were targeting or harassing him which turned a soft and sober boy into a daredevil. He never did things for the sake of promotion. His musical career included songs for his mother and father, early on.”

He adds, “Sidhu’s legacy is that he became a brand ambassador for his village. Sidhu called himself Tibbeyan da putt (son of dunes). The impact is that youths from the village have been inspired. They believe they can be poets and artists too.”