{"id":1699,"date":"2015-12-11T08:55:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T08:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2015-12-11T08:55:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T08:55:06","slug":"harold-jaffes-dispatches-from-india-december-10-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/harold-jaffes-dispatches-from-india-december-10-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Harold Jaffe’s Dispatches from India<\/em> – December 10, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turban<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

He sat next to me in the densely crowded Delhi airport terminal.
\nI was reading with some irritation a typically over-ornamented
\nThomas Mann long short story.
\nI smelled him before I saw him–a curious odor–stale, dry, camphor-
\nlike.
\nAs though he just retrieved his garments from a lenghty seclusion in
\nthe closet.
\nHe sat to my left and I partially turned to him.<\/p>\n

He was a Sikh, with the traces of a black-grey beard, a big man
\nwearing a black turban and steel bracelet, 2 of the so-called 5 Ks
\nenjoined on all Sikh males.
\nIn Punjabi the 5 Ks are Kesh, Kanga, Kara, Kachhera, Kirpan.
\nWhich is to say: uncut hair and beard, wooden comb, steel bracelet,
\ncotton underwear reflective of modesty, and a small sword to be
\nused solely in self-defence and in protection of the needy.
\nThe turban is to keep the uncut hair in place.
\nThe camphor odor appeared to issue from the turban.<\/p>\n

I conceived the ensuing narrative almost at once.
\nWhat else do you do in the chaotic Delhi airport, the tedious but
\nrefined Hun,Thomas Mann, on your lap and virtually everyone
\nshouting into his\/her smartphone?<\/p>\n

In 1984 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, prideful Nehru\u2019s prideful
\ndaughter, was shot to death by two of her trusted Sikh guards.
\nIn the bloody aftermath, Hindu supporters of Indira Gandhi brutally
\nmurdered up to 12,000 Sikhs, in many instances amputating their
\nlegs, then burning them alive.<\/p>\n

The immediate reason for Gandhi\u2019s assassination was her violent
\nresponse to a Sikh seccession initiative in the Punjab area in
\nnorthwest India.
\nSpecifically, the Indian army\u2019s so-called Operation Blue Star, in June
\n1984, when they assaulted and badly damaged the sanctified
\nGolden Temple in the sacred Sikh city of Amritsar.<\/p>\n

Many Sikhs felt and currently feel that they occupy an anomalous,
\nunrespected position in India, especially among the Hindu majority,
\nbut also among the Muslims.
\nOn the other hand Sikhs are India\u2019s principal warriors who have long
\nbeen depended on to lead wars against Pakistan, Afghanistan, and
\nin Jammu-Kashmir.
\nDuring the Raj they served as colonizing Britain\u2019s chief defenders of
\nthe faith.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Indira Gandhi\u2019s assassination and the large scale
\nHindu bloodletting, Sikhs went into hiding and\/or disguised
\nthemselves, especially the males, many of whom shaved their hair
\nand beards.
\nI remember travelling in western Europe in the late eighties and
\nmeeting Sikhs, especially restaurant owners and workers, who were
\nunidentifable but for their steel bracelet, which represents their
\nunbreakable bond with God.<\/p>\n

It is thirty years after the assassination, the Sikhs have still not
\nseceeded, but the history of the assassination and its long bloody
\naftermath have become a kind of archeology.
\nWhich is the way it happens.
\nSikh males are regrowing their hair and beard and removing their
\nturban from its storage area in the closet.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/jaffeantijaffe.sdsu.edu\/<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jaffeantijaffe<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/haroldjaffe.wordpress.com\/<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turban He sat next to me in the densely crowded Delhi airport terminal. I was reading with some irritation a typically over-ornamented Thomas Mann long short story. I smelled him before I saw him–a curious odor–stale, dry, camphor- like. As though he just retrieved his garments from a lenghty seclusion in the closet. He sat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1702,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions\/1702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}