T u r b a n s    A n d    T r u s t
    CATHERINE HEUZENROEDER
    As people submit to having five metres of soft, colourful fabric wrapped around their heads, they feel comfortable asking all sorts of questions about the headwear.
    Starting a conversation and building understanding is the basis for a program developed by the Australian Sikh community called ‘Turbans and Trust‘.
    "The idea is to try to demystify turbans in Australia," volunteer Pam Singh said. "The majority of people wearing turbans in Australia are Sikhs.”
    The ‘Turbans and Trust’ program proved popular at Harmony Day activities held on the weekend in the Riverland in regional South Australia.
    "We had such a positive response from everyone that came," Ms Pam Singh said. "People allow us to tie a turban on their heads and while we are tying the turban, we have a conversation about Sikhism … We actually ran out of turbans and people actually wanted to keep them; it was such a fantastic day."
    The Riverland has the largest population of Sikhs in regional South Australia.
    Pam, who grew up on a fruit block at Glossop, said she was pleased the Sikh community had become involved in the region's multicultural festivals.
    "Most of the Sikh-Australians settled in the Riverland some time ago as farmers [and] my parents still have a block there in Glossop," she said.
    "I went to high school in the Riverland and it's come a long way.
    "I remember the multicultural festivals that we used to have at Berri and at that time, it was the Greek community and the Italians who had large participation. Now it's nice to see the Sikhs can contribute to the community as well."
    ‘Turbans and Trust’ was developed in 2012 as a response to perceptions that people wearing turbans were a threat.
    The Sikh faith originated more than 500 years ago in Punjab and has become the fifth largest religion in the world.
    Pam said both men and women wore turbans and that the headwear identified people within the Sikh religion.
    "Our Guru wanted Sikhs to stand out from the crowd so that we could be easily identified, and should anyone need help they could look upon a Sikh to do that, to help them in whatever situation they were in."
    The ‘Turbans and Trust’ program receives regular invitations to visit schools as some of the children wear turbans, or patkas.
    Pam said the wearing of Sikh articles did not need to interfere with regular school and sporting activities.
    "My son for example, when he plays basketball, we just cover the karra, the bracelet (an article of faith), with a sweat band," she said.
    "In terms of the turban, we can remove it and just put a swim cap on for swimming. It is up to the individual as to how flexible they want to be."
    Pam said equality was fundamental to Sikhism.
    "The entire human race is equal regardless of your gender, your religion, your nationality or your sexual orientation," she said.
    [Courtesy: Australian Broadcasting Corp. Edited for sikhchic.com]
    March 23, 2017

    Conversation about this article
    1: Sangat Singh  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), March 23, 2017, 2:12 PM.
    Our niece Juhi did her MBA in France and decided to tie the knot. Being such a social being, she invited half of France to Chandigarh to witness her marriage. Each of the males in attendance was supplied with colourful turbans and it was such a scene to behold. Bhai Harbans Lal was there too, though sans a turban, and would remember that joyful scene.
    2: Dalvinder Singh Grewal (Ludhiana, Punjab), March 23, 2017, 5:23 PM.
    Young Sikh boys in rural Punjab have been neglecting the turban and even unshorn hair even though they claim to be devoted Sikhs. If we find the way they do service in gurdwaras world over and serve langar for the pilgrims to Anandpur one does not really understand why these young lads have started shunning the turban and unshorn hair. During discussions, three major reasons have surfaced: 1) They wanted better pastures abroad where they think they cannot get that with turban and unshorn hair.
 2) The heroes in Indian movies and TV and Punjabi singers are all without turbans, and they want to emulate them.
 3) Sikh girls, for the same reasons, have started preferring boys without turbans and unshorn hair.
 Other reasons generally cited but cannot be said to be very plausible, include: I cannot keep unshorn hair since it is difficult to manage. I cannot tie a turban as it causes me a headache, etc. There is a strong need to cause awareness. We started with having a turban competition in the 80s in Muktsar which has now become global. Even in various Mr World and Mr India competitions Sikhs with turbans have been doing well. This has started attracting the youth. 
  In youth camps and seminars we have been propagating the advantages of turban and unshorn hair. Still, more needs to be done at a global level and especially in Punjab in this regard to ensure that maximum Sikh youth observe the Sikh discipline.
Ajit Singh <ajit@ajitsingh.ca>   
Attachments1:59 AM (4 hours ago)   
to gurmukh, bcc: me
Sardar Gurmukh Singh Ji,                                            
 Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji Ki Fateh
Thank you for  a positive response and it is very good of S. Baldev Singh Dhaliwal for his seva to the Guru Panth. Where ever the Sikhs have gone in the world, Guru Sahib have kindly bestowed a great blessing that we remember "The Eternal one" and establish Gurdwaras. This all started with Many Sikhs getting together on weekends, at houses of friends & relatives to  recite Gurbani Kirtan and Patth. Although some others preferred to spend time partying)  As the numbers of Sikhs increased they started renting Gym Hall in Schools and Halls in Universities. As the Golak funds increased the members of Congregations registered to receive Charitable status. They started collecting donations for building funds. This is how all the existing Gurdwaras Societies started in UK,USA ,Canada and other countries across the world. We have collected  preliminary history of the Gurdwaras in Canada and other Countries and there are many published books on history of Gurdwaras in various countries.
In Afghanistan, there were more than 24 Gurdwaras in 1980. After the conflict among Taliban,Karzaai,and US-NATO armies, all the Gurdwaras are no more there, except one in Kabul and anther one nearby.. Majority of the Sikhs had to leave Afghanistan except ales than 200 families.
 In Pakistan many of the historic Gurdwara places are occupied by the people living there, except some important ones that can be counted on the fingers.
  Even in India Guru Nanak Sahib's Gian Godree was taken up by the provincial government there. Historically many of the Gurdwaras were occupied by the Mahants, and Saadh Deras and used for their personal purposes. Those crooks were backed up by the rulers such as British and Governments in India and Pakistan. Sikhs made extreme sacrifices to free some of the Gurdwaras from the Mahants, but there are still many in Punjab that are still under the Mahants specially in the villages.
After the Cowardly Army attack on Darbar Sahib and Sikh Gurdwaras by the Hindu Congress Government of India, Indra followed by Rajiv Gandhi all the diplomatic missions in all countries were deployed by the GOI to label Sikhs as terrorists and separatists.
 To blunt that propaganda WSO took decisive actions to describe the blight of Sikhs to the foreign governments,media and people. We have detailed records at SNAC for all the struggles that were made in the past 33 years. Millions of dollars and years of time spent to support Legal fights for Turbans, Kirpan and Sikh Articles of Faith were provided by the Dedicated Sikh Volunteers.
WSO after winning many battles they got the first Khalsa Postage Stamp issued by Canada Post Department in 1999. (If any one wants one or two of those stamps please contact me - Ajit Singh) In 1999 at the tricentennial Celebrations of the Khalsa, Miss Anne Lowthian then Executive Director of WSO wrote a letter from WSO to all the Municipalities and townships across Canada,requesting the declaration of 14th April,1999 as the KHALSA DAY with in their jurisdictions.  
   This request was overwhelmingly accepted by the Municipal governments and they sent WSO beautiful Certificates of Declaration of KHALSA DAY. ( We have all those declarations in our records but for example only two such declarations are enclosed)
In 2013 Sardar Jagmeet Singh lobbied for the Declaration of APRIL as Sikh Heritage Month in Ontario. Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne passed bill 52 Sikh Heritage Month Act 2013.
In 2017 British Columbia Liberal Premier Christy Clark passed similar legislation to declare April as Sikh Heritage Month in British Columbia.
Again this year (2017) New Democratic Party Premier Rachel Notley declared  April as Sikh Heritage Month in Alberta.
When I look back and read Sikh History it was Guru Nanak Sahib" who declared the message of EQUALITY OF ALL and told the Hindu Muslim priests that Eternal Lord is within all people. During those times Women were treated as downtrodden along with the alleged low castes. Women and Sikhs got the voting Rights in Canada in 1947.
It is amazing that all the PREMIERS who declared April as Sikh Heritage Month ARE ALLWOMEN !
One must note that there are tremendous number of Activities related to Sikh Heritage Month, where apart from Nagar Kirtans,, Exhibitions, and fund raising for Common public Good  are carried out. All the work carried out by the Sikhs outside Punjab and India in spite of the SGPC and DSGMC creating obstructions.
  One Clear Example of that is the Cancellation of NANAKSHAHI CALENDAR 2003 by the SGPC under political pressures from RSS and Derawalas. That is why they have lost the TRUST OF SIKH NATION AT LARGE. They may be reading Gurbani but definitely their did not understanding the message of Gurbani to inculcate in their daily lives is lacking.
CELEBRATION OF SIKH TEACHINGS IN ALL HUMILITY AND PASSION IS THE FIRST AND FOREMOST DUTY OF EVERY SIKH.

Ajit Singh.