Meet Jaskirat and Anurag ”“ the Super Sikhs of the Amazing Race Australia
By Neeru Saluja
In their introductions, Anurag calls himself as the gentle giant while Jaskirat is the undercover nerd. But the team ”˜Super Sikhs’ who are participating in the Amazing Race Australia are much more to this.
These bright two adventurous young boys are here to place Sikhs on the world map. With a strong determination and fighting spirit, they are ready to experience their beautiful country ”“ Australia.
Join us in their adventure as we participate in a fun and enlightening conversation with them knowing how they ended up participating in the contest, what do Sikh values mean to them and what makes them stand out to win this race.
How did both of you end up participating in this amazing race?
Anurag: Both me and Jas love adventure and challenging ourselves. We thought this would be a great opportunity for us, have some fun and explore the beautiful country Australia.
Jaskirat: We both have been massive fans of the amazing race. We were thinking of participating in in it last year also. To be honest, COVID has changed the whole world and we thought let’s just give it a shot, we have nothing to lose! Next thing we know we are on the show.
While Anurag is a gentle giant, Jaskirat is an undercover nerd. You both live for adventure and the outdoors. Tell us a bit more about yourselves and if you discovered anything unique about yourselves during this testing race.
Anurag: I’m 29, a geotechnical engineer by profession and enjoy solving problems. I play semi-professional volleyball and love being adventurous. I moved to Australia when I was 13 years old with my family. Being first generation migrants we had our own challenges, but being surrounded by such a close knit community we overcame these challenges quite quickly. Over this period, lots of Sikh values like compassion, generosity and giving back to the community have been instilled in us.
We wanted to overcome our fears and that’s what we achieved during this show. I also learnt that you are as strong as your mind.
Jaskirat: I’m 30 and a strategic consultant and love travelling, playing golf and photography. For me, being strategic and taking that one step forward has always been installed in me. But one thing that I learnt from the race was despite me being motivated, surrounded by like-minded people pushes you. We pushed each other to our limits and this was a challenge.
In your introduction you have said that you want to show Australia what the Sikh fighting spirit is all about. As a fighting Sikh, what values do you both possess and how do you implement them in the show?
Anurag: As Sikhs we are warriors. We are determined and do not give up. These are the values that we wanted to showcase to the wider community. We stand out as we wear turbans and we want our identity to be associated with success and how we give back to the community.
Jaskirat: I resonate with this and would like to add that the core values of Sikhism is not only to give back to the community but also help them. This was a conflict for us as we were participating in the race. You will see our struggle in the race if we move forward or help others in the race. It was an interesting balance that the audience will see in the show.
Talking about your struggles, what was the biggest challenge you faced during this race?
Anurag: The biggest challenge was ourselves. It’s the belief that you can do it.
Jaskirat: There were so many ups and downs in the race, we had to quickly learn from our downs and move forward. That was the biggest challenge and we helped each other.
What special trait do both of you possess to make you stand out amongst other teams?
Anurag and Jaskirat: We know each other in and out. We have travelled the world together. If one of us is down, we know how to enlighten the mood of each other. We both are optimistic and find positivity even in a negative situation.
COVID has pleasantly forced us to discover Australia. What were your top 3 destinations?
Jaskirat: Obviously we can’t reveal all the destinations. But without telling you any specific places, I loved the randomness of the race. We normally travel to the major cities of Australia. The race gave me the opportunity to explore my own backyard, the vast Australia. The random places of Australia that I would have never thought of exploring will be my top most favourite.
Is there any message you would you like to give to the Indian community?
Jaskirat: We are very proud of our identity. Many people will see us as the Sikh boys. But the way we see ourselves, we are Australians in the race who happen to be Sikhs. That’s the angle we want to take. At the end of the day, we are Australians even though our core values are driven from Sikhism. We want to put Sikhs on the world map.
Anurag: I agree with Jaskirat. We are Sikhs and I understand what we went through as kids. The Sikhs here may feel different as we wear turbans. And this identity puts you on the spot. But being in the spotlight is positive as you will get noticed. And our values also get noticed. Being a Sikh gives you an advantage over others and take use of this advantage.
The Amazing Race Australia starts on Monday, 1 February on Channel 10. You can follow the team on their Instagram handles @jas_jd and @beardedsingh for behind the scenes and insights into their experiences.
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