TRIBUTES have been flooding in from across the city for a former shopkeeper and well respected member of the Sikh community.

Bhai Amrik Singh Glasgow, otherwise known as Waheguru Baba, sadly died on Wednesday at the age of 86 after a brave battle with coronavirus.

Since moving to the city in the early 1970s, Waheguru Baba grew close to the community as he served the West End from his convenience stores on Woodland's Road and then on Queen Margaret Drive.

He soon became renowned for his Seva work (volunteering), running the half and 10K marathons and feeding the homeless and disadvantaged.

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Glaswegians have described him as a "legend", a "beautiful man" and an "inspiration" to all who met him.

Waheguru Baba's grandson, Paman Singh, said: "He was one of the founding fathers of the Asian community in Glasgow. It doesn’t matter if you’re Sikh, Hindu or Muslim, everyone knew who he was.

“We try to be good people and sometimes the mask slips and we get annoyed, but he just wasn’t like that. It didn’t matter what faith you were, what you looked like or anything – he was just so happy to meet people."

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Waheguru Baba was a proud Scotsman but never forgot his roots.

For 15 years, he routinely returned to Punjab to sponsor and do seva in eye camps for the destitute, where he conducted his last trip between February and March.

Paman said: "He was one of the founding members of the camps in Punjab, too.

“Although he wouldn’t be doing operations or anything like that, he’d be seen doing the perhaps grimy jobs like mopping up operation theatres.

"When people arrived, he would hold their hand. These people were absolutely destitute, they’ve got absolutely nothing.

"They’d never been to a hospital and had no what was going on. So he would be that person to comfort them and change their bedding.

"All the cliche grimy jobs was where he shone because nothing was beneath him."

When he wasn't volunteering, feeding the homeless, running eye camps in Punjab or serving langar and cleaning dishes at the Singh Sabha Central Gurdwara, Waheguru Baba loved to run.

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Paman added: "He and the half marathon were synonymous – they went hand-in-hand.

"You don’t have the half marathon or 10k in Glasgow without Baba G being there.

"He adored this city.

"One of the funniest things he said was that one day he was running in his half marathon, and someone had shouted to him “gan yourself wee man” and he said it summed up why he loved where he was."

As Waheguru Baba's health deteriorated in hospital, doctors tearfully broke the news to Paman.

He added: "The doctor told he was always trying to smile and wave at the nurses and doctors despite the pain he was in.

“It’s not just my loss or my family’s loss, everybody is sharing it.

"As a family, all we are asking is that if you’re moved by this story, the best way to honour him would be to do one act of kindness within the next couple of days or week and smile the way that he would."

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