Turban, Marriages, and Linkage with Punjab

There had been a lot of to and fro traffic of Sikhs between countries they settled in and Punjab. For early migrants the first visit home took several years to materialize. Some even returned permanently to India. Most of them migrated as single males and some returned to get a wife. Others who had left their wives called for them as soon as they were in a position to receive the family. Yet others who were single (and even some who were married in India) decided to take on local wives. In some cases this could have been even the maid working in the house. Acceptance was a critical issue and local marriage was the first step in the process of assimilation. It wasn't an easy choice though. One hears only good things about Punjabi-Sikh parents (fathers in most cases) once they settled down. The general comments from their siblings and others were that the Sikhs were hard working, honest, generous but rather strict with the family in terms of the siblings' upbringing. Several of them sent money home, at least, in earlier years of settling down before their local families' needs became more pressing. The effort of each migrant was to continue to keep Sikh symbols specially the turban. The British encouraged the post war disbanded Sikhs soldiers to migrate and, in some cases, paid for their voyages. So far as the British employers were concerned, it was easier to maintain Sikh identity but in other situations it was a problem. There was also security in numbers but those who were isolated had to give up the turban sooner than later. Those immigrants who had spouses from Punjab, persevered with the turban for a longer period. Very few, if any, in second and third generation kept the turban to get better social acceptance. Local wives either encouraged or demanded greater assimilation and the men could not put up much of a resistance to what was becoming inevitable. In earlier years cremating the dead was not possible. The dead had to be buried as per the local custom. Some Sikhs in deference to family expectations had elaborate family burial tombs. From 'Sikhi' point of view, the contribution of Yogi Bhajan's efforts has to be highly admired. The linkage with India, Punjab and the Sikhs is, naturally, better where the parents have taken the children to India for varying periods of time. At least the second generation then has some exposure to things Indian. The nostalgia for homeland continues, as is natural, but better living conditions and financial prosperity is an important compensating factor. It is not easy to return to Punjab especially if you have to accept lack of success. The individual and sometimes family 'izzat' is at stake. Migration of relatives, village mates, and other friends or known persons was encouraged and facilitated to the maximum extent feasible.

Country Profiles

For details, please refer to my book - 'Sikhs I Latin America' and The Country Profiles in this website. In the first phase visits were made to Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil in the summer of 2005 followed by travel to Belize, Mexico, Cuba, Panama and Ecuador in 2006.