About GP Khehra
The story behind the work.
Writing, civic life and the people I have met through Brisbane Food Guide.
Learning from the ground up.
In my books, Ego and Enlightenment and Alive, I explored how we live with ourselves and with other people: how we find a sense of wellbeing, take part in society and still question it. I published them as Babbal Khehra, the name my family knows me by.
Civic work brought those questions into everyday life. I came to feel that if I wanted to contribute to change, I needed to understand it from the ground up. I wanted to listen to what people were living through and carry that understanding into wider conversations about community, work and policy.
Brisbane Food Guide grew out of that wish to be a bridge. Food gave me a place to begin: meeting the people behind local businesses, hearing how they got started and helping readers see the lives behind a meal. Along the way, those conversations have become a community I am part of too.
Brisbane Food Guide
Making room for more stories.
A small business may have a wonderful story and very little time or money to tell it. I wanted a food truck or a family-run takeaway to have access to the same care in storytelling as a restaurant with a PR team. I understand the wish to be seen: I am building something of my own too.
There is room for all of them in Brisbane Food Guide. Restaurants, cafes, food trucks and established dining rooms are part of the same city. The guide brings together places to eat, lists, maps and editorial work, with an interest in who is behind the food.
Meeting people through this work has made that purpose more personal. There is the family effort behind Punjabi Bytes, and the determination of Okan and Burcu at Kuzine. My conversations with Phillip Di Bella and Wes Lambert have opened up other questions about supporting businesses and keeping hospitality human.
These relationships have become a community I value. I hope the stories help a reader feel a little closer to the person cooking or serving their meal. Knowing what brought someone here, and what they put into their work, can change how we experience their food. For me, it makes the meal better.
More about the guideWorking with AI
Useful tools, human purpose.
AI helped me build the website and carry out work that would otherwise need more time, money or technical support. That has made me interested in what these tools can make possible for people and small businesses.
I want to approach AI with curiosity and judgement, without assuming it is either a threat to everything or the answer to everything. It can be useful and it can be wrong. I am responsible for what I publish and for checking the work.
The reason to use it is what it helps us do for each other: make time for a conversation, share a story or give a business a better chance of being understood. That is the kind of use I want to keep exploring.
Public life
Bringing that understanding back.
Civic work and political participation remain part of my life. My years in trades, training, business development and marketing, including digital marketing, have shaped the questions I bring to that work: how people find an opportunity, develop skills and take part in their community. Stakeholder engagement connects these experiences through listening, building relationships and understanding different perspectives.
I want what I learn through everyday conversations to inform how I think about policy and change. Being a bridge begins with listening, and with being willing to learn before deciding that I have an answer.
My civic and policy workWriting and identity
One person, three names.
My full name is Gurpartap Singh Khehra. Friends and colleagues call me GP, so I use GP Khehra in professional and community work. To my mother and family I am Babbal, and my books and earlier writing were published as Babbal Khehra. All three names are me, and the original bylines remain part of my work.
In Ego and Enlightenment, I explore how a person can live, work and participate in society while becoming more conscious. Alive considers survival, acceptance and the possibility of contributing to a world we can also question.
Read the books and essaysStart a conversation
Get in touch.
A food story, a community question or a different perspective: I would be glad to hear from you.