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Forever Movember

AJITPAL SINGH

 

 

 





On countless occasions people have asked me the significance of kes (unshorn hair) in my religion.

Why do you grow your hair? Do you never cut it, ever? At all? Like, ever? But why?

I have tackled it differently each time, based on the person asking the question. I try to explain it in a manner that is relevant to him or her. Something that they can relate to based on their own religion, their culture, their ethnicity or their social background.

It makes it easier for me to get the point across without getting into a winding conversation about the birth of Sikhism and the history attached to our kes.

Recently I had an epiphany.

What better way to get the message across than to use a charitable phenomenon already popular around the world as ‘Movember’?

For the uninitiated, Movember is the effort where men and women across the globe join together to raise awareness and funds for men's health, specifically prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men's mental health. Men sign up for this via an awkward, but effective, tactic – growing their moustaches all month long during the month of November .

Hence the moniker, ‘Movember’.

The idea that something as simple as growing facial hair will help strike a conversation, and possibly result in donations for a charitable cause is simple, yet brilliant.

Which brings me back to the million dollar question – Why do Sikhs grow and keep their hair unshorn?

Here’s how I responded to it this November.

“You see the Movember drive going on all over the country and the world? Right? You see how people are getting behind a cause by growing facial hair for one month in a year? We as Sikhs believe, that there is always a cause to fight for, all year long, all our lives. There’s poverty, oppression, corruption, injustice, you name it, that’s prevalent all over the world.

“We have chosen to take a firm stand against these social ills and committed our lives towards eradicating them. Of course, we don’t do it just by growing our hair, but by putting our lives on the line. In any theatre of war Sikhs have participated in, there was never a braver warrior, than a Sikh saint-soldier. Our contributions to any society or country we reside in, are always greatly out of proportion to our numbers in that society. Be it a religious and cultural renaissance in India, the Indian war of independence, the two World Wars, charitable causes all over the world, the institution of langar – Sikhs have always participated and sacrificed their lives for what’s right, what’s just and what’s good for  all – Sarbat da Bhalla.

Our external identity -- our appearance, our articles of faith -- ensures, among other things, that you can recognize us from a crowd of hundreds, even from a distance.

Whenever you find yourself in any kind of trouble or in need of any help, just spot yourself a turbaned Sikh in the crowd and chances are, he will do whatever he can to help.

And that’s why Sikhs grow their hair. Does that help explain it?”

Usually it does.


November 26, 2015
 

Conversation about this article

1: Gurpreet Singh (Mumbai, India), November 27, 2015, 9:06 AM.

Ajitpal Singh ji, you are spot on. A very innovative way of explaining Sikhi and the importance of kes ... Carry on the good work, veer!

2: Gagan (New Zealand), November 29, 2015, 11:31 AM.

Simply love it, your take on Movember. So well thought of, so well said ... so very true. Sahib-e-Kamaal, tere gunn kee kahiye.

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