As A Child, Public Marches Of Sikhism Made Me Uncomfortable. They Still Do . Why ? Whats The Logic

[Seeker2013]

Nagar kirtans in broad daylight still make me more uncomfortable rather than give a feeling of spirituality .
I know it sounds really ridiculous and to a point, insulting also, but my intention is not to insult .
But growing up I think , even in india, I felt sikhs were treated as outsiders. The constant joking, and embarassment , I only used to like nagar kirtans when they were early dawn, but once it got sunrise I used to feel uneasy.

"What are all these people going to think about us ?"

"Do they find us amusing because so many of people in procession wearing only chola and kachhera.?"
"Will they laugh at us ? Do they find us amusing people who forgot to put on their pyajamas"

I used to feel embarass when they would shout jaikare (Bole so nihal , sat sri akal)

Again I don't wish to sound rude, but I just share my personal experience . This is how I felt !
I respect sikhism but I find public marches of our faith uncomfortable. Again sorry, I don't wish to sound anti-sikh . I am not.

Now you can also call it result of brainwashing campaign of indian govt to make sikh youth feel ashamed of their culture.

I don't know if I sound incoherent but I have felt like this and still do , but at the same time I feel elated whenever someone respect sikhs.

Do I have inferiority complex or low self-confidence which I project onto the community ?

 

[Harry Haller]

no, its just the dual nature coming to the surface again, any feeling of pride is also accompanied by a feeling of shame, any reason to be happy, has a melancholy air about, don't look for reasons as to why you feel this way, it will drive you mad, just accept and ignore where appropriate

Our Hindu brothers and sisters are also quite capable of expressing themselves in that some may find strange, but it is all religion, tradition, they are proud to do what they do, we must also feel the same.

The image below is an equally proud group of men and women following a Hindu custom, they are in a world close to God, where normal attire and appearance is irrelevant, they dress and act for God, not for man, these are accepted all over India as a normal and common.

 

[RD1]

Perhaps you are connecting more to fear of judgement from others, than to the meaning of the nagar kirtan itself? Especially if there has been embarrassment and shaming of Sikhs, then it can lead one to feel more self-conscious about who they are. Also, for me, I feel people outside of Sikhism do not even understand what nagar kirtan is all about, so a part of you hopes that it won't be ridiculed, especially when it does not fit into the norm of mainstream society.

 

[Seeker2013]

The sikh form is radically different from mainstream society .

There was a time in india when cutting someone's hair was considered biggest insult.
When everyone used to keep hair. Rishis , the sages and bhagats never cut their hair.
But today's india's hindu is no longer the hindu of vedic era !

So everyone is westernized ! Most hindus even ridicule their own swamis who keep long hair .
I asked so many hindus "Why did ancient sages not cut their hair?"
their usual reply is "There were no scissors back then!" . how ridiculous

They scoff at vedas and upanishads and if I were to discuss upanishadic philosophy with them, they would scoff it off as 'nonsense'.

I know of hindu guys who regularly says their moms won't give them food unless they cut their hair (if its been a while since they been to the barbers shop).

So , hindus , the majority of india that is, have accepted the short hair, clean shaven look

And here are sikhs , still aping the ancient sages and our gurus.

Ofcourse, there would be amusing looks from their side.

I have been told "You people wear KACHHA right?" . Kachha is seen as a humorous term in today's jockey brief wearing india.

Anyways, these are just some of the examples. I can go on.

I was not personally bullied , except maybe once or twice recently , but I still always felt like the bushy beards, the dastaar and the loud voices made us look amusing in eyes of refined elites or wannabe 'refined' ones who call themselves civilized.

Anyways, I am not saying we should be ashamed. We need to be proud .


On a side note,
I tell you one beautiful incident happened with me just yesterday
As I was walking on the street in the evening yesterday , just a casual walk upto the park.
A cute 5 yr old boy walking past , looked me, smiled , came up and said "Aaap ye kaise pehente ho?" (How do you wear this turban?)
I smiled immensely and said "Baandtha hu " ( I tie it)
He : I tried many times, but couldn't ! I saw the turbaned guy in "Flying jatt" movie (its about a sikh superman lol).
Me just kept smiling not knowing what to do . I didn't have a turban with me , so couldn't have fulfiled his desire lol

It took a while to remove that smile from my face And yes , I felt so proud lol.
This was the same bollywood btw which mocked sikhs uptil 10 yrs back . Now we are shown as superheroes.
The guy who started sikh jokes with help of his bolywood contacts, now his son is made into a national joke here in india , He has become a symbol of incompetence , the iconic "PAPPU", if you know what I mean lol

God really is justice

 

[RD1]

Sikhism is such a progressive way of life when you actually look at what it preaches, but the physical manifestations of Sikhism whether in physical appearance or in nagar kirtans, these are no not understood. And then people form judgments based on these, which they then apply to Sikhs, and do not realize how progressive it is. And how spiritual it is.

The entire planet is becoming westernized. The westernized life is placed on a pedestal and we are all supposed to strive to achieve this. What is westernized life? It is essentially very ego and greed based, and true deep spirituality has been stripped away. As Sikhs, we need to cultivate courage to be who the Guru intended us to be.

And your little story is very heartwarming!

 

[Harry Haller]

Sikhism is such a progressive way of life when you actually look at what it preaches, but the physical manifestations of Sikhism whether in physical appearance or in nagar kirtans, these are no not understood. And then people form judgments based on these, which they then apply to Sikhs, and do not realize how progressive it is. And how spiritual it is.

The entire planet is becoming westernized. The westernized life is placed on a pedestal and we are all supposed to strive to achieve this. What is westernized life? It is essentially very ego and greed based, and true deep spirituality has been stripped away. As Sikhs, we need to cultivate courage to be who the Guru intended us to be.

And your little story is very heartwarming!

“Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads. The ancient Asiatics knew this well enough, and in the Buddhist Yoga an exact technique was devised for unmasking the illusion of the personality. The human merry-go-round sees many changes: the illusion that cost India the efforts of thousands of years to unmask is the same illusion that the West has labored just as hard to maintain and strengthen.”
― Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf