Raptors’ ‘Superfan’ wants to bring Sikhs into the mainstream with TEDx talk. Nav Singh Bhatia, standing in his office above the Mississauga Hyundai dealership he owns, tells a story about an encounter with a customer 30 years ago, when he first started as a salesman. “He refused to deal with me, this white guy. He says, ‘I don’t want to deal with this Paki,’” recalls Bhatia. “That’s the way it was then.” Bhatia is one of the speakers at this year’s TEDx Toronto. In his talk, he’ll tell stories about his life and about his passion, which is, in his words, “to bring the Sikhs to the mainstream.” Most people who know him, know him as the “Raptors’ Superfan,” the turbaned man seen front and centre at every Raptor’s home game since the team was formed in 1995. He now knows the players, coaches, refs and that other high-profile Raptors fan, Drake. He’s spent millions bringing groups from diverse religions and races to the games to bond over their enjoyment of basketball. He’s also deeply involved in charities and community events and his ads are a fixture on billboards and AM radio. Bhatia’s obsession with the Raptors has been well documented. He even has a catchphrase he uses to explain it to the curious: “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t womanize — I Raptorize.” Thirty years ago, before the Raptors existed and before Bhatia was a minor celebrity, his coworkers were upset about the way that customer had treated him, he recalls. Bhatia wasn’t. Bhatia went to his manager and suggested he get a coworker, a “nice Englishman,” to make the sale, even though it was Bhatia’s turn — on the condition that after the man had bought the car, when he would come back to pick it up, the “nice Englishman” wouldn’t be there, and Bhatia would be. When the man came back to pick up the car he’d bought for his daughter, Bhatia met him. “I romanced him. I brought him a coffee—said, ‘Sir, sit down,’” recalls Bhatia. “I said, ‘I’m going to be delivering the car for you,’ I didn’t give him the choice. I took care of him so nicely, got him the car, got him the coffee, that guy sent me a few customers after that.” To see that man’s opinion of Bhatia — and by extension Sikh people in general — change was Bhatia’s goal. “That was my winning.” His goal with his TEDx talk is similar, to be a Sikh ambassador who spreads this message: “If we are a turbaned Sikh, we look different, we are different but our passion for everything in life is almost the same. In short, we have more in common than in difference.” metronews.ca/news/toronto/1172043/raptors-superfan-wants-to-bring-sikhs-to-the-mainstream-with-tedx-talk/
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 17:36:10 +0000
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