East African Sikhs; Starch & The 'chunj'

[asingh1]

lol

you should never judge any one! because my self i wear a starch pagh but i tie it daily ! un wrap and then tie ! so stop Stereotyping !

[dalsingh101]

lol

you should never judge any one! because my self i wear a starch pagh but i tie it daily ! un wrap and then tie ! so stop Stereotyping !

You put starch on it daily? How long it take to dry?

Edited March 25, 2010 by dalsingh101

[shaheediyan]

I think he means, he wears a dastaar which already has a small quantity of starch in it i.e. as opposed to malmal material. This type of material is generally used for those who fold their dastaar before they tie it.

ASingh, I was talking about the people who spray/apply starch on and add paper within the folds to turn their dastaar into a long term stylised hard hat.

I understand that many people still use pre-starch dastaar material to tie daily dastaars.

But the large part of 'hat wearers' are from East Africa, although I have sen quite a few 'Punjabi' style, starch pagh/hat wearers from India also, who wear the convenience pagh.

Edited March 25, 2010 by shaheediyan

[Matheen]

Starched hard hats are just wrong. There were guys in school who wouldn't change their dastar for months at a time.

[dalsingh101]

As a child I remember playing at a friend's house, whose parents were Ugandan refugees (well the dad anyway). Once we happened apon his dad's pagh on a shelf whilst goofing about....... and we all took turns to try it on (I know it was wrong but we were kids). The thing was proper rock solid...and the point on the front could EASILY take out an eye...

Memories.....

[Guest Clean]

Hi there everyone ,

Some of these topics become politicized and people tend to promote their own community’s image (often based on ignorance or , perhaps , a genuine feeling of lacking recognition amongst other groups or castes, ) which results in the promotion of false info .

 

The fabrics used in earlier times were gauze-like thin fabrics , and the alternatives were probably too thick  , resulting in people starching the former thinner fabrics .

 

This was done universally by Jatts , Khatris and other groups .

The other alternative you might see is either the same thin fabric folded over multiple times so it doesn’t have to be starched , resulting in a less clean ( ie , lack of clear larrs   in the turban ,) or a thicker material turban that might appear larger , such as some seen worn by British Army Veterans , also seen on Akshay Kumar , in the movie where a few Sikhs fight off many Afghans .

 

All this was due to lack of sophisticated manufacturing techniques and the lack of advancement in textile manufacturing , which once evolved , resulted in the non-starched single and double materials of today .

 

Single turbans came first most likely and the double ones later . The latter being two single fabrics being sewn in the middle , making the larrs more clear but resulting in significantly bigger turbans , which are common today in Punjab and elsewhere .

 

As far as style goes ,  the African style / Kenyan style turban was worn by British Army recruits commonly in lower ranks .

 

This can still be seen today in the hawaldars in Punjab police versus the officers .

 

This doesn’t mean that it is any less stylish or denotes a lower caste . It was just a simpler , probably easier way of tying a turban that has its own charm . 
 

I refer to it as the mystic style , and it suits a lot of Sikh scholars well , including and especially older dignified gentlemen .

 

As far as the pointed part on the front , when starching a turban and tying it , the last larr can be quite flat , even in the non-.folded (non-Kenyan style turbans ,) so people inserted paper etc , which gave it a distinct point / edge , which caught on , especially amongst starched turbans , and stayed around in the African and other Sikh Diaspora .

In India , it didn’t because non-starch needing thicker cotton fabrics were developed and became the norm .

 

They just started using and wearing different fabrics .

 

And while it’s true that certain segments / castes and sub-groups may have distinct styles , generally speaking , all types of turbans and styles ( ie , starched , pointed , African / Kenyan ) have been worn by all castes , including Jatt Sikhs , Khatri’s , Ramgarhias and any other groups , depending on age , when they left India , where they moved to and what they did .

In other words , your environment and profession influenced your style of turban .

 

Generally speaking , the Royals in the Sikhs didn’t wear the Kenyan style folded turbans .

But , Royalty is not Nobility , and Nobility may not be Royalty , as exemplified by the Gurus and other noble individuals , from a variety of castes and religions , whose writings are presented in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji .