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Indian Sikhs grafting onto culture
in Argentina
WSN Network
 ROSARIO
DE LA FRONTERA (Argentina):
For Bibiana Jasbe Singh Kaur, being born and growing up an Indian
Sikh in Argentina was not only a curious twist of history, it was
also a culinary conundrum.
In the end,
though, the predominance of Argentine beef on friends’ tables beat
out the cultural abhorrence that her vegetarian Indian ancestors
have against eating beef.
“It’s impossible
to keep a distance,” the 24-year-old journalism student said. “We
eat beef. Not at home. But at birthdays, parties, there are only
steaks, which are beef.”
Singh Kaur,
smiling and speaking in Spanish with an Argentine accent, was a
study in the fusion of the two countries she calls home. Her jeans
were paired with a loose Indian shirt, and her energetic
Latina hand
movements were topped by glistening dark eyes from the Asian
subcontinent.
Around her were
older Sikh men and women, many of them distinctly more traditional
in their manner and dress. There were also younger children, playing
in Spanish while wearing headwear.
They were in a
gurudwara, in Rosario de la Frontera. This remote northern Argentine
town is in fact home to the only Sikh gurdwara in all of
South America –
a testimony to the small community from India’s Punjab region which
has settled here.
The Sikhs
originally came to
Argentina in the
early 19th century to work on a British-built railroad. Later, in
the 1970s, others came after being barred entry to
Canada
and the United States, the preferred destinations, along with
Britain,
for the emigrants.
At the time,
Argentina
seemed the most promising of South American nations, and so they
stayed, eventually concentrating in the north, which reminded them
of the scrappy mountains and plains of Punjab.
Today, there are
300 of them, many of whom run supermarkets and other shops. Mixed
marriages with Catholic Argentines are common. Although they are
increasingly integrated, the gurdwara is an emblem of their
adherence to their roots.
This week, it
hosted scores of local Sikhs celebrating the 300th anniversary of
their holy book with prayer and a communal meal.
“We’ve had
people visit here and they are amazed, happy. They know that what
we’ve managed to do with this gurdwara is very important, very good,
for humanity – not for community, for humanity,” said Kanwal Jeet
Singh, who is active in the community though he eschews a leadership
tag.
He arrived from
India
more than two decades ago, following his father who came to
Argentina in 1977.
In the gurudwara,
Jeet Singh wears a turban, as does his son, Facundo.
Outside, in his
day job delivering soft drinks, he sports a high cap to cover the
long hair his religion demands.
But while he
won’t say it, others in the increasingly diluted Sikh community
acknowledge that, for all their efforts, their culture is fading
under
Argentina’s
bright, strong sun. His son wears the uniform of the military high
school he attends.
Jeet Singh’s
Argentine-born cousin, Veronica Mandyp Singh Kaur, has been to
India
twice and proclaims: “I love my parents’ culture.”
However, she
said, she left an arranged marriage to a Sikh for her Catholic
Argentine current husband, with whom she owns and runs the two main
supermarkets in Rosario de la Frontera.
She has two
sons, one from each union. The eldest, 10 years old, proudly
embraces Sikh customs and wants to visit
India. But
Spanish is spoken at home, leaving the children with only limited
Punjabi.
“It hurts me to
say it, but yes” the Sikh culture will disappear in
Argentina
within one or two generations, Singh Kaur said.
Hari Singh, a
34-year-old agronomist also born in the country to Sikh parents,
still attends the temple occasionally, but his beard is trimmed
short, and he too has developed a taste for beef.
The marriages to
non-Sikh Argentines means “keeping one’s religion becomes almost
impossible,” he said, adding: “I think the third generation is the
one that will lose the most.”
5 November
2008
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