Roundtable
Young tUrban Professionals:
The Roundtable Open Forum # 39, July 28 - August 3
EDITOR
The Rules of the forum are posted here on the right, and need to be followed strictly by all participants.
The following is this week's (July 28 - August 3) topic for discussion, which should focus on the questions posed therein:
Young tUrban Professionals
Young Sikh men everywhere - and some women too, now in ever increasing numbers - are faced with questions around the tying of the turban as soon as they come of age.
The first one, of course, is - which style to go for, or whose style to emulate? Who to learn from?
It includes choices of fabric. Then, whether you want starched or not. Whether you want it full length - all six yards - or do you want to divide it and join it to make one wider, three yard piece, Patiala style?
Those who have grown up in the diaspora, or immigrated to some part of the world where Sikh services and resources are limited, after many a ‘bad turban day', decisions had to be:
- 'To starch or not to starch'.
- To go with mulmul, voile, organdie or some new, exotic fabric which will stay in shape, give you volume, and yet ... breathe like fine cotton!
- And then, there are the colours.
If you are conservative, a simple black, burgundy or white - even sky blue, a la Manmohan Singh - will have become your trade-mark.
If you go to India often and have easy access to the dye bazaars of Chandni Chowk or Billa Rungwala in some town and gullie in Punjab, you probably have a turban to match every tie, shirt and suit - or chunni, salwar and kameez!
- Let's not forget the patterns! If you are like my friend Bicky Singh in California, you have hundreds of wild patterns - striped, spotted, illustrated, psychedelic - each mixed in a handful of colours - each turban specially designed to clash with a ‘matching' Hawaiian shirt ...
We would love to hear YOUR stories of how YOU graduated to just the right turban for you ... the trials and errors, the challenges and the frustrations ... and finally the triumphant discovery of the perfect one!
And tell us about your earliest experiences in tying a turban ... the funnies, and the heartbreaks too! Or the graduation from the gutt or joorah, to a patka, to the dastaar!
Conversation about this article
1: I. J. Singh (New York, U.S.A.), July 29, 2010, 9:26 AM.
Turbans galore! I had brought more than a handful and in all colors when I came from India 50 years ago. Then, sometimes later in Oregon, one day I washed and starched many, hung them out to dry in the backyard and went out on the town. A thunderstorm and torrential rain later, I returned to find them all tangled up; the colors had bled from one to the other. So I took a swatch from one, drove out to the only fabric store in town, and requested the expert there for about five and a half yards of some material that would be color fast and hold its shape without starching. Her question floored me: "What is she going to do with so much of it?" She must have thought my wife (?) was going to make a dress. Flustered, all I could say was: "I don't know what she does with all this but this is what she wants." I, of course, had no wife then. The lady offered organdie and organza. Organza was too silky and slippery on my head. Organdie was heavy but adequate. She had it only in white. So, for the next couple of years, I wore only white turbans - the only Sikh in town. Then she was able to get a shipment in navy blue. Now I had two colors. The plethora of choices in colors are, for me, a more recent phenomenon and I remain largely addicted to black, navy blue, olive green, chocolate brown and, of course, white. Of course, I marvel at the mind boggling collection of Bicky Singh.
2: Angad Singh (Roswell, Georgia, U.S.A.), July 29, 2010, 4:58 PM.
All up until last year I hated wearing pugghs. 'Uncles' would always tie them on you on Vasaikhi or at camp ... patkas were my thing. Until 8th grade, I wore a patka to school, and like most of my other clothes, I liked colors that would at least go with something (but then again, I thought that if you wore royal blue and navy blue, they matched). I knew how to tie a dastaar since 6th grade, but I didn't like wearing it to school, although sometimes I did. Freshman year came around and I wore a 6 ft long, 1 ft wide dastaar to school. Usually colors like navy blue, maroon, black, dark green, or black ... all of them went with something, just throw on cargo pants and a sweatshirt and voila! (Now that I look back, BORING!) After a year of wearing a dastaar, I would NEVER wear a patka to school; I thought I was too old and that I had graduated from it. Even mom said it would look silly on you, you are growing up! School finally got out, we were on a plane to India. Still, I really didn't want to wear a puggh ... dastaars were my thing. But guess what, "You have to learn it this year," declared Mom. No matter how much she'd say it, they were still too big, heavy, and tight, in my opinion. I was in Indore, at my grandparent's house, with my mom and aunt, when I was told that the local gurdwara's raagi was coming to teach me to tie a puggri. "NO-OO-OO-OO ...!" I thought, "I don' wanna learn!" I was dreading the lesson but turns out he was a good teacher because today I have 19 different colors, AND a shirt to match each one of them (ask anyone at my school ;) So my definition of a puggh: a 2.5 meter voile cloth in any color of the rainbow that makes me look THIS good!
3: T. Sher Singh (Mount Forest, Ontario, Canada), July 29, 2010, 6:14 PM.
I was the sole Sardar out of the 750 that were in and out during my 3-yr stint at Law School in London (Ontario, Canada) in the early 80's. I was also the President of the student body. So, close to graduation, when it came time for a group photo of the final year class, I put up a note on the school notice board saying that, in order to maintain consistency amongst all of the 150 grads, all were required to turn up in a turban for the photo shoot. I added that this was necessitated by the fact that I, being a Sikh, couldn't come without one ... so, since conformity was desirable, this only made sense! A number of hurried complaints to the office - whose staff were in on the joke - had to be followed by a public announcement that I had been convinced to relax the rule! Not long thereafter, as we neared the end of the 3-year LL.B. program, it came time for the student body to elect my successor. The sign announcing the election had the following caption emblazoned over its top: "WHO WILL WEAR THE TURBAN NEXT YEAR?"
4: Aman (California, U.S.A.), July 29, 2010, 7:32 PM.
I thought only black or dark blue turbans look nice on me. But at the wish of my wife, I enjoy nice baby-blues, whites, and even dark-reds. My eyes have opened! I'm still waiting to get my hands on a nice light-pink turban. It's amazing how a little change in the color of my turban makes me feel a little different!
5: Harinder Singh (San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.), July 30, 2010, 9:26 AM.
I wore blue, black, kesri and one tie-dye turban which my colleague made for me with Kansas City Chiefs (American football team) colors. I have red-green color blindness; I will spare the sikhchic.com readers from embarrassing stories of wearing purple and pink shirts. Then I got married to Gurpreet Kaur in 2002. Since then, I have added green, brown, khaki, grey, etc. My wife literally brought color into my life.
6: Chintan Singh (San Jose, California, U.S.A.), July 30, 2010, 11:55 AM.
I started wearing a full puggri in 8th grade - it was mandatory 8th grade onwards in Guru Harkrishan Public School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. It took me a good six months to learn tying it and get my own style. In addition to many many other gifts that my father has given me, three one-on-one coachings that I cannot forget receiving from him are driving, tying the turban and doing Guru Granth Sahib Parkash and Sukhaasan seva. He taught me all these three subjects with the utmost patience. Those first six months in the 8th grade were a daily struggle between good and bad turban days with multiple attempts every morning. I remember several times missing my school bus due to the long time it would take to get the turban right. As I graduated from school, the turban style and the time it took to tie it also graduated. Since then I have stuck to 4.5 meters single in a cloth called 'Supreme' sold by Dashmesh Pagrian in Bangla Sahib Gurdwara market in New Delhi. Although during childhood my favorite color was purple, as I passed through elementary school, navy blue, black, maroon and green became the favored patka colors and subsequently my turban also adopted these four pet colors. About six to seven years ago, my fondness of a variety of colors came back including the long lost purple and these days, my top favorite is white. Two years ago, I went to India and bought about 25 different colors ranging from pink, orange, khakhi, sky blue and gray to turquoise. All the people I have worked with in these seven years know me for my turban colors. My turban colors have given me a lot of visible recognition and the gateway to inform people about Sikhism in the work place. I have not worn my pink turban for about three months now since the last time I wore it, my four year old pre-schooler son said: "Dad, don't wear pink ... pink is for girls!"
7: Parmjit Singh (Canada), July 31, 2010, 2:48 AM.
I started off in the 10th grade, and for a few years stuck with strictly black and a somewhat smaller length turban as it was easier to handle with sports - my vocation at the time. A few years later, in this area of the country, Sikhs, i.e. those with dastaars, were incessantly portrayed in the media as fundamentalist and terrorists. As a Sikh, the whole idea was to never hide or be afraid, so one method of living protest was wearing a little larger dastaar and to graduate to few more colors. This was my way of venting and announcing my dastaar is here to stay despite the constant racist editorial slants in the city paper and media. The media did not stop and I graduated into even larger dastaars and eventually bright fire oranges, various shades of yellow, etc. The media still did not stop and ever so slowly almost without me noticing my dastaar kept getting bigger. Along the way I decided I had to untie my dhaarri and let it flow. I mean if I was going to be 'bad', I wanted to be the baddest. If I was going to be pointed at, I wanted to be seen a mile away. Don't think I ever told anyone this, but on a couple of occasions in front of the mirror I would wrap a couple of dastaars together, some 14 yards to make a mega dastaar and smile. I considered going out, just to test reactions, but decided to put on my regular single dastaar and carry the smile of the entire 14 yards to take on the world.
8: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), August 01, 2010, 4:12 PM.
In 1957, I became the first Sikh professional planter to join Guthrie and Co., then the largest rubber plantation group in the world with a land bank more than the size of Singapore during low tide. There were a number of Sikhs who owned small holdings of rubber but none in a professional management role. All the senior posts were held by the whites. With the impending independence of Malaysia, they saw the writing on the wall that Asians would eventually replace them; this was when they opened the door for Asians. The selection was stringent and based on British Civil Service criteria. Some British planters nearing the time of retirement decided to pack up and go home. One such planter by the name of Bob Thomas retrieved his hard covered passport and landed at Heathrow. The young immigration officer was not quite sure if he was allowed unrestricted entry into U.K., coming from a British colony. He needed to consult his superior officer - a turbaned Sardar ji and asked Bob to follow him. Sardar ji thumbed through the passport and confirmed that it was in order and with a flourish stamped the passport, saying "Welcome to my country!". In 1964, we had a new Chairman. He was Sir Eric Griffh-Jones who had been the Governor of Kenya and was also the ex-Attorney General of Malaysia. All the senior staff were invited to a reception to meet him. My own estate manager, Jimmy Butler Madden, asked me to stand near him so that he could introduce me to Sir Eric when he came in. I old Jimmy: "I won't be surprised if Sir Eric came to me first as the only one with a turban. That is exactly what happened, and shaking my hand said "Sangat, I am pleased to see the first Sikh in our Company!". After thanking him, I said "Sir Eric, meet my manager, Jimmy Butler Madden!" I soon got transferred to another property soon after that. Another notable incident, if I may share: In 1997, I was in Tel Aviv to attend an IARU Region 3 conference. It again happened that I was the only one with a turban. At the opening, the Foreign Minister was there and I was singled out for the photographs together with a couple of Africans in their native regalia. The photographs appeared on the front page the next day and I kept a copy. On the return journey, we were told to be at the airport at least three hours before the departure and be prepared for a very strict security check. There was a long and slow queue and the gentleman behind me helpfully told me that I should expect at least 30 minutes of interrogation. I assured him that I expected to be there for no more than five minutes. He thought I was joking. Came my turn, I produced the newspaper cutting with their Foreign Minister. The officer just asked one question: "Did you pack the bag yourself, Sir? and I was waved on in less than two minutes.
9: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), August 02, 2010, 3:03 AM.
In the late 60s, I was posted in Sua Betong Estate, in Port Dickson. There is a gurdwara there, built perhaps in the 20s. On Sundays we used to go there. There was a Sikh gentleman by the name of Surjit Singh who had a melodious voice and often did the kirtan seva. Port Dickson had a large military station and Surjit Singh was perhaps a Sargent then. Quite often I gave him and his wife a lift home. One day he related to me his story: When he joined the army he was clean shaven. There was another Sikh recruit with a turban and beard. The Sargent Major - the instructor at the boot camp - addressed the turbaned Sikh as Mr. Singh and the clean shaven Surjit Singh as 'Thamby', a term usually used for South Indians, and a somewhat derogatory term for a peon or a minion. This made Surjit think deeply and within months he grew a beard and started to tie a turban. And of course also became a Mr. Singh. I do run into him once in a while and he still proudly sports the full kakaars.
10: Arvinder Singh Kang (Oxford, MS, U.S.A.), August 02, 2010, 1:16 PM.
The day I moved from patka to a turban was the first year of college (equivalent to 11th grade in the U.S.). Partially unstarched six and half meter rubia turban in blue wrapped by my father on my mustache-less face looked huge, and for obvious reasons did not become the dernier cri (latest style) of the school. I sequestered myself to the comfort zone of two colors, navy and maroon. By the time I entered engineering college, I was tying a decent Majhail (Maj) turban. Major changes in style did not happen until I met Navdeep Singh, an avant-garde Punjabi from Patiala fond of 7-larrhi (7-tiered) turban. Many new colors came in, and the default became 7.75 meters voile cloth. It was not until last year, while visiting my younger brother in San Jose, his friend Deepinder Singh influenced me to turn to Patiala-shahi style (layered on both sides). My wardrobe now has about 25 colors, still less than half the number my younger brother keeps.
11: K. Singh (MA, U.S.A.), August 04, 2010, 9:11 AM.
I started wearing a turban around 8th grade ... but not daily ... then I made excuses that I have phys-ed and didn't want to wear one, just to be lazy. In freshman year of high school, I was required by my dad to wear it daily, and I still found excuses, that the bus was coming or I was running late, or just said I had a bad hair day! Come 10th or 11th grade, I wore it daily, not a day went by when I didn't wear it. My dad said, I would not be allowed to go to work, no matter what job I had - as a teenager it was retail (Sears or any other store) - without wearing a turban. I wore one everyday to college, and now to work . I mainly wear the regular colors: black, blue, red, green, brown, gray, etc., but I will spice it up with some printed ones here and there, or a different shade of green or blue or red. My co-workers tell me my turban reminds them of a bag of Skittles, you never know what color I will wear the next day! Sometimes they ask me to wear a different color, and if I have it I oblige. If they show appreciation for the turban, I feel I should put in the extra effort. Now though, there isn't a day that goes by when I don't wear one.
12: Balbir Singh (Germany), August 04, 2010, 1:34 PM.
I was asked to collect some leather jackets from the police head quarters - they had been stolen from one of my retail shops. The police chief was curious - he told me that he had registered cases against persons from many different countries but never a person with a turban. I could only answer: "Perhaps the turban helps one to be recognized among many. It also saves one from committing cowardly acts and then hiding."
13: Amandeep Singh (Chennai, India), August 05, 2010, 2:52 PM.
Sardar T. Sher Singh - Well done on 'Who will wear the turban next year'! Like most of us, I was fond of my patka. And I only wore black patkas when I was a teenager. I tried wearing the turban during my first job in Calcutta. It happened like this. I wore a turban to work one day. My friends said you look better in this turban. Look more mature and smart. This reminded me how my father used to say 'Puggh naal robh painda hai!' ... Still I would not wear the turban everyday to work. Would wear patka on days when I would be running late. Then, one day, I met a Sikh lady at work who had probably seen me in my puggh some day. She said you should wear a puggh and not a patka because you look way more smart in that. So that's when I became more regular with wearing a puggh. As far as the colors go, I would only wear black until my wife forced me to wear bright colors like pink, yellow, green and so on ...