By Dustin Brown
Richmond Hill’s Sikh Cultural Society staged an enviable 303rd birthday party for its religion Saturday afternoon, luring thousands to the streets of Manhattan for a festive parade that showed off the resiliency of the community’s spirit.
Although it has been a devastating year for the Sikhs, who lost their temple in Richmond Hill to fire last month and have faced bias since Sept. 11, the abundance of bright colors and smiles at Saturday’s celebration left little doubt they had triumphed over tragedy.
“We are making a bold statement that we will move on,” said Harpreet Singh Toor, the chairman of the Sikh Cultural Society. “Things do happen —t hat’s part of life. It’s a terrible thing, what happened there, but it doesn’t mean we should stop from doing what we have to do.”
The 15th Annual Sikh Day Parade attracted people from as far away as Washington, D.C. to celebrate the religion’s birth on April 13, 1699, when the Sikhs were baptized as a nation.
“This is our birthday,” said Sarabjit Singh, 19, of Jamaica Estates. “It means my birthday, so I really like it.”
“We come out every year. This is our day, our community day,” said Kiran Suri of Belleville, N.J., who was clad in bright yellow, “the color of gaiety,” as she called it.
Her 9-year-old son, Karan Suri, was wearing a blue suit with a white collared shirt and orange tie that matched his bright orange turban, the same uniform worn by all the boys at his temple, Bridgewater Gurudwara. The girls wore similarly festive blue dresses.
The thousands of Sikhs who crowded Madison Square Park after marching down Broadway from 42nd Street were dressed for celebration. The women wore flowing pastel robes while the men donned turbans that ran the full color scheme, from orange to purple and blue. Many also wore ribbons around their turbans that read, “Sikh American,” pointing out their combined allegiance to both their nation and their faith.
Even a steady downpour that only let after the marching was done could not dampen spirits. Protecting themselves beneath a virtual canopy of umbrellas, they paraded down Broadway with cheerful exuberance, singing chants and celebrating their spirit as a people.
But not everyone was satisfied by the cloud-covered skies.
Sukhdeep Kaur, 11, of Briarwood said she was disappointed the weather was not more cooperative.
“Last year it was so much fun because it was sunny,” she recalled wistfully.
Still, the weather could not deter the crowds, who thronged the paths of Madison Square Park and the streets surrounding it as they enjoyed free cultural cuisine and each other’s company.
The religion, which has its roots in the Punjab region of India, teaches equality and calls for people to live in harmony with nature — for instance, by not cutting their hair, which men wrap in the turbans that make Sikhs easy to identify.
The parade represents the group’s most prominent effort to bring attention to Sikhism and teach other Americans about the faith.
“More and more we are reaching across borders and sharing our culture,” said Seema Singh, the public advocate of New Jersey, as she spoke to the crowd from a small stage set up in the street at the corner of the park.
“It offers a great opportunity for people to get together, and it offers an opportunity for Americans to see who Sikhs are,” said Jaspreet Kaur, 23, of Kew Gardens.
The parade also offered some reminders of barriers the Sikhs still must overcome. Many people wore blue shirts that read “Allow Sikhs in the NYPD ” in support of Amric Singh, who was fired from his job as a traffic cop because he would not shave his beard or remove his turban.
Meanwhile, pictures of more than 100 freedom fighters who died struggling for Sikh independence from India lined the walls of a small stage near the park.
But the parade also celebrated the freedom of Sikhs to practice their religion in America.
As Jagir Singh Bains, the principal of the Khalsa School in Queens Village, put it: “We are down-to-earth Americans.”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
