Meet the turbanator!

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 14

At the height of wedding season or any special occasion, Gurshandeep Singh, a teenager, is remembered by people from various pockets of the district. While he is popular for his turban tying skills, what makes him more special is his ability to drape the headgear with just one hand.

Turning his misfortune into blessing, he now wants to compete in the turban tying competitions globally. By birth, he’s one-handed. However, this never perturbed him from making a mark. He was five when he started adjusting his left hand with the fabrics of a turban.

“I developed interest in tying a turban when I was very young,” he said. Every day after school hours, he would use his mother’’s scarf as a turban. Subsequently, after learning the skill, I started tying my father’’s turban. “My parents were impressed with my efforts.”

The journey for the competitions would begin five years later. When he was 10, members of the Sardaria Trust Punjab approached him; encourage him to participate in the turban tying competitions. “Since then I have participated in many competitions,” Gurshandeep spoke.

While he aspires to open his own turban training academy in future, he last appeared in ‘Hunar Punjab Da’ reality show and prior to it he has won several competitions including ‘Turban King’ award and other special awards in various events.

He says, for Sikhs, turban is an identity, a symbol of spirituality, pride and honour. A Sikh can give up his life for his turban. It is a symbol of unity and integrity for the community. “A turban is not an ordinary piece of cloth,” he reiterated.

Ever since he took to it, everyone has been praising his turban style, which further created room for learning other styles too. He’s the go-to guy you want to get a turban tied for an occasion. “When there is any special function, my relatives or neighbours come to my house to get their turbans tied.”

It takes him 5-10 minutes to wrap his head in any of the four styles, including amritsari, patiala shahi, morni and wattan wali. Depending on the timings in the competitions, he can also tie a turban in 4-6 minutes.

A resident of BSF colony here, Gurshandeep further adds that when it comes to the most popular style and colours, ‘patiala shahi’ tops the list accompanied with bright colours. “It connects you to the times of maharajas and makes you feel royal, but, it goes well mainly with bright colours such as green, red, yellow and orange to name a few. Therefore, people on a regular basis also prefer wattan wali turban,” he said.