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Olympian Sikh
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Jagmohan Singh
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The Olympic mania
has affected the Sikhs too. The gold to Abhinav Bindra, the
presence of Sikhs in turbans from Canada and the absence of the
Sikhs of the Indian hockey team has kindled interest in sports
like never before. World Sikh News presents an analysis of the
search of a Sikh sports identity, offering solutions to the Sikh
world, particularly the Diaspora. |
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 The
Sikh community is in a desperate search for reasons to cheer and
thus seeks the Sikh face –in politics, in entertainment and in
sports. In the modern era, the search goes beyond the frontiers of
Punjab and has a pan-Punjabi dimension.
The outward form given by the tenth Master to the Sikhs makes them
conspicuous by their presence. Sikhs rightly and understandably
revel in it. It is feeling shared and enjoyed by all trans-ethnic
societies living in various tolerant, not so tolerant and even
intolerant multi-cultural societies, but the emotions of Sikhs are
there for all to see.
Like all nations, the four years apart Olympics is an opportunity
for stock-taking for the Sikhs too. The Sikhs in Punjab see it in
the Indian context and others see it at a global level. The Sikh
Diaspora is looking for its own icons in Canada, Kenya, New Zealand,
the United States and Great Britain.
 Abhinav Bindra or
shall we say Abhinav Singh Bindra has put sports in perspective.
Though he does not have a Sikh face, his family’s pure Punjabi joi
de vivre has lent a lot of joy amongst Sikhs, Punjabis and Indians
of course. His father, A. S. Bindra came out clearly when he said,
“Abhinav has brought laurels for the whole Sikh community and for
the whole nation"
The absence of the Indian hockey team has reduced the number of Sikh
Olympians at Beijing (though it must be added that over the years
the Indian Hockey Federation has made a conscious attempt to reduce
the number of Sikh players anyway), but that has probably been
compensated by the Sikh Canadians who donned their turbans, even if
only for the Olympic march past.
Apart from the famous Sikh hockey Olympians like Ajitpal Singh and
Balbir Singh Senior, the Sikh face of Milkha Singh who missed a
medal in the Rome Olympics by a whisker is still one of the most
popular.
 With the Canadian sportspersons wearing the turban, the recognition
to the turban and the ethnic identity of the Sikh people is
complete. Their ethnicity is now in the recognition mode. World
nations and peoples are beginning to see it as symbol of Sikh
identity than Indian or Arab.
“My dad had to cut his beard and lose his turban to get a job when
he came to Canada (in 1970),” said Ravi Singh Kahlon, the Canadian
centre forward playing in his second Olympic Games. “Now we can
choose to wear a turban or not and it doesn’t affect anybody making
a living. I may add that the next generation of Sikhs, more
conscious of their turban and their full identity would not make a
negative choice and there may not be need for persuasion to wear the
turban in the years to come.
We certainly need more Bishen Singh Bedis and Monty Panesars. Not
necessarily in cricket, but in other sports too.
 Some time ago, I interacted with two Sikh Burmese living in Delhi.
What they said about Sikh Burmese of yore (before the military junta
took over) should interest all sports lovers and also those who have
the future of the Sikh youth at heart. They said that most Gurdwaras
in Burma have a couple of Table Tennis tables and a football field
attached to them. Sikh boys and girls play at the Gurdwara facility
and join the Sangat for Rehras Sahib at dusk. This, they said it was
a daily routine.
A large number of Gurmat Training Camps and Sikhi-related activities
are happening all over the globe. Conscious of the need to preserve
culture and maintain family bonding, parents and youth are going all
out to teach Punjabi, Gurmat, the significance of the Sikh symbols
and the Sikh way of life.
Perhaps a less explored area is Sikhs and Sports. The manner in
which Sikh societies in Canada have rallied behind Jasveer Singh,
the first British Columbian weightlifter should serve as an example
for others to follow. A Punjabi-American player -Alexi Grewal, won a
gold medal in cycling in the Los Angeles games in 1984.
The Diaspora Sikhs are certainly more fortunate than those in the
homeland. They have no dearth of personal and public facility to
excel in sports. Perhaps there is no discrimination either. There is
no scarcity of funding by the sports bodies or the Sikhs themselves
for that matter. The emergence of Darsh Singh in Basketball and
young Tanraj Singh in Chess are examples to be emulated. With a
large and bludgeoning elderly population, we should see more Fauja
Singhs creating a name for themselves, their community and
respective countries, rather than whiling away their time at malls
or playing cards in residential parks and becoming a nuisance to the
neighbourhood, as seen in Surrey and Brampton in Canada.
The various faith runs, community marathon meets need to be
converted into athletic training sessions. The Diaspora is spending
huge resources in setting up University chairs and other academic
activities. Likewise, on the lines of the Sikh Sports Festival of
Malaysia and the Mr. Singh contest of Amritsar, the Sikh nation
needs to put together a Sikh Olympic meet to nurture and foster Sikh
sports talent ever four years as a precursor to the Olympic Games.
 The Sansarpur village in Punjab which had a field day producing
Olympians needs sowing again. To revive the martial tradition of the
Sikhs –archery, equestrian events, rifle shooting, sword fencing,
wrestling and the like need to become areas of focus of the Sikhs,
particularly in the Diaspora. Like in their respective fields of
endeavour, we need a Sansarpur in every country to make the Sikhs
part of the global sports community.
The Gatka during religious meets needs to be transformed from a
religious ritual to a serious sporting endeavour. Our valour on the
battlefield, our stamina to withstand the enemy forces needs to be
galvanised into a positive culture of sports. Training camps like
those organised by the sixth master, Guru Hargobind Sahib to nurture
the martial spirit should be held with sports as the focus. The
Akharas and Dangals are waiting for a modern outlook and flavour.
The children of the Lord of the White Hawk and the Rider of the Blue
steed need to realise their Olympian Sikh search by action and not
by symbols alone.
Jagmohan Singh is a commentator based in Ludhiana. He may be
contacted at
jsbigideas@gmail.com
13 August, 2008
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