Harjas Singh

This game of whack-a-mole that started at the bus stop continued for the next couple of years.

And the more I would tell these kids not to touch my patka, the more they would want to do it.

So one day I was at school and this kid tried to touch my patka and my joran, tried to like rip it off.

And I told him, no, don't touch it.

And he said, why?

Are you hiding a bomb underneath there?

I felt hurt, confused, disturbed, angry.

Why had this kid called me a terrorist when I wasn't one?

I went home crying to my grandfather.

He was sitting in his reading chair in his room, and I asked him, why do I look like this?

Why do I need to wear a turban?

And he gave me a little bit of a history lesson.

He said, when Sikhism started in India five centuries ago, India was ruled by kings.

And turbans were a symbol of royalty.

Only kings and noblemen could wear them.

And these kings weren't necessarily kind.

They would put people to death for no other reason than practicing a religion the king didn't approve of.

So the Sikh gurus had instituted the turban as a symbol of equality, as a symbol of standing up against the injustices of these kings.

This was the first time I had questioned my religious identity and received an answer I thought I understood.

But even though I theoretically understood why I should be wearing the turban, the world outside kept giving me reasons not to.