A Short Biography of Dr SS Jolly. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly was a medical doctor in Mumbai and established a charity called the Guru Nanak Punjabi Sabha to help those in need. The Charity included a Gurdwara based in Chakala, which provides free food to all, it also provides a Charitable Medical Dispensary and a school, called the Guru Nanak Mission High School. Dr S S Jolly passed away in 1992, but the charity continues to this day. A bust of Dr Jolly was installed on 1st November 2022.

1. A Short Biography of a
Philanthropist and Visionary
Dr SS Jolly
1922 - 1992

2. Shamsher Singh Jolly was born in Amritsar on 1st November
1922.
Shamsher Singh Jolly was the oldest of eight children, of
whom only three survived to adulthood. His father, Bhagat
Singh was working class but still wanted his son, Shamsher
Singh Jolly to become a doctor and therefore prioritised the
funding of his education.

3. Shamsher Singh Jolly studied and gained his BSc in Amritsar
and then went to the National Medical College in Lahore to
study Medicine. In 1946, in his fourth year of Medical School,
Shamsher Singh Jolly came first in his class at Punjab
University and won a gold medal.

4. However, in 1947 Shamsher Singh Jolly was caught up in the
unrest due to Partition and was unable to complete his final
year exams. Every day for the next three months, Shamsher
Singh Jolly’s mother, Upkar Kaur along with his ten-year-old
brother, Madan Singh travelled to Amritsar station from Taran
Tarn to see whether he had made it back from Lahore.
Eventually, his mother stopped making the journey and
assumed the worst and thought that he would never come
back.

5. Six months after partition, Shamsher Singh Jolly surprised his
family by returning home to Taran Tarn. He, along with a few
other students were protected by a Muslim cook in Lahore
and they returned home when it was safe to do so. During this
time, Shamsher Singh Jolly was working in a refugee camp in
Murree, Rawalpindi district, where he met his wife-to-be.

6. Shamsher Singh Jolly Joined a medical college in Amritsar to
complete his MBBS, and he qualified as a doctor in 1948 with
a silver medal. He worked as a house doctor in Amritsar Ram
Lal Eye Hospital in Lawrence Road.

7. He wanted to specialise in Ophthalmology and started his
DOMS studies in Amritsar. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly was
unfortunately unable to complete this additional degree, but
instead he went to Mumbai where he started working for the
Municipal Corporation as a Medical Officer.

8. In 1955, Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly was transferred to NJ Wadia
Dispensary on SV Road in Andheri as the Chief Medical Officer.
He was provided with accommodation, which comprised of a
bungalow and an outhouse. As he was well-known in the
community, many people came to him for treatment. Over
time, Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly realised that he could use the
outhouse for Kirtan, because the nearest Gurdwara was some
distance away in Khar.

9. Among those that used to attend the Kirtan in the outhouse
were music directors from the film industry, such as BN Bali, S
Mohinder, Inderjit Singh, Sardara Singh and others. Together,
they created the Guru Nanak Punjabi Sabha and Dr Shamsher
Singh Jolly was selected to be the President.

10. As the Sabha became established, it built-up funds by doing
programmes on a large-scale in Fidai Baug, MA High School,
and Railway Colony hosting the largest events such as
celebrating Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s Prakash Utsav. These events
were attended by big names in the Film Industry such as Balraj
Sahni, Achala Sachdev, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi,
Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, as well as writers and poets. One of
the great patrons was Madhu Bala and her father, who
sponsored one Akhand Paath every year and made significant
donations to the Sabha.

11. In 1978, the Aga Khan, the head of the Khoja Community
visited Mumbai and went to the Fidai Baug Academy. The
Fidai Baug President, Kasam Ali Jagmagia requested that Dr
Shamsher Singh Jolly sit next to the Aga Khan because of the
selfless service that he did at the Academy looking after the
orphans. Dr Jolly would go whenever he was needed, day or
night.

12. As the funds held by the Sabha grew, Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly
and the committee, used the money to purchase a plot of land
in Chakala, and had a vision to build a Gurdwara, along with a
Mission School and Charitable Dispensary.

13. Work started in 1956, laying the foundations and starting to
build the Gurdwara. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly wanted the
Gurdwara to be self-sufficient and so rented the front of the
building to a Bank. The charitable dispensary was on the
ground floor and Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly provided his services
free-of-charge every day between 4pm and 6pm. The top floor
was used by the Gurdwara, and the Mission school on the first
floor started operating in 1967.

14. At one point, there were 600 students in the school, which
had outgrown the site. A new site was needed for the growing
school, so with the help of Architect Sunder Singh Bhavnani, a
new site was found nearby and purchased by the Sabha. The
new site was purchased around 1985, but sadly, Dr Shamsher
Singh Jolly died on 20th January 1992, and so he was unable
to see the completion of the building. The school moved from
the old site to the new site in the year 2000. At one point
before Covid, the school had over 2000 students.

15. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly was unanimously chosen to be the
president of the Sabha at every election, and he held that post
until he died in 1992.

16. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly’s Antim Sanskar was held at the
Gurdwara that he helped to set up. It was attended by over
4000 people and the Darbar Hall was full, the stairs were full,
the entrance to the Gurdwara was full and the road was also
filled with the Sangat coming to pay their respects to Dr
Shamsher Singh Jolly, causing road traffic to stop. The
members of his family were unaware that there would be such
a large gathering at the Gurdwara and served to demonstrate
how many people were touched by Dr Jolly’s philanthropy and
generosity over the years.

17. The word Philanthropy comes from a Greek word meaning
"love for humanity" and Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly had this in
abundance. He was widely known by members of the
community for helping those in need to the point that if
anyone had any problems, they would be sent to Dr Shamsher
Singh Jolly as it was widely known that he would be able to
help them.

18. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly’s brother, Madan Singh was taking a
taxi from Bombay Central. He told the driver to take him to
Andheri. When the driver got to Andheri, he asked Madan
Singh where exactly he wanted to go. When Madan Singh told
the driver where to go, the driver said that Dr Jolly lives there.
When Madan Singh responded by saying that he was Dr Jolly’s
brother, the driver refused to take any money from him,
saying that Dr Jolly had helped him. Despite Madan Jolly
insisting on paying the fare, the driver refused to take money
from Dr Jolly’s family member.

19. On another occasion, a young man was sent to Dr Shamsher
Singh Jolly’s home as he had lost his money and needed to
travel to Patna. Dr Jolly asked his younger brother, Madan
Singh to take the man to the train station, buy him a train
ticket, put him on the train and give him some money too. A
little while later, the man returned to Dr Shamsher Singh
Jolly’s home and said that someone had cut his pocket and
taken the ticket and the money.

20. Dr Jolly once again told his brother to take him to the station,
buy him another ticket, put him on the train and give him
some more money. Dr Jolly’s brother said that he did not
believe that anyone had cut his pocket and stolen the ticket
and money and felt that the man was trying to cheat him.
Despite this, Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly insisted that he was
taken back to the train station and given the help that he
needed.

21. These are just two examples of numerous occasions of Dr
Shamsher Singh Jolly’s selfless service to people of all faiths
and backgrounds. As with the Greek work for philanthropy, Dr
Jolly’s actions demonstrated that he wanted to help everyone
irrespective of who they were, where they came from or their
beliefs – a love for all humanity.

22. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly

23. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly
1922 – 1992

24. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly
1922 – 1992
A Visionary and a Philanthropist

25. Dr Shamsher Singh Jolly
1922 – 1992
A Visionary and a Philanthropist