Hi my name is Dr Sunny Sandhu.
I was born in Tarn Taran , Punjab in 1981. I grew up in civil war and went to a convent school which was guarded by machine guns. In middle of 90’s I saw vultures and sparrows disappear from the skies. Cancer killed many family members. I would hear that there is something wrong with the environment but nobody seemed to do anything to correct it.
I worked hard and became the first person of my city to go to AIIMS, which is the best medical school .I did my medical graduation from AIIMS, New Delhi in 2006 . Here I was introduced to Yoga thanks to work of Dr Bijlani Professor of Physiology who did many years researching this difficult subject. His passion helped many of us to combine the East and the west in our life.
I have practised Sooryayog for 18 years. Osho meditation camps also put into my head new ideas of medicine with meditation.I studied Dhrupad (ancient classical music and medicine) under Ustad Asad Ali Khan a padma shri and great Rudra Veena master . I spent 3 years in Kerala with Sooryayog Foundation working side by side with masters of ayurveda , yoga ,natural farming and naturopathy . All this training helped me reconnect with the Earth spirit and understand the problems being faced.
I went back to Punjab in 2010 . I started spending time in Harike wetlands and River Beas which passed through my district. Beas has been the source of inspiration of great epics of Ramayana , Mahabharata and Guru Granth Sahib . Its ground zero for Indian vedic thought . I had an amazing encounter with River Dolphins surviving here. It shocked me that I had grown up and went to top medical school and it took me 30 years to see them. I understood that our education model is flawed and is building a society which is not connected to it local ecology . To address this
I build a project for river dolphin conservation and education called Bhoomitra -friend of earth . I started it in my home district Tarn taran , Punjab . I started taking people and school children for trips to see river dolphins. The boatmen felt encouraged and became my partners. Media took notice of an ecology march to the habitat. In 2017 the river beas was declared a conservation zone with reintroduction of ghariyals . A great punjabi rock singer Rabbi Shergill made a visit and it inspired me to write a song for them “Bulanaji”. A musician was born in the river beas .
Bulanaji Song for river dolphin of punjab
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXzXDYowizE&ab_channel=SunnySandhu
In one of the tours I met Vanessa Harvey , a french american singer songwriter . We feel in love and have a son together. I started travelling to France and currently live in Saint paul de Vence in south of france. Here i continued developing my artistic capabilites and opened atelier Om to teach the new way of medicine combining Dhrupad singing and Ayurveda . I started selling Indian tribal art paintings especially of the Gond Tribe which had inspired my journey . I still travel every year to Punjab to continue with River dolphin project.
The biggest challenge to River dolphin conservation has been to address the agricultural and industrial model of development. Chemical Agriculture uses to much water and puts too many poisons into soil . I have since 2011 been engaged with organic farming movements in Punjab and India , urging for change .
I was part of environmental political movement called Vatavaran and Samaj Bachao Morcha in 2012-2014 seeking better understanding of Cancer epidemic in Punjab and its mediation .
My work was documented in film called Toxic valley by Simon Kurian
I have partners in Punjab like Environmental conservationists Nikhil Sanger and Navdeep sood , Organic farmer Manbhavan Singh who are actively taking the dialogue forward .
Workshop with school children
Organic farmer Manbhavan Kahlon interview
Gond tribal artist Santosh Maravi sharing his vision , I have been inspired by Gond art for many years and it has helped me in many ways . Meetings with Gond elder musicians helped me in understanding a lot about our common ancient musical roots and rhythms . I made this film in reverence to them . Its an honor to present their music and artworks in my concerts . I continue to exhibit and sell their artworks as well
The idea of Bhoomitra is to promote ecological well being using music and arts and move towards sustainable agriculture.
I won a creativity award this year for my work on track called Si ghan by beyond music foundation – switzerland for environmental education
I am sharing my facebook page where there 5 videos I had produced documenting my journey and journey of my fellow Bhoomitra .
I am currently looking for collaboration, grants and funding to move the project forward during covid times . Let me know if anyone interested .
I want to develop artistic and environmental science projects . I want to reach to school children along river beas and help them understand their ecological heritage and create new green jobs. I want to build a centre for environmental studies . I want to turn the river system into the wonderful space it was before green revolution came and destroyed Punjab . If the river dolphin – bulan lives we will make it too .
Thanks
Dr Sunny Sandhu
www.atelierom.guru
Dr Sunny Sandhu studied Medicine in AIIMS , New Delhi . He learnt Dhrupad with Ustad Asad Ali Khan. He currently lives in France working as musician , musictherapist , environmental education teacher and art gallerist .
Thanks for posting
Very inspiring
Looking forward to interact with you at Harike tomorrow
Very interesting and inspirational !
Power to you in your noble journey