Aussie Talent Idol Sukhjit Kaur Looking Forward

Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa has become a sensation in the Sikh community recently as she appeared twice on the popular TV show 'Australia's Got Talent'. SikhNet just had another talk with her about life on and after the show:

How would you summarize your experience at Australia's Got Talent?

The biggest emotional journey of my life. I don't think the show even would be able to fathom how much they have given me personally or given us as a Sikh community. It started off easy as I went in with no expectations but then the deeper I got in the competition, the harder the challenges got. It's not easy being the feminist Sikh girl who bares her soul on stage. Only now is all the emotions and exhaustion catching up to me as there has been a lot of DO DO DO and never enough time to reflect which I value highly in my life.

It consumed my life for nearly 9 months, most of it was when I had to keep it a secret and wasn't sharing this big thing happening in my life with anyone. As soon as the first episode aired this year, my world exploded and has been non-stop ever since. I'm learning how to stay true to my roots, stay humble, not let the haters get me down and I'm so thankful I have an amazing family and friends network I can call upon for support! :)

Do you feel you learned any lessons from your experience?

Absolutely, when someone hands you an opportunity to deliver your message on prime time television - you take it!

If it wasn't for the casting director of the show who convinced me that this audition would be beneficial to the Sikh community and trigger an important conversation in Australia/worldwide, I wouldn't have honestly shared my spoken word on TV. I just moved to Melbourne, so I wasn't super settled, I was skeptical on what to expect from the show and how they would portray me, also I was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle the backlash, and since I had moved out of my parents home, away from my family and friends, I felt like I hadn't established the necessary support network I would need to hold my hand through the journey.

But I put all those thoughts aside and thought about the bigger picture. The positive impact this could potentially have; what it meant for little Kaurs and Singhs growing up in the West and seeing people like them on TV, something I never had in my childhood. I thought of how Sikh aware Australia could become after learning a little bit about who we are and what we are all about through some #fullySikh rhymes. I didn't want to wait around for someone else to do it, because who knows how long that would have taken!

I had been booked to MC at an interfaith event (called #illdinewithyou) in Melbourne CBD the day I found out I didn't get through to the Grand Finals and the casting director who I hadn't seen since May last year, the first day of my AGT journey, came up to me and told me she was just walking past and recognised me and wanted to ask how I felt about my AGT experience.

Wow, what a coincidence. What did you say to her?

I had tears in my eyes and gave her a big hug and said my community and I thank you. If you didn't push me to do this and if you didn't believe in me, I don't think I would have brought myself up to this challenge. I felt like it was a perfect full circle. A reminder that, you never know who you're going to inspire by speaking up, so it's important to rise up the challenge, be brave, stand up for what you believe in and all the rest will find its place.

Have you had any kind of offers or other opportunities come out of AGT?

I have had a lot of school workshop proposals, corporate and charity gig offers and I've been asked to sit on panel discussions surrounding issues on race, discrimination, Australian identity etc, Sikh camps all over the world want spoken word workshops, keynote speeches at Universities/award ceremonies; even film makers have approached me.

Do you have any projects or goals for right now?

I am going to take a couple of weeks off (which I'm really bad at doing because I end up booking up way too much in a day), spend some time with my family to reboot, rehab, and reassess my goals for Melbourne. I want to pursue this performing arts path as a full time career and I believe it is very much possible, so I will be consulting my mentors on how to make that happen from a business perspective. When I return, I have an array of gigs lined up, spoken word workshops and performances, speeches etc. and I am currently in the works with a theatre friend on producing a play about domestic violence in the local Indian community here in Melbourne. I would also like to team up with another friend of mine who is a film maker and create weekly spoken word, current affair, vox pop style videos. We already have enough entertainers so I thought it would be cool to explore merging my social justice background and expressing my opinions and feelings through creative platforms.

Sounds like you're on a good track forward. Would you like to say anything to young Sikhs or your generation in general?

For my fellow Sikh brothers and sisters, learn about your heritage and your identity. Who we are and what we stand for is truly a special thing and the more I learn about Sikhi, the more inspired I am to be the best version of myself. Don't be afraid of what people think. As humans, we've been conditioned to judge. So it's all good, LET. THEM. JUDGE. The world is currently craving the truth. Craving individuality. So go out there and show em how big your brave is. How #fullySikh you can be. Lead the way.

To my generation in general, don't wait around for someone else to act on that idea you've been thinking about or live the life you've always wanted. Be your own role model because the time to make change is NOW. You don't need to have a million phd's or a million bucks to make a difference. You don't need to be the political leader of your country or the spiritual leader of your faith to enact change. You can use your own two hands and be that everyday superhero.

Thank you for that message. We all look forward to hearing from you in the future. All the best!

Thank you so much. I look forward to the future and all the possibilities too!

PS: The photo of me in the floral red dress is with Missy Higgins, a respected Aussie musician who asked me to be her support act and it was such a honour!