 He boasts of being the third generation artist to be associated with the College of Art, both in the capacity of a student and a teacher. So, when one interacts with D. S. Kapoor, it is a new learning experience every day. Our latest discovery, a golden plaque at Kapoor’s living room leads us to an interesting series of historical events, which were enacted in the recent past.
The embossed Golden Temple is a fine example of Repusee work, which was first crafted by Kapoor’s father Sujan Singh in the 80s and now has been replicated by Kapoor on demand. Sujan Singh, a product of Mayo School of Art, Lahore took up teaching in the craft section of Government College of Art, an offshoot of Mayo School, which was started in Shimla by the emigrant artists after partition.
Custodian of a dying art form, Sujan Singh, retired from the college after it was shifted to Chandigarh. The department closed down with his retirement.
Coming back to the story of the plaque, it was Parkash Singh Badal, the then chief minister rediscovered Sujan Singh and his craft and assigned him to make a plaque featuring Golden Temple to honour nine eminent artiste from various field, whom he grouped as Nav Ratans. Though Sujan Singh embossed the temple in metal with all its grandeur, the occasion demanded that it to be plated in 24 carat gold. After all, the Nav Ratans included names like Satish Gujral, Shiv Singh, Ustad Munawar Ali Khan, Jaswant Singh, Master Rattan, Nirmal Rishi, Santokh Singh Dhir, Gurdial Singh and Ajit Cour.
Around the same time in the early 80s, the plaque was replicated once again, this time to honour 40 luminaries selected by the Punjab Government for Punjabi Filmfare Award. This time the names included, Raj Kapoor, Dara Singh, Dharmendra and Surinder Kaur.
 Sujan Singh Kapoor The plaque would have been a thing of past, had Badal not shown interest in creating more replicas, this time around 300 copies to honour 300 personalities during the tercentenary celebrations of Khalsa Panth in 1999. “Badal came looking for my father, but he was no more. So, the responsibility of recreating it came upon me,” says Kapoor, proud be carrying on the family torch. The plaque, now replicated by Kapoor found place in the homes and hearts of many like Atal Behari Vajpayee, I. K. Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Lata Mangeshkar.
Badal’s idea to present the Golden Temple in a new form became the college property when Prem Singh, the ex -principal of the college, adopted it as the official logo for the first convocation in the year 2001. The plaque was once again given to Satish Gujral, the chief guest for the occasion. The same procedure was repeated for the second convocation as well.
But the plaque was destined to reach new heights. And it did when Bill Clinton visited India. He could not visit the city, but a delegation from the college went to meet him in Delhi and they carried with them a piece of Sujan Singh’s Golden Temple. “Now it’s kept in the White House,” says Kapoor. More than this, the though that excites him is that the replica of plaque has reached the place where it originated from— the Mayo School of Art, Lahore. “The principal of Mayo School of Art, Sajida Haider Vandal visited our college in 2003. I made a replica from the original and gave it to her. After all, my father was a product of that college and it would keep his name and memories alive there,” says Kapoor. Not to forget the bridge it will build between the parent organisation and its off-shoot.
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