MY LIFE STORY
Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor
ਪ੍ਰੀਤ ਮੋਹਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਕਪੂਰ
Engineer · Technology Pioneer · Spiritual Soul · Son of Multan
Foreword
This is the life story of Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor — a man of many extraordinary chapters. He was born into the upheaval of a partitioned subcontinent, grew up in the modest lanes of Panipat, served the Government of India on landmark infrastructure projects in India and Nepal, pioneered software consulting in America's most competitive technology sector — working with approximately 500 of the top corporations in the United States — and achieved a milestone that no Sikh before him had accomplished: he was the first person in the world to digitise Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, opening the floodgates for Gurbani to reach the Western world and earning recognition in the top mainstream English-language newspapers on the planet.
And through all of it — he remained rooted in the red earth of his ancestral village of Badbar, District Barnala, Punjab. His guava trees grow there still.
This document is drawn from his own words — his blog 'My Family and Our Times' (preetmohan.blogspot.com), active since 2003 with over 1,800 posts — and from conversations with the man himself. It is written in the spirit in which he has lived: honestly, warmly, and with gratitude to Waheguru Ji.
Chapter 1: Roots — From Multan to Badbar
The Kapoor family's story does not begin in Badbar. It begins in Agha Pura Mohalla, a colony outside the Delhi Gate of Multan — one of the oldest and most civilised cities of the ancient world, dating back more than 3,000 years, situated at the confluence of the Ravi and Chenab rivers. This colony was established in the 15th century by none other than Bhai Nand Lal Goya — the celebrated Sufi-Sikh poet-scholar and beloved disciple in the royal darbar of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The family's presence in that sacred neighbourhood was the foundation of a heritage steeped in devotion, learning, and resilience that would carry forward through every generation.
Preet Mohan's paternal grandfather was Sh. Bhagwan Dass, a respected patriarch of the family. His father, Sh. Vas Dev Singh Kapoor, and his uncle, Sh. Inder Jit Singh, were born and raised in Multan, owning property and agricultural lands across Multan, Lyallpur (modern Faisalabad), Muzaffargarh, and Khanewal. Both brothers had fought a legal battle of over twenty years to secure their rightful inheritance. Only to have that entire world swept away overnight by the cataclysm of Partition.
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] Lala Bhagwan Dass (grandfather, left standing) with family associates — patriarch of the Kapoor lineage, Multan preetmohan.blogspot.com > Our Early Partition Days (2008) > Bhagwan+dass+and+co.jpg |
The Partition of 1947 — Survival and Rebirth
In early 1947, Sh. Vas Dev Singh and his brother Sh. Inder Jit Singh moved their family to Faridkot on the Indian side — grandmother Smt. Karam Devi, his mother Smt. Savitri Devi, young Preet Mohan, infant sister Bhagwant Kaur, and his uncle's family. The violence struck even there. In the night a neighbour attacked Smt. Savitri Devi with a sharp cutting tool, wounding her head and nose and severing her index finger before being driven off by his aunt Smt. Prem Kaur. Despite grievous injuries, Savitri Devi displayed the steel that would define her character as a mother for decades to come.
Meanwhile, Sh. Vas Dev Singh returned to Multan to retrieve vital property documents — and was trapped as the city descended into chaos. His brother Inder Jit went every day to Faridkot railway station, watching corpse-laden trains arrive from Pakistan, reciting Japji Sahib and Ardaas for his brother's return. Then a letter reached family friend Sh. Dalip Singh, a serving Army officer. He immediately drove an army truck through hostile riot-torn territory — firing his gun into the air to scatter mobs — and brought Sh. Vas Dev Singh back to safety. It was, as Preet Mohan wrote, 'a rebirth for my father.' A debt of honour the Kapoor family would repay generations later, when Sh. Dalip Singh was invited as Chief Guest of Honour at Shivpreet's wedding to wrap the Sehra on his turban.
The family eventually settled in Panipat, Haryana. Through the government's refugee rehabilitation scheme, they received allotment of agricultural land in Badbar, Barnala — the plot that would become the family's new ancestral anchor, and remain dear to Preet Mohan's heart for the rest of his life.
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] The Kapoor Family — Simla 1954. Preet Mohan is seated bottom right. A family that rebuilt itself from nothing, with grace and dignity. preetmohan.blogspot.com > Our Early Partition Days (2008) > My+family+in+Simla+1954.jpg |
Chapter 2: Growing Up in Panipat
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] Sardar Vasdev Singh & Sardarni Savitri Devi — Panipat 1951. The parents who raised Preet Mohan with faith, discipline, and boundless love despite the wounds of Partition. preetmohan.blogspot.com > First Painting of Guru Nanak (Jan 2025) > Photo 2: Dad & Mom, Panipat 1951 |
Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor was born in July 1944 — among the last generation of Indians born in undivided British India. He grew up in Panipat, the city of three historic battles, shaped by the dual legacy of displacement and determination. His mother Savitri Devi, despite her Partition injuries, raised him and his younger sisters with extraordinary discipline and love. His father, Sh. Vas Dev Singh, who had adopted the full Sikh identity with beard and dastar during the Singh Sabha movement of the 1920s, instilled in the family a deep, unwavering faith in the Guru.
Young Preet Mohan grew up surrounded by a warm extended family — cousins Tarlochan Singh (Roop), Gurpal Kaur (Paali), Amarjit Kaur (Ambu), Jag Mohan (Pappu), Man Mohan (Mindi), Mohinder Kaur (Bobi), and Manjit Kaur (Toli). The 1954 Simla family portrait — all three generations dressed in their best — captures a household that had rebuilt itself from nothing with grace and dignity.
A formative spiritual moment came during a childhood summer visit to Badbar. His father insisted both Preet Mohan and sister Bhagwant recite the complete Jap Ji Sahib before their revered Bhua Ji (Sardarni Nanak Bai) before receiving her blessings — their 'Charni Lagna'. Bhua Ji listened, approved, and rewarded them with fresh hot parathas dripping with white butter, eaten on a simple cotton mat by the fire. That moment of love, faith, and nourishment stayed etched in his memory for life. Decades later, when granddaughter Geet performed her first kirtan in California, he felt those same blessings flowing down through the generations.
He describes himself simply: 'I am more like a man with a white collar attitude than a warrior. But above all, I am spiritual first. That, to me, defines my identity more than anything else.' A teetotaler from a Bhagat family. Thoughtful, disciplined, grounded in humility. These qualities would define him in every chapter that followed.
Chapter 3: Government Service & Nepal
After completing his engineering education, Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor joined the Government of India's engineering services — a prestigious career path for the brightest young minds of post-Independence India. His early career placed him on major national infrastructure projects, combining technical skills with administrative acumen.
The crown jewel of his government career was a two-year deputation to Nepal. From July 1973 to June 1975, he was posted to the Trishuli Hydel Project — a landmark hydroelectric power project built by the Government of India for Nepal, powering the nation's development. He lived in the Trishuli valley and maintained a base at the Indian Government Guest House in Balaju, Kathmandu, near the Indian Embassy.
During his Kathmandu postings he discovered the then almost-forgotten Guru Nanak Math — a sacred shrine on a wooded hill by the Bishnumati River, where Guru Nanak Dev Ji had meditated during his Third Udaasi. The shrine, still officially registered in Guru Nanak's name in Nepal's revenue records, was invisible to most tourists and pilgrims. Preet Mohan wrote about it extensively — a characteristic act of preserving overlooked Sikh heritage for posterity. The same spirit that would later drive him to digitise the Guru Granth Sahib.
Chapter 4: Marriage — A Punjabi Love Story
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] The Roka ceremony, early 1970s — Harvinder being fed sweets in the traditional Punjabi way, Tilak Nagar, Delhi. Preet Mohan's mother gifted the first diamond ring in the family. preetmohan.blogspot.com > My Marriage Roka Ceremony (Sep 2025) > Roka photo |
In the early 1970s, Preet Mohan's mother Savitri Devi had found the right match: a tall, beautiful girl from her own extended family, noticed at a wedding in Chandigarh. 'She is very beautiful, and from a good family.' The girl was Harvinder — granddaughter of Savitri Devi's eldest sister Baiji, living in Tilak Nagar, Delhi.
One Sunday evening the family hired a taxi from Jangpura, arrived at Tilak Nagar with the joyous announcement 'The proposal has been approved!' and performed a spontaneous Roka ceremony with Ardaas — all without Harvinder or her parents present, as they were over 460 km away in Ajmer with no reliable phone line. Savitri Devi announced she would give her future daughter-in-law a diamond ring — something no one in their entire family had ever done. The formal ring ceremony followed when Harvinder's father S. Mohan Narain Singh Kapoor travelled to Delhi.
Preet Mohan and Harvinder were married on 9th September 1972. They have now completed 53 beautiful years of marriage. In September 2025 they celebrated this milestone at the DoubleTree Hilton in Napa Valley, California — beginning their anniversary day at the brand-new Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Fairfield, bowing before Waheguru and receiving the Hukamnama with deep gratitude.
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] 53rd Wedding Anniversary — September 2025. Preet Mohan and Harvinder at the DoubleTree Hilton, Napa Valley. '53 wonderful years of togetherness, guided by His grace.' preetmohan.blogspot.com > Our 53rd Anniversary (Sep 2025) > DoubleTree Hilton Napa |
Chapter 5: Migration to America — 1988
In 1988, Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor made the defining journey of his professional life — he migrated to the United States of America. His close friend Mohan Sachdeva had emigrated in 1980; Preet Mohan followed eight years later, settling in San Ramon, California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area — the heart of Silicon Valley's orbit, where the most innovative companies in the world were being born.
The transition from government service in India to the competitive fast-moving technology sector of late-1980s America was formidable for anyone. But Preet Mohan brought with him deep engineering and analytical skills honed on national infrastructure projects, a disciplined work ethic shaped by a lifetime of Sikh values, the administrative insight of a senior government professional, and the quiet confidence of a man who had watched his family rebuild from nothing after Partition. He was ready.
Chapter 6: Software Consulting Pioneer — 500 Top US Companies
In America, Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor built a distinguished career as a software consultant — working with approximately 500 of the top corporations in the United States, spanning finance, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, and technology.
The late 1980s and 1990s were the era of the great American enterprise software revolution — the watershed moment when computers moved from back-office machines to the nerve centres of billion-dollar businesses. Preet Mohan was at the heart of this transformation, advising Fortune 500 boardrooms and technical teams on how to harness technology to drive efficiency, accuracy, and growth at scale.
He navigated this world on his own terms — a teetotaler from a Bhagat family in the most commercially driven economy on earth, guided always by his spiritual values and his integrity. His professionalism earned him not just business relationships but lasting friendships. His close friend Mohan Sachdeva — 'very different by nature, he enjoyed life in his own way while I chose a quieter, more disciplined path' — remained his buddy for over fifty years, through open-heart surgeries and cancer and every turmoil life could throw, until Sachdeva's passing in January 2026.
Chapter 7: A Historic Achievement — First to Digitise Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Of all Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor's many achievements, none carries greater historical and spiritual significance than this: he was the first person in the world to digitise Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji — the eternal living Guru and sacred scripture of the Sikh faith.
The Scale of the Challenge
Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is one of the most expansive and linguistically complex scriptures in the world — 1,430 Angs containing compositions of six Sikh Gurus, fifteen Bhagats including Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, and Baba Farid, written in multiple languages rendered in the Gurmukhi script. Before Preet Mohan's work, this sacred text existed only in physical printed form. For the global Sikh diaspora in the West — raising children in Western countries — there was no way to search, reference, or study Gurbani on a computer. The scripture was inaccessible to anyone without a physical Bir in hand.
The Work
Preet Mohan brought to this seva his full technical expertise as a software professional and his complete devotion as a faithful Sikh. The project required building Gurmukhi font support for computers — a significant technical challenge in that era — then entering the entire 1,430-page scripture accurately, verifying every line against the printed source, and creating software that could search and display Gurbani meaningfully. This was accomplished not with convenient scanning tools but in the early era of personal computing, when Indic language support barely existed.
The result was transformative. For the first time in history, a Sikh anywhere in the world with a computer could search the complete Guru Granth Sahib Ji. A shabad could be found. Compositions could be cross-referenced. The living Guru was accessible on a screen in London or Los Angeles — by a Punjabi child who could not yet read Gurmukhi, by a Western scholar curious about Sikhism, by a new convert seeking to understand their faith.
Opening the Floodgates for Gurbani in the Western World
Preet Mohan's digitisation opened the floodgates for the spread of Gurbani to the Western world. His pioneering work laid the foundation upon which subsequent platforms — SikhiToTheMax, SriGranth.org, SearchGurbani, and SikhNet — were able to build. Without the first digitisation, none of these could have followed. Today millions of people around the world access Gurbani digitally every single day. Every one of those connections traces its lineage back to the first digitisation that Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor performed. It is a seva whose ripples will never stop spreading.
World Press Recognition
This extraordinary achievement was recognised and reported by the top mainstream English-language newspapers of the world. In an era when the Sikh community in the West rarely featured in mainstream press outside political contexts, this was a moment of historic cultural and technological recognition. A man from the village of Badbar, District Barnala, Punjab — son of Partition refugees — had achieved something so historically significant that the world's most prestigious publications placed his story on their pages. It was a moment of immense pride for Preet Mohan, his family, and the entire global Sikh community.
Chapter 8: The Family He Built
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] Three generations: Sardar Gobind Singh (grandson), Sardar Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor, Sardar Shivpreet Singh Kapoor (son). The legacy of Badbar lives on. preetmohan.blogspot.com > First Painting of Guru Nanak (Jan 2025) > Photo 3: Gobind, Preet Mohan, Shivpreet |
Shivpreet Singh Kapoor — Son
Shivpreet Singh Kapoor carries forward both his father's professional brilliance and his grandfather's spiritual depth. A biotechnology specialist and financial analyst, he earned his MBA from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago in 2002 — one of the top business schools in the world. He is also a deeply accomplished musician trained in both Hindustani Classical and Western music, whose Sikh devotional compositions — including a widely appreciated video rendering of Guru Nanak's Aarti — reflect the family's generations-deep connection to Gurbani. His wedding was a milestone occasion: the debt owed to Sh. Dalip Singh — who rescued Preet Mohan's father from Partition-era Multan — was honoured by inviting him as Chief Guest to wrap the Sehra on Shivpreet's turban. The circle of gratitude, spanning half a century, was beautifully closed.
The Grandchildren — A Legacy Taking Root
Shivpreet and his wife are blessed with three children — Preet Mohan and Harvinder's cherished grandchildren:
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] 1976, Mastuana Sahib — The family brings their first wheat harvest offering. L to R: Sardar Vasdev Singh, Sardarni Karam Devi (grandmother), Bhua Ji Sardarni Nanak Bai, Sardar Partap Singh, and Harvinder with baby Shiv. Three generations of faith at once. preetmohan.blogspot.com > My Charne Lagna (Jan 2025) > 1976 Mastuana Sahib family visit |
House 'Karamvas' in Badbar
The family home in Badbar is named 'Karamvas' — meaning 'abiding in grace' or 'dwelling by Waheguru's grace'. From this house the family has seen sons grow into professionals, a grandson head to Georgia Tech, and granddaughters begin their kirtan before Waheguru Ji. It is a fitting name for a family whose entire story — from Partition survival to global diaspora — has unfolded under the grace of the Guru.
Chapter 9: Badbar — The Village That Never Left Him
[ PHOTOGRAPH ] Guava trees laden with fruit in Preet Mohan's Badbar farm, September 2025 — after seven patient years. 'My little pilot project has finally borne fruit — literally!' preetmohan.blogspot.com > Guava Plants in My Farms in Badbar (Sep 2025) > Fruit-laden trees |
For all the extraordinary geography of Preet Mohan's life — Multan, Panipat, Faridkot, Kathmandu, Delhi, San Ramon, California — Badbar has always been the still point at the centre.
He owns agricultural land there — both Nehri (canal-irrigated) and Maru (rain-fed) parcels — and travels from Sangrur station whenever he is in India, a 30-minute ride that brings him home. He has witnessed wheat harvests, attended religious ceremonies, maintained relationships with neighbours and workers, and supervised his land through his trusted farm worker Manjeet Singh.
About seven years ago, inspired by a conversation with an organic farming pioneer patient from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, he planted 20 guava saplings along the Pahi (boundary path) of his Badbar fields as a pilot project in 2018. For five or six years the saplings grew slowly, with no flowers or fruit. He nearly gave up. Then in September 2025, after the heavy Punjab monsoon raised the underground water table, all the surviving trees came alive simultaneously — laden with healthy, beautiful fruit. Manjeet Singh sent him a short video. Preet Mohan and Harvinder watched it again and again from San Ramon, with the same joy each time. The village and the man were still one.
He writes of Badbar's clean interlocked roads, beautiful new constructions, and the progressive spirit of its residents with the pride of a man who has seen the greatest cities in the world and can still say, without irony: my village holds its own.
Chapter 10: The Spiritual Man — Faith as the Foundation
To understand Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor fully, one must understand the role of faith in his life. He has said it plainly: 'Above all, I am spiritual first. That, to me, defines my identity more than anything else.'
He is a teetotaler from a Bhagat family — the Bhagat tradition within Sikhism emphasising devotion, humility, and seva above all. He and Harvinder are regular donors to Pingalwara in Amritsar — the institution for the physically and mentally disabled founded by Bhagat Puran Singh Ji — continuing a tradition started by his father and carried on by his in-laws. Their contributions are Sikh seva in its purest form.
He has visited and documented Gurdwaras on four continents — the Guru Nanak Math in Kathmandu; Mastuana Sahib, Punjab; the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Fairfield, California; and countless others. His detailed blog accounts of these visits — rich with history, architecture, spiritual reflection, and personal memory — are among the finest records of the Sikh diaspora's relationship with its sacred heritage.
He writes deeply about Gurbani — the Multani words embedded in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Guru Nanak's Aarti, the lives of Sikh heroes from Sardar Baghel Singh to Bhagat Puran Singh. This is not the writing of a scholar performing erudition. It is the writing of a man in love with his faith, sharing what he has discovered with whoever will read.
Chapter 11: The Writer — 'Self Documenting'
Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor has been writing his blog 'My Family and Our Times' since 2003. As of 2026, it carries over 1,800 posts — one of the most sustained personal archives of a Punjabi Sikh family's life in existence anywhere in the world.
The subtitle he chose — 'Self Documenting' — speaks of quiet, profound ambition. He is not merely keeping a diary. He is creating a historical record: of a family, a village, a language, a faith, a generation, and an era. Future scholars of the Punjabi diaspora, of post-Partition resettlement, of the early Sikh digital revolution, of Indian-American professional life in Silicon Valley — all will find his blog an invaluable primary source.
He writes of his 79th birthday in July 2023, his mother's photograph above his head on the wall, missing her. He writes of Geet's first kirtan. Of Gobind at Georgia Tech. Of Jania's dedication to pre-medical research. Of the Multani dialect his cousins still speak with warmth and pride. Of his friend Mohan Sachdeva — fifty years of friendship, who faced cancer and open-heart surgery and kept his jolly spirit to the very end. Of the guava trees in Badbar finally bearing fruit after seven years.
These are not small stories. These are the great stories of a life fully lived, told by the man who lived them, for the people who will come after.
Chapter 12: The Man — A Portrait
Who is Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor?
He is a son of Badbar and a child of Partition — who turned displacement into determination, and determination into distinction. He is the husband of 53 years who honours the woman beside him in every chapter. He is the father who attended Shivpreet's Chicago graduation with pride. He is the grandfather who watches Geet perform kirtan over a phone screen from California and feels his Bhua Ji's blessings flowing down through the generations — who knows that grandson Gobind is at Georgia Tech and working, that Jania is dedicated to pre-medical research, and that Geet will carry the kirtan tradition into the next world.
He is the government engineer who helped light up Nepal. He is the software consultant who served 500 of America's greatest corporations. He is the man who sat down alone with a computer and the sacred Gurmukhi script, and gave the entire Sikh world access to their living Guru on a digital screen — a seva so quietly executed and so immensely consequential that its full impact may never be fully measured. The world's top newspapers noticed. History noticed.
He is the man who plants guava trees and waits seven years for them to bear fruit, who watches the video again and again when they finally do. Who names his village house 'Karamvas' — dwelling in grace. Who eats guavas every winter he is in India. Who travels from Sangrur station to Badbar whenever he can.
He is, as he has said of himself: spiritual first. Peaceful always. Son of Badbar. Forever.
Timeline of a Life
1944 Born in July — Panipat, Haryana (undivided Punjab, British India)
1947 Family survives Partition; father rescued from Multan by Sh. Dalip Singh (Army)
1954 Family portrait in Simla — three generations rebuilt with grace
1960s Engineering education; joins Government of India service
1972 Marries Harvinder — 9th September. First diamond ring in the family
1973-75 Deputed to Trishuli Hydel Project, Nepal; discovers Guru Nanak Math, Kathmandu
1976 Family visits Mastuana Sahib with first wheat harvest offering — three generations
1988 Migrates to United States of America; settles in San Ramon, California
1990s Software consulting: serves ~500 top US corporations
1990s HISTORIC: First person to digitise Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji; featured in world's top English newspapers
2002 Son Shivpreet graduates from Booth School of Business, University of Chicago (MBA)
2003 Begins blog 'My Family and Our Times' — preetmohan.blogspot.com ('Self Documenting')
2018 Plants 20 guava saplings on Badbar farm as pilot project
Jul 2023 Celebrates 79th birthday — over 1,800 blog posts published
Sep 2025 53rd Wedding Anniversary at Napa Valley; guava trees bear fruit in Badbar
2026 Grandson Gobind at Georgia Tech (MS + working); Jania in pre-medical research; Geet in middle school performing kirtan
“Above all, I am spiritual first.
That, to me, defines my identity more than anything else.”
— Preet Mohan Singh Kapoor
Source: preetmohan.blogspot.com | Village Badbar, Dist. Barnala, Punjab, India
