This now takes a different twist.This reminds of two incidents I faced in my life.
One as a young kid of about 15.There were only three sikh boys in my whole school [back in Malaysia]of about 500.I was the junior of the the other tw
ne day a tamil boy who thought of himself as a fighter, started picking on me, as I had stood up for another boy he used to bully.He was literally a bully.Since the day I intervened to save this other boy..for about two days the bully was trying to eye ball with me.I took the whole thing quite calmly, although he was slightly more chubbier and well built than I was.I thought well, If I ignore him and remained calm and collected he will get tired and wander off elsewhere.But no, as the school finished and I took my cycle to go off, he shouted at me, I again ignored and rode off.
The next morning he felt that I was cowed, became more brazen and trying to pick a fight.I carried on ignoring and made sure I was with my friends, so as to discourage him.
Just as the first bell back from break went ,we would mostly run to the urinals, as that gave us three minutes for the second bell and one minute to the last bell to be in class.
As I finished and walked out, this boy suddenly blocked my path.I told him I dont want a fight and tried to walk past.He jeered and threatened to knock off my turban and tried to snatch my turban and punch my face..I was fast and ducked and came up ...I was really angry now and the first thought came to my mind, the turban was my crown; the crown of my Guru, I simply froze to my stand and with all my strength slung such a single punch that , the bully was hit on the face and went flying backwards and hit his head against the back wall of the urinals with his butt half resting in the urinals.He was unable to move.
Suddenly, I felt some special energy in me, and at the same time,all the boys around cheered me for having knocked him down.I went straight for his face and landed another two punches before the school care taker/gardener wandered in and pulled me off , saying ..Singh enough lah...he cannot even stand up ....you have taught him a good lesson.
Off I went ...along with friends into the classroom, with renewed confidence.I was expecting to be called out to the headmasters, and the friends that saw the incident were reassuring me that they will say he started the fight by trying to knock my turban off.
Over ten minutes went by,the teacher was in the class about to begin his lessons, when I saw this bully knocking on the door asking for permission to come in and apologising to the teacher.
I am trouble now, I thought.He came in sheepishly, had to explain to the teacher why he was late...his clothes were wet.His excuse was ....he fell into a puddle of water in the toilets`!He eye was swollen, and he had been bleeding from the nose...his explanation was it was sustained when he fell.Nothing of the fight, I sighed with relief!
From that day to now,he always kept his distance from me. I see the guy whenever, I go back to my home town..he became a cinema usher, going shy with respect and humility towards me.
I heard after the fight, he had intimated to some that he did not know what had hit him and that Sikhs are real fighters, and never touch a sikh again.
The second incident unfortunately happned in UK, in 1975, with some football hooligans in a tube.I made the mistake of travelling on the tube on a saturday.In the carriage suddenly a group of football hooligans came in and one of them .. started harrasing some young women.A passenger got involved and asked them to stop.He and one of his friends started threatening the passenger, who was on his own..I was standing nearby and could not help saying ..look, this is a public carriage, we dont need such here, please stop this....at which the bully's attention came on to me.....and then out of the corner of my eye I saw his friend jumping on a seat and trying to knock off my turban from the back over a glass partition.I ducked,and his hand did not reach me.As I came up, I was not going to allow anyone to knock my dastar off, I pulled it off myself and clutching it in one hand, turned round and pulled the guy from where he was standing over the glass partition ,on to the floor and started kicking his face.In the meantime the other gentleman got into a grapple with the other guy...just then someone had pulled the emergency cord and the train had pulled into a station, I made for the door, as I could see the group quite shocked and gearing up...the other gentleman too ran through the doors shouting at me to run..as we moved, we saw four policemen running towards our direction, and we pointed out the carriage, the group of hooligans was quite shocked with the turn of events , it was just getting out to chase us..but with the police in between now, we both made away.I pulled out the small under turban and made a patka over head and continued the journey about three coaches away..as the train moved away about 5 minutes later, I saw about 7 of them nailed against the wall by the police.
On arrival at my destination, I noticed some blood on my shoes and the bottom of my pants.
I have never since then come across any such incident, and even now if faced, I will not allow anyone the pleasure of pulling off my turban and walking freely...I will hit with whatever I have...to say '' I started crying' – it was very shocking for me, like tigersz ji has said.
I have always felt there was something special, some special energy and strength from some unknown source on both ocassions, when someone threatened my turban, this helped me, gave the courage to hit back and stand for myself.
Of course things have moved on since then.I am not condenming those have not stood up, for many reasons we may not be aware ...they genuinley may not have retaliated for fear,or whatever, you are still Gurus Sikh.
Sometimes, it is easy to talk than match the walk with that talk...but always remember Guru Ji and the little sahibzade who stood all alone and faced the evil tyranny, we are their descendents.
Sometimes , even the most brave of all can freeze with the shock and fright, and if it happened to anyone, you are not alone.But there is always the next time, when you will stand up.Guru Ji bless all of us.
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