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by Jagjit Singh
The killing of Sikhs at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin temple has focused a great deal of media attention on our brief history and identity. We were largely an ignored minority often mistaken as Arab or middle-eastern. Early Sikh migrants were small groups of farm workers who settled down in California finding the climate similar to their ancestral Punjab. Their numbers were tightly controlled by Federal laws and they encountered widespread discrimination, Unable to sponsor their spouses from Punjab many chose to marry Mexican girls and their offspring grew up in a multicultural home, eating traditional Mexican food as Indian spices and provisions were unavailable. They were not permitted to own land until many years later.
Their numbers swelled after 1965 when a wave of educated Sikh students arrived and further increased by others seeking refuge from the political upheaval in East Africa. Sikh farm hands were often favored by white farmers impressed by their strong work ethic and love of the land. Eventually, the local municipalities allowed Sikhs to own farms. Currently, some of wealthiest fruit farms are owned by Sikhs.
Many of the early Sikhs chose to abandon the outward symbols of their faith, most notably the turban and beard and were often mistaken as ‘south of the border brownies, Mexican Asians or Mexican Hindus.’
After the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984, many Sikhs fled Punjab to escape the pogrom and wide spread ‘encounter killings’ and settled in the UK, Canada and the US. A number of Sikh immigrants donned on turbans and grew beards to show solidarity with their beleaguered Sikh Punjabi brethren back home. Like other minorities who adhere to distinct customs, most notably Muslims, Sikhs did not integrate smoothly into mainstream American society, There are many notable exceptions who have made a profound effort to propagate Sikh values and customs, such as Narendar Singh Kapany (a pioneer in fiber optics) and Dr Marwah, a well-known philanthropist who has supported many worthy causes in Los Angeles.
The relative harmonious relations between the Sikhs and the host nation changed abruptly after 911. Images of Bin Laden and his henchmen were beamed into our living rooms and Sikhs were often targeted as ‘the enemy’ with their close resemblance to the Taliban fighters. Many Sikhs were assaulted and suffered (and continue to suffer) indignities of racial profiling. A few courageous Sikhs responded to the Clarian call and conducted an aggressive outreach program to educate law enforcement agencies on Sikh beliefs and customs.
Many Americans have responded to the recent attacks against Sikh worshipers and asked how they could offer support. The general responses by Sikhs spokespersons –“come and visit our temples and see who we are!” - brings me to the central theme of my article.
First a little history: I grew up in a predominately blue collar neighborhood of Birmingham, the center of the manufacturing base of the UK. My father opened his medical family practice in the early 1930’s. My three elder brothers had already experienced foreign travel, my eldest was born in India, my second eldest arrived in East Africa, my third eldest was born in India and I arrived on the planet as the only ’true Brit’.
My father was determined to continue the Sikh traditions and legacy of his faith and so we grew up sporting pigtails which quickly morphed into donning on turbans and later attempting to flatten out beards with various hair lotions tightly wrapped with snoods. Many decades later hair dryers became available which served as a great aid to drying our long hair and beards.
Growing up in an all-white neighborhood was extremely challenging. We experienced a great deal of unwanted attention, bullying by the local louts forced us to engage in fist fights and endure ethnic slurs almost on a daily basis. We fought most of our battles without sharing our frustrations with our parents with the mistaken belief that it would only betray weakness in our long traditions of being members of an invincible martial race.
There were no Indian grocery stores and no Sikh temples with one notable exception. The Sikhs in London had purchased an old building on a 99 year old lease at 79 Sinclair Road in Shepherd’s Bush – a suburb of London habituated by artists and voyerers. We used to make the long trek from Birmingham to London either by train or car, a journey that took 5 – 6 hours. Newly purchased cars would have to be treated with tender loving care and had the sticker ‘running in’ to warn other drivers to pass. During the Second World War petrol was strictly rationed and my dad would save his allotted coupons to make trips to the Sikh temple in London.
Driving was often hazardess because of the inclement weather and narrow roads. There were no motorways, few ‘dual carriageways’ and ‘bypass roads’ which forced us to drive through small British towns adding to our overall travel time. During the Second World War, Britain was on a tight lock-down and my dad was often stopped and asked for his identification card. Troops with bayonets would be posted at prominent round abouts.
There were very few Sikhs in Birmingham – my dad was the only Sikh doctor in the second largest city in the UK. Contrast this period with the current large number of professional Indians and proliferation of Indian restaurants and temples which number in the thousands.
Intermarriage was fairly common among the Indian elite especially among the medical community. One sad story that is etched in my memory was the marriage of a very dark skinned Sikh doctor who married a local girl. Their offspring were very dark skinned and often teased and heckled at school. They often shared their frustrations with their mother and lamented that her marriage to their dark skinned father was the cause of all their misery. Eventually, their father heard of their travails and in a fit of despair took the lives of his wife and children and then committed suicide.
On Sundays dad or mom would hold ritual prayers in our home in a language which was largely incomprehensible. Our trips to London to celebrate our Guru’s birthdays were a mixture of intense pleasure (the journey through Britain’s plush countryside) and foreboding. The religious rituals were extremely long and incomprehensible followed by endless speeches which were invariably delivered with much passion but devoid of a theme and inspirational message. Donations were made for the langar (lunch) and kra Prasad (sweet offering following the religious service) by tossing pound notes onto a large bed sheet and public accounting made by announcing the donors. Thereafter the funds would often disappear in a Houdini sleight of hand. There was no internal or external auditing of the hand-written accounting books. This archaic system has continued largely unchanged right up the present day.
The ‘Sikh uniform, the 5 K’s, especially the long unshorn hair and knife had great importance and relevance during the time of our last Guru, Gobind Singh who courageously resisted the persecution of Hindus by the fanatical Mughal emperor who insisted that all non-Muslims convert to Islam or die by the sword. This ‘emergency uniform’ proved invaluable to separate friend from foe.
To those readers unfamiliar with our Kakaars or 5 K’s. They are as follows:
Kesh or uncut hair, Kanga (comb), Kara (bracelet), Kirpan (sword) and Kachehra (a special type of shorts)
The Kanga, or small comb is largely symbolic and is rarely used nowadays. It has been found unsuitable for managing long hair.
Likewise, the Kachehra has been replaced by modern day Boxer Shorts.
The Kara is largely worn as an ornamental symbol and has lost its symbolic meaning in ‘discouraging evil deeds’
The Kirpan used to be used a weapon of defense but has also lost its importance in the age of assault weapons.
Kesh is the only symbol that has survived and its retention is somewhat controversial. There is little doubt that many Sikhs may challenge this assertion.
These external symbols look magnificent on soldiers but I submit have largely outgrown their purpose and impose an enormous burden on our youth, especially those growing up in foreign countries such as the US. I believe the Sikh Holy Scriptures, which are filled with inspirational and devotions songs, will continue to serve our community if delivered in a universal language such as English. Like many faiths we need to usher in modernity in favor of outdated customs and traditions. A number of progressive Sikhs have embraced technology and are projecting the kirtan (devotional songs) on white screens with English translations which is an encouraging development.
There is little evidence to support the claim or fear that the Sikh religion would disappear were it not for the kesh symbol, the last surviving K. We do not require such props to survive. Sadly rituals have smothered the essence of our faith and should be resisted. For example, the ritual of swinging a chauri - a fan or fly whisk behind the priest may have served a useful purpose before the advent of air conditioning. Many temples encourage worshippers to gift Rumalas (the cloths that drape the holy book) but often discard the Rumalas after a single’s day’s usage. This is unnecessary and a colossal waste of money. Placing our holy book in an AC room serves no useful purpose. The common custom of ‘akand path’ or outsourcing continuous recitation of the holy scriptures by assigned volunteers or ‘paid priests’ can only benefit the readers and not those who have paid for the service.
All the prior preamble is to set the stage for my belief that the 5K’s articles of Sikh faith should be abandoned in favor of a much greater emphasis on the basic tenets of our faith which, like all religions should serve as a moral guide and a sense of purpose through life’s journey.
So I believe the advice given by a number of Sikh elders, following the attack at Oakridge Sikh temple to encourage Americans to visit Sikh temples to experience ‘who we are‘ is a hollow message. American visitors would be confronted with a service which would be totally incomprehensible. However, they would be offered ‘free lunch’ and would no doubt see kar seva (voluntary service) in action. It is entirely appropriate to ask all visitors to remove their shoes but benches and chairs should be offered to the ‘uninitiated’, and elderly and wheel chair access to the disabled.
The use of English as a medium of instruction should be encouraged and modernity aggressively promoted otherwise our faith may suffer like so many of the world’s religions – a lack of meaning and purpose. The message of our guru’s is extremely relevant – an abiding love, gratitude and a constant connection to our creator. It is possible that some Sikh youths will survive unscathed but it is likely that many other more sensitive children may suffer emotional trauma by the incessant bullying that often takes place in our adopted country. I have experienced tragedies in my community where parents who have ignored these realities and insisted that their offspring follow the traditions of the faith oblivious of the consequences.
Let us live up to important lesson of our founder, Guru Nanak, God is only interested in our noble thoughts and actions and was vehemently opposed to meaningless rituals.
Throughout his life he mocked and vigorously denounced rituals and symbolism as impediments to seeking spiritual enlightenment.
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