A Ritual Slowly Unravels In India - Alarm Grows as More Sikh Youths Give Up Turbans

[Liberal_in_LA]

Amandeep Singh Saini, in white, cut his hair and discarded his turban, the most visible symbol of Sikh identity, at 14. (Rama Lakshmi - The Washington Post)

I was 14 then. I wanted to jump into the village pool and play in mud. The long hair and the turban were always in the way. It took half an hour to tie the turban every morning," said Saini, a student pursuing a doctorate in Punjabi literature.

After he cut his hair and discarded the turban, his two brothers followed suit. "My mother wept, my father was angry, but I was stubborn," he said. "At that age, you don't think about right and wrong. I look around the campus today, and there are so few turbaned Sikhs."

The rapidly shrinking number of young Sikhs who wear turbans and have unshorn hair has alarmed many in this religious minority of 20 million. Although there are no formal surveys, community groups say that only 25 percent of Sikhs younger than 30 follow the practice. Many young Sikhs say the daily tedium of combing and tying up their long hair and a desire to assimilate are pushing them to give up the turban, a sacred symbol of a religion founded in the 15th century.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/28/AR2009032801901.html?hpid=topnews


A group called Akal Purakh Ki Fauj, or the Army of the Timeless Being, organizes the annual Turban Pride Day in April, sends volunteers to schools to teach turban-tying and has introduced a software program called the Smart Turban that helps people pick a style that suits them.

Since 2005, the group has held Mr. Singh International, a beauty pageant for turbaned Sikhs. Among other talents, contestants must demonstrate their turban-tying skills. The winners have won modeling contracts and movie roles.

[Schema Thing]

1. I know I've given up my do-rag, or urban turban.

[dipsydoodle]

2. It's unusual in the UK these days

to see Sikh youngsters with turbans.

[imdjh]

3. I've always thought that the turbans were cool looking

I'm glad to read that it's actually difficult to do the turban thing, since I have been a miserable failure at it since I first tried it. I had figured it must be a fairly simple thing if it's so commonplace.
I had no idea that there was a lot of hair under there, though, that sounds like a pain in the ass. I've had long hair before, and even with daily showers, conditioners, and blow dryers it's still a nuisance in the summer.

OK, so I ran a search for sikh + Hair to see what they look like without the turban, and this is what I got: Note that this man did this to PROMOTE wearing turbans:

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. His poor neck!

[FloridaJudy]

5. India is hot, hot, hot

And frequently humid. I know what a drag long hair can be here in Florida: if you spend any time outdoors it gets sweaty and itchy, no matter how often you shower. So I can't blame these young men for cutting it off. Hell, that's what I did.

Still, it's too bad. Not only are they giving up a colorful tradition, but I've always thought long hair was sexy on men.

[imdjh]

6. buzz cut every June