HIDE AND SIKH?

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PRIYA PATEL

Questions everywhere, and flashes. The paparazzi have arrived.

Why are you drinking Mr Singh? What is the meaning of this? Have some respect for your religion, for your own kind. We are Sikh – we don’t drink. Kids these days, they are all so misguided!

I sigh, bored of their questions. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. They always find me. But then again I’m not hiding.

I stare at the crew who’ve gathered to ask me questions. It’s my fifteen minutes of fame. My parents will be so proud. The headlines will read: Sikh Embarrasses his Religion by Drinking with a Turban on his Head.

This isn’t real news. It’s just an empty headline. It’s nothing to do with who I really am, or even what my religion is really about. It’s because of what I’m wearing! The thing is, it’s hypocritical, because the ones that have gathered here, they do it too! They let loose with a few drinks too!

The paparazzi are doing what they do best, looking for some gossip, some dirt, and now they’ve found it, they’re overjoyed. They can’t wait to put down their cameras and bring out their teas and hot pakoras for a good chin wag. It’s what we call ‘household politics’, and the paparazzi – which is what I sometimes call my community – they live for these ‘political’ discussions. I mean whose daughter is doing what, and who wore something revealing or what did so and so’s boy do? These are the stories the paparazzi loves to share.

Today I’ll make the breaking news, because I was drinking with a turban on. It doesn’t matter that Hardeep, a fellow Sikh, is sat next to me with a drink in his hand. He’s not wearing a turban you see. This one simple piece of long cloth is what makes the paparazzi eager to report. They must be fashion crazy – because they judge me by what I have on my head!

The thing that makes it hurt more, is that these paparazzi are the people I call uncle and aunty as I leave my house. They are the people I celebrate with, and share my sorrows with. We are a community and we should support each other. But instead they lie in wait, looking out of their windows, always trying to find new gossip to report. They judge me, but they all make the same mistake. They point fingers at me instead of patting me on the head and giving me some advice and guidance. Instead of helping me edit my own story, they want to report on all my mistakes. The ones I should look up to instead make me want to look away, and sometimes hide.

If I sat here without my turban on, and drinking my Jack Daniels, I wouldn’t even make it on their radar. The paparazzi wouldn’t look twice. They only look to put me on the front cover because they believe I’m destroying the image of being a good Sikh boy. So it’s all about image with them – not necessarily about the truth. My dilemma is this. Do I decide to lose part of my identity so I’m not tomorrow’s headline, or do I fight for change? Because I’m proud to wear a turban, and don’t want to lie about who I am when I have it on.

To me the paparazzi aren’t protecting tradition. They are just using outdated rules to give them a good story for their front page. Perhaps if they changed their rulebook they’d find some good news for a change!

Sikhism and alcohol

The traditional line on alcohol for Sikhs is that you should not drink it. Below are two ‘paths’ taken from the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism.

Even if wine is made from the water of the Ganges, O Saints, do not drink it. (SGGS p1293)

He is the Giver of peace to the breath of life, the Giver of life to the soul; how can you forget Him, you ignorant person? You taste the weak, insipid wine, and you have gone insane. You have uselessly wasted this precious human life. (SGGS p1001)

However some Sikhs interpret this as that you should not drink too much. There are also two types of Sikh – the baptised (Amritdhari) and the unbaptized. Traditional Sikhs agree that if you are Amritdhari, you should adhere to the tradition of the 5 Ks, and you should not drink alcohol or take any form of intoxicant.

The 5 Ks stand for: Kesh (uncut long hair), Kangha (a wooden comb that you use twice a day), Kara (an iron bracelet that you must always wear), Kaccha (cotton underwear) and Kirpan (a dagger that you must always carry).

TEXT BY JULIE UDDIN