INTERNATIONAL TRAVELS WITH TURBAN

In my travels there were interesting experiences especially because of my turban. I thought I would share some of these. For more visit, www. Sikhglobalvillage. com - 'A Sikh in USA in 1950s'.
1. USA 1958: At Penn State University, where I went for master's in mining engineering, I got a parking ticket saying: "Maharaja, you have parked your elephant in the wrong place".
Penn State University 1959: Those were the days of Juke Box where you fed a coin and selected the song you wanted to hear. As soon as I would enter the University Cafeteria, someone would invariably play the song 'Running Bear by Johnny Preston', a song about an American Indian prince and his beloved who was waiting for him on the other side of the river with raging water - similar story to 'Sohni Mahiwal'.
2. USA 1959: A town near to State College, Pa was showing the film "Pather Panchali" by Satyajit Ray invited me to inaugurate, thinking that because of the turban, I was the most authentic Indian! Imagine to my horror that I did not understand the dialogues being in Bengali. 3. USA: 1960: Students from all over USA gathered in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl for Spring break (remember the movie- 'Where the Boys are'), my friend was driving, and I was sitting next to him when we were hauled up for traffic violation. The cops let us go by saying, "don't do it again, I can recognize you".
3. Staying at the Four Seasons hotel in Toronto, I left behind my tied turban. The hotel did not know what to do with it and so arranged for a 'hat box' and sent to me in Vancouver. What thoughtfulness - this hotel chain first started in Canada and no wonder became world renowned.
4. Pakistanis (mostly Punjabis) would go out of their way to greet and say, 'Sat Siri Akal'. In UK, earlier years, taxi drivers refused to accept payment or insisted on charging reduced fares. Indians rarely greeted a Sikh with a turban except for Gujarati ladies (who did not speak English) at the airports - seeking help to go to the right gate because they knew I was Indian!
5. Played a golf round at the Basel Country Club with my business associates from Switzerland. The golf course is technically in France as it is located on the Tri-junction of France, Germany and Switzerland. If you hit straight, the ball remains in France, but if you slice the ball, it goes to Switzerland and if you hook the ball it goes to Germany. Post the game, we had dinner in the Club House. After a few months, I played again at this club. For dinner, the waitress asked my fellow golfers as to their choice of the main course. Finally, she approached me and said "I know your choice - Wiener Schnitzel!"