Gutka/Pothi Repair Workshop Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall Park Avenue

Two Day Gurbani Gutka and Pothi Repair Workshop.
In this workshop you will learn the basics of how to repair and rebind damaged or birad gutka sahibs and pothi sahibs. The first day will cover basic rebinding using traditional and adapted techniques. The second day will cover basic paper repair.

Dates: 27-28 Dec 2012
Times: 9am-5pm both days (Thurs and Fri)
Location: Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Southall Park Avenue

Basic tools will be provided to share but please try to bring as many of the following items as possible:
Pencil, Craft knife, Stanley Knife, wood/mdf off-cuts, scalpel, metal ruler, wooden mallet, cutting mat, large sewing needles, clean painting brushes, scrap cardboard or a chopping board and also a hazuria cloth.

If you are interested in signing up please send your name via email to:
pothirepair@gmail.com
Or call 07757082680
The workshop will have a maximum capacity of 15-20 students. Please only apply if you are able to attend both days as a minimum of two days is needed to learn the basic skills.

Why is the workshop being held?

The topic of Gurbani Pothi Sahibs and their repair may seem distant and unimportant to many. Yet it is of central importance if the Sikh community is to better itself and become closer to the ideals enshrined by our Guru-Sahibaan. The reasons why can be covered in a book or an essay. However, they can also be summed up in the THREE bullet points shown below.

• Gurbani and Gurmat granths themselves extol the virtues of doing seva of Gurbani’s Sargun Pothi Sahib Sarup.

e.g. “Pothi Parmesar Ka Thaan”

“Dhan su kagad kalam dhan…”

The workshop will be a chance for Sikhs to understand the virtues of doing seva of Maharaj’s sargun sarup.

• The community is currently treating gurbani in a 'use and dispose' way. Every month hundreds Gurbani Pothis and Maharaj Sarups are cremated in asthaans across Panjab and India. Hundreds of Maharaj Sarups are being printed on a monthly basis. This is leading to a “use and dispose” cycle whereby people would rather cremate a Maharaj Sarup than go to the effort of getting it repaired. Moreover, it has now become impossible to account for the hundreds and thousands of Maharaj sarups being printed. This has made it easier for non-Gurmat Dera groups to use Maharaj Sarups to legitimize themselves enough to attract Sikhs and benefit financially.

Repairing damaged Pothi Sahibs and Maharaj Sarups on a large scale will mean that the need to print masses of Gurbani and Maharaj Sarups will diminish. The workshop intends to be one step towards reaching this destination.

• Many Historical Pothi Sahibs and Maharaj Sarups in India and abroad are in a state of disrepair or misrepair due to limited funds and attention. Training Sikhs in manuscript repair and restoration will help change this situation without the need to rely on paying non-Sikh manuscript restorers.

The workshop will allow shardhavaan Sikhs to gain some basic repair skills which can then be developed in later workshops.