the good samaritan Sikh at New Zealand

In my young days, Bishan Singh Bedi’s spin bowling  looked most attractive.  I still remember Gordon Greenidge shoulding arms to a big inswinger of Balwinder Singh Sandhu.  There were times when frail looking Maninder Singh threatened to spin-out the opponents – remember Navjot Singh on a comeback hitting out big sixers against Australia in 1987 Reliance Cup at  Chepauk and Harbhajan Singh spinning out Australians in 2001 ……

Often, we read jokes on ‘ Sikhs ’ – everytime we look the Republic Day Parade, it is the Sikhs who dominate the Armed forces.   Milkha Singh, the flying Sikh is the famed darling of Indian athletics.   Back in Chennai, there  are some Sikhs and Cricket followers do well know – AG Milkha Singh, AG Kripal Singh, a right-hand batsman and offspinner, also played Test cricket for India (14 Tests between 1955 and 1964, and scored an unbeaten 100 on debut against New Zealand in Hyderabad),  as also  Satwender, played first-class cricket for Tamil Nadu.  When Kripal and Milkha played together for India against England in 1961-62, it was the first instance of three players from Tamil Nadu (the third being Vaman Kumar) being in the National playing XI.

There have been Sikhs fighting wars not only for our Nation but also for England.   The Battle of Saragarhi is considered one of the greatest battles in Sikh military history.  In 1897,  a contingent of twenty-one soldiers from the 36th Sikhs led by Havildar Ishar Singh held off an Afghan attack of 10,000 men for several hours. All 21 Sikh soldiers chose to fight to the death instead of surrendering.

Sikhs are identified by ‘turbans’ which they consider their Guru’s gift.  For the believer,  the  projective identity conveys royalty, grace, and uniqueness.  The "bana" or form, the personal appearance of a Sikh, is one of the foremost ways that a Sikh maintains his consciousness as their  Guru intended. The Guru has given his Sikh specific instructions to keep his or her natural form as created by God. Thus, all hair is maintained, uncut, and untrimmed.

This photo that you saw at the start is becoming an internet sensation.  It is a simple one of a man helping out an accident victim.   It gains more significance as the Sikh student from New Zealand  breaks strict religious protocol by taking off his turban to help save the life of a child hit by a car.

REprots state that Harman Singh, 22, removed his turban to cradle the bleeding head of a five-year-old boy who had been struck on his way to school in Takanini, South Auckland.  Mr Singh heard the accident take place outside his home, before running outside to investigate, according to the NZ Herald.   'I saw a child down on the ground and a lady was holding him. His head was bleeding, so I unveiled my turban and put it under his head,' he said. 'I wasn't thinking about the turban. I was thinking about the accident and I just thought, "He needs something on his head because he's bleeding". That's my job - to help. 

Mr Singh and other members of the public stayed with the boy until emergency services arrived. Not long after the accident, the boy's mother arrived.  The five-year-old was reportedly walking to school with his older sister when he was hit. He was thought to have suffered life-threatening head injuries, but last night was in a stable condition in hospital.

Since the incident occurred, Mr Singh has received thousands of messages and comments on his Facebook page.  

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

17^th May 2015.