I should have caught on a little just thanks to the diversity of the greater Detroit community, but I was still protected by a wall of enforced innocence, and, so, it was all lost on me.
When I traveled to Venice Beach when I was in college, I met a woman on the shuttle bus to my hotel. She was dressed entirely in white, including stark socks pulled up to her knees and pale, nearly transparent hair that hung below her waist. I learned that she was a Sikh, not because I was boorish enough to ask, but because she offered it. Maybe in response to my inability to hide my surprise at her appearance, or maybe out of friendliness, or the joy she felt in her personal discovery.
That’s about all I remember about that interaction. It was a short drive and there would have been much more to explain to me than a few moments of conversation would allow. But I never did forget her, and when Sikhism is mentioned, she is my initial reference point.
For the purposes of this post, I tried to find out why she was wearing all white. It may have been that she was a convert—she was Caucasian after all—or, it is possible that she was a Kundalini yogi. I found little to explain this, maybe because my search results have been flooded with news stories about recent events, rather than information that might inform or educate. What a damn shame of a way for us to expand our awareness, anyway.
I did find this article, which details the tenets and practices of Sikhism. Good information for any of us who want to understand and know what we don’t already.
And on a much less serious note, I found this recording of a band we saw live back in the spring of 2011. (Whee!)
The trumpeter, Sonny Singh, is a Sikh and the dhol player & singer, Sunny Jain, is a Jainist. I don't think these are the ones to worry about, eh?
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