August

This is a Graphite and Charcoal portrait of 'Bhagat Puran Singh' who passed away in 1992. He founded Pingalwara, a house for the destitute in Amritsar, Punjab, in northern India.

I was asked to do his portrait, by some of the Pingalwara sevadars, I met from the UK. I am going to present it as a gift to ‘Pingalwara’ in Amritsar, in honour of the great service 'Bhagat Puran Singh' has provided to the helpless people of Punjab. Pingalwara was founded informally in year 1924 by a then 19-year-old Ramji Das who later became famous as Bhagat Puran Singh.

Currently, Pingalwara has facilities for 1080 patients who are fed, housed and looked after, thanks to generous support of various philanthropists. The main branch houses the Administrative Complex, a female ward, children's ward, Rehabilitation Centre, Printing Press, Dispensary, Medical Lab, Dental Centre and the Common Kitchen. Pingalwara also operates a free drug dispensary, a blood bank, a shelter for intellectually disabled children and a free primary school in a slum area in Amritsar city.

Poor and abandoned children raised by Pingalwara are helped to re-establish themselves in society at completion of their school education. An ambulance and a basic operation room is available for trauma care of accident victims. Pingalwara now has branches in Jalandhar, Sangrur, Chandigarh, Goindwal and Manawala (Amritsar district).