Wednesday, May 13, 2015

When pagh life beckons...

Before i get on with whatever i want to say, i'd like to admit that i never once forwarded Santa-Banta jokes during the Internet Age. Never. Not even once. For a very simple reason: They bully a particular religious group. If the word 'Sardar' in those jokes were to be replaced by 'Hindu' or 'Muslim' or 'Christian', would they sound so funny? Besides, these jokes tend to persecute a community for their apparent lack of gumption, forget intelligence. Not cool, paaji
Secondly, i always respected the Sikh community. Just like i respect others. 
Thirdly, i may not be pious per se but i don't believe in hurting sentiments (especially the ones that don't exist). 
All that blahblahskyisblueblue explicitly expressed, i finally wore a pagdi today for the first time. A proper one, mind you. Jaspreet not only brought the 4.5m cloth required but also draped it around my head with such finesse that i wanted to kiss my forehead. Being a perfectionist, he used a long needle to accentuate the folds that you can see in the picture. As you can also notice (which wouldn't have otherwise), the Punjabi tractor on my tee goes nicely with the turban. I look like a Sikh to be honest. Also, my ears are tightly covered so that i can't hear colleagues laugh at me. I wore the thing for about three hours and even strolled in office cafeteria before realizing that i don't have the faith required to continue any further. Trust me, it's only when you wear a pagdi that you understand the physical discomfort Sardars overlook on a daily basis. 

1 comment:

Harry said...

Shakti bhai, this is brilliant. you are looking so awesome and it is very well suiting on you. I am also a Sikh btw.

anyway, when you were in Mumbai, I was here in Delhi. now you have shifted your base to North, I have got an opportunity in Mumbai and moving there late next week. I think my wish to meet you will remain unfulfilled :-(