Fashion

The Turban & My Sartorial Adventures

JOGISHWAR SINGH

Being a Sikh who believes that wearing a turban constitutes an essential part of his visual identity, I am a good client of shops selling turbans, be they in India, Canada or the UK.

I make the effort of renewing my stock of colourful turbans at least once a year, preferring bright colours as a mark of vibrant chardi kala.

My choice of colours has led to interesting situations in my professional life un various parts of the diaspora.

I had already noticed that my wife, a Swiss lady, was quite fascinated by the panoply of colours stacked roof high on shelves in shops selling turbans in Chandigarh and Mohali in Punjab.

Having decided to make my life outside India, we settled down in Switzerland where I restarted from scratch. By Waheguru’s grace, I have had the good fortune to build a new professional career. And all this, by sporting brightly coloured turbans, and always trying to match my shirts, socks, neckties and suits with the colour of my turbans to the extent possible.

In fact, many colleagues have asked me whether I match the colour of my clothing to that of my turban or vice versa. This matching has entailed not wearing ready-made clothing but only custom-tailored suits in order to widen the choice of available colours, stripes and designs.

I would like to share with sikhchic.com readers some of my experiences arising out of my turban colour choices. I’m sure I am not the only Sikh who has been asked whether the turban colours have a particular symbolism. To such a question I explain the significance of saffron colour or navy blue colour in our history. I do clarify that these days the choice of colour of turban for a Sikh is linked to his or her personal preferences. That some prefer darker colours, others prefer lighter colours, some wear only white, others wear only black.

I am unable to say whether my not being chosen for some of the professional ositions during my earliest years in Switzerland was due to my visual identity as a Sikh or not, since my professional experience as an IPS or IAS officer in India
corresponded to nothing comparable that a Swiss organisation could identify with.

India had and has a completely colonial administrative structure while Switzerland has a completely delegated administrative system, based on more than 700 years of existence as a sovereign, independent nation.

A major Swiss bank told me that they would be interested in hiring me but vaguely hinted that my appearance might be a problem. However, this point was never really clarified.

Being maybe oversensitive, this had a direct bearing in my subsequent job search.

I was headhunted by a major international bank in Geneva. My interviews with the human resources department and the head of the team to which I might be eventually assigned went off quite well. The final stage was a lunch with the CEO.

He invited me to a posh restaurant. We discussed many details of my future employment with his organisation. When we had finalised most contractual details, I asked him about the elephant in the room: my visual appearance. His reaction was genuine surprise. He asked me, “Why, do you have a problem with your physical appearance? I would prefer darker colours.”

That is when I realised that I was just being hypersensitive about my turban.

Since then, I have found that lady colleagues are much more sensitive to and expressive about colour choices than male colleagues. I am frequently complimented by lady colleagues about the choice of colour of my turbans. One of them told me that her colleagues in the central file department used to bet every evening about which colour turban I would be wearing the next morning at work. If I did not go down to central file for some work, they would make some excuse or the other to come up to my office to see for themselves and determine who had won the bet for that day.

As a joke, I suggested to her that if she agreed to share her winnings with me, I would tip her off every evening about which colour I would wear the subsequent morning. We both had a good laugh about it.

I am not aware whether this betting contest is still going on or not since my office has been shifted to a neighbouring building.

The Chairman of our Board of Directors invites all the staff of the Rothschild Group -- where I work -- to an evening in July every year at his chateau near Geneva. I could not participate in this event the past three years, having been away either on vacation or business trips.

Three lady colleagues asked me whether I would be participating this year. I said I would be. All of them requested me to wear a royal blue coloured turban because they would be wearing dresses of the same colour. Luckily, I do have a turban of royal blue colour which I was able to match with my suit and necktie as well.

Other colleagues told me it was quite a sight, watching a royal blue ensemble of a turban wearing Sikh and three ladies from different departments! Quite a few pictures were taken of this quartet.

One of the ladies is the personal assistant of one of the top bosses of the group. This has enormously facilitated the flow of communication with him as well.

In every organisation there is a system and there are personal relations. The colours of my turban are proving to be a bonding element to lady colleagues placed in crucial positions.

Recently something very interesting happened in this context. We have a very competent lady portfolio manager attached to our team. She surveys the investment portfolios of our clients. She also presents market analysis and data at our weekly team meetings, as well as investment suggestions based on her research.

We were together at a morning investment meeting when she requested me to wear a turquoise turban for our next meeting. I did so, finding her also dressed in turquoise coloured shawl and shoes. A photograph was taken showing our matching colours.

We were sitting side by side on chairs so I leaned over so that both our heads could be captured in the photo frame. However, when the photo was printed, it seemed that I had my right arm wrapped firmly around my lady colleague’s shoulder.

That evening, I showed the picture to my wife at home. She blew a gasket. She felt that I had indulged in inappropriate behaviour. I mentioned that my co-conspirator did not look exactly unhappy! This flippant remark added fuel to the fire. My wife requested me not to put my arm around my lady colleagues since this constituted inappropriate behaviour for her (my wife). I felt she was being oversensitive but kept quiet for the sake of domestic peace.

The choice of colour thereafter became a daily ritual since my portfolio manager colleague told me she wanted to continue matching our colour choices till she ran out of colour selections in her wardrobe. While getting photographed with her the next day, wearing a different colour, I kept both my hands joined firmly in front of my midriff.

I told her about the views expressed by my wife about my seemingly inappropriate behaviour. My lady colleague laughed. She said she fully understood my wife’s reaction. However, she declared, I might not be free to put my arm around her waist or shoulders, but there was no stricture for her to do so around me.

I silently thanked Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who launched the women’s lib movement!

Since then, she puts her arm around my shoulder for our photographs while I stand like a good boy with both my hands safely in front, showing the picture every evening to my wife.

The ultimate dénouement in this episode was rather amusing. I printed out the first photograph for being put in our family album. Examining the printed photograph closely, I realised that the arm encircling my lady colleague’s shoulders, the arm that had caused so much discussion at home, was not mine at all but my lady colleague’s.

The proof of this was the ring on the index finger of the hand at the end of the arm. I have never worn and do not wear any ring on any finger. I triumphantly showed this to my wife who had a good laugh with me once she realised that it had not been my arm at all. I had just leaned across the chair towards my lady colleague for the photograph and had partially covered her arm by her side. This gave the impression that my arm had encircled her.

I mentioned this fact also to the concerned colleague the next morning and we had a good laugh about it.

The continuation of this colour matching between the colour of my turban at work and the colour which different lady colleagues wear is however becoming limited by the number of colours available on either side, by the increasing distaste of my wife and younger son for what they consider as a spectacle and my getting slightly bored with what seems to be becoming a daily routine.

On a serious note, it has broken down barriers in social interaction at work with a lot of lady colleagues from so many different departments who I may never have got to know otherwise.

Thanks to the identity gifted by Guru Gobind Singh, I am the most visible participant at meetings which keep taking place within the Rothschild Group.

At a meeting with the CFO of the Hermès luxury group, I suggested to him that Hermès should start marketing a turban for Sikhs in the signature company orange colour. I assured him that there were more than enough affluent Sikhs all over the world to make this endeavour a success.

I gave him the example of the Swiss company Victorinox which had come out with a limited edition of a Sikh kirpan on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the investiture of the Adi Granth in Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. The entire stock had been sold out much faster than the company had anticipated, despite the price.

Some years ago, Swiss television had made a telecast about my wife and I: of how we had met, what our story had been. The Swiss TV crew had come to our house and actually filmed me tying my turban. My wife and I had gone on a live Swiss telecast, wearing perfectly matching colours, she in a blue salwaar kameez and I with a matching turban.

Audience reactions had been very positive. Many people had made observations about the harmony between the colours that my wife and I had been wearing.

This topic also reminds me of another experience in Heidelberg (Germany) while doing my Ph D at Heidelberg University in 1985.

As a resident foreigner, I had to go frequently to the Foreigners’ Registration Office (FRO) to obtain official documents for all kinds of formalities. I was the only Sikh living near the city centre. One day when I was at the FRO, the policeman there told me that ever since my arrival, there was a profusion of Sikhs in Heidelberg.

I was quite surprised by this since I had not known of any Sikhs other in that area. When I mentioned this to my interlocutor, he told me, “No, there are many now. One with a red turban, one with a blue turban, one with a green turban, one with a yellow turban, one with a violet turban”.

I understood that each time he had seen me wearing a different coloured turban, he had imagined that it was another Sikh walking around. I told him to look very carefully next time since it was only I wearing different coloured turbans.

We shared a hearty laugh.

All these experiences motivate me to widen my search for finding newer and newer bright colours for my turbans. My coloured turbans have become my signature at work, a means of helping me bond with colleagues from other departments, cut through occasional inter-departmental red tape.

Even at my golf club, the Director told me that he had a long list of lady members who had requested him to put them in my flight during competitions. He said they told him, “We want to play with that person wearing such brightly coloured headgear”.

This helps me to improve my golf since, as any golfer can confirm, ladies play straight and consistent golf. Beating a lady golfer is not easy. It requires playing well which is what my turban colours lead me to do.

July 26, 2013

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