大象传媒

Heart and Soul Me and My Turban Me and My Turban

The Turban is the one thing that identifies a Sikh more than any other symbol of their faith. An edict handed down in 1699 by the 10th Sikh Guru - Gobind Singh 鈥� require Sikhs not to cut their hair. The turban, part of the Bana or military uniform at that time, was used to keep and protect a Sikhs hair. However in line with its military tradition, it鈥檚 something that has always been a masculine symbol and almost exclusively worn by men and not women. That鈥檚 until now it seems. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 always like this.鈥� Says Devinder a teaching assistant from Ilford just outside London holding up a photo album of her younger years. 鈥淚 used to have cut black curls, wear makeup -go out and do what people do on nights out鈥� but it never sat comfortably with me even then.鈥� Seven years ago Devinder decided to become fully baptised into the Sikh faith, stopped cutting any of her hair and began wearing a tall white wrapped turban. She is one of a growing number of Sikh women who are wearing Turbans Nikki Bedi meets them to explore why they are so intent to identify themselves as Sikh women