More than 10,000 people have crowded at Times Square on April 15, to celebrate the Turban Day, a colorful event hosted by Sikhs Of New York. It is a combined celebration of Vaisakhi, the harvest festival. With the raising awareness among Indian-Americans of the Sikh faith who have felt particularly vulnerable post-9/11, this is a very good step to instill confidence on them.
Hospital-Based Indian Medical Program Launched Holy Name Medical Center
The National Sikh Campaign launched its “We are Sikhs” media blitz at the same event, and the U.S. Congress has released a “proclamation” declaring April 15, 2017 as “Turban Day” and “Sikhs of New York Day”, an initiative led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-NY.
Entertainment was performed by Top Naach, a Bhangra group from Virginia; American Sikhs, an instrumental band from the 3HO Foundation in Los Angeles; The Lost Strings of New York, and mandolin player Gagandeep.
This was the second time that Turban Day was held at Times Square. It has attracted people from as far as Los Angeles and Alberta, Canada, many of whom volunteered to tie the turbans. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s head of the Immigration Affairs Jenifer Rajkumar, has attended the event.
Around 500 volunteers have helped to wrap turbans on those wanting them. Though the event was to start at 12 noon, people of various ethnicities and cultures lined up from 9:30 am to wear their turban, Chanpreet Singh, 24, founder of Sikhs of New York, said. Turban Day was an opportunity for those who do not wear a turban, to experience it and learn about its significance, organizers said.
“Some 400,000 people saw it live. And over 24 hours since the event took place, half a million people have seen the video on our Facebook site,” said Chanpreet Singh, founder of Sikhs of New York.
The impact of the event can be measured not just by the large attendance, but from the reactions of the crowds, something that was gauged by the volunteers and from posts of those who came to enjoy the entertainment, Singh said.
Indian American Nimish Jani Trustee of Schaumburg Township
“Our three hash tags, #IamSikh, #IamaSikh, and #Turbanday, each had close to 200 photos posted within 24 hours of the event,” said Singh. a financial analyst with cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, who founded Sikhs of New York while a student at Baruch College in 2013.
“This is a youth initiative of a post-9/11 generation,” Singh said. “I started it mainly because of discrimination I faced at high school. I wanted to make a change,” he said.
“The crowd was a mix of many cultures from different parts of the world and around the United States. That’s one of the reasons we chose Times Square,” he added.
By Premji
