Only a pretender would claim that the natural beard on a man’s face was a sign of orthodoxy when indeed, like other organs, hair is integral to human biology, investing man with dignity as well as masculinity. Preserving and grooming of the Kesh is no anachronism; it is an elemental urge to conserve and celebrate the creative power of nature. People agonize over hair and wear wigs sewn into their skulls to camouflage balding pates.

Yet a whole industry has mushroomed around shaving of beards and shearing of hair as a daily ritual. Such men wage a ceaseless - if losing - battle against mother nature, even as they waste enormous time and money in their quest for effeminate smoothness. Both the television and film industry have popularized the myth of man in the image of Greek gods, in denial of the pristine mystical tradition of the prophets, messiahs, saints and rishis in the splendour of unshorn Keshas. In India the divine Person himself came to be called Keshava.

Over the years the Indian cinema has been grossly unfair to the Sikhs’ moral values and religious susceptibilities. It first created the stereotype of the brawling drunken truck driver, barely recognized as a Sikh. More recently, we saw the thoughtless mismatch of a Sikh in Dharmendra’s "Ghadar Ek Prem Katha" when the hero (Sunny Deol) changes colours as a chameleon -first as a turbaned Sikh and then - in a bizarre turnabout - as a crew-cut loud-mouth lover who claims to be a Jat in love with a refugee Muslim girl. Success at the box office may be a heady brew, but no one, least of all Dharmendra, has the right to undermine the Sikh ideal or misrepresent the Sikh identity.

The Sikh religion has been a part of the world history for more than five hundred years. An integral part of that religion is the Five K’s sanctified in the Amrit. To be a Sikh is to be a Keshadhari - it is that simple.

But how can we blame others when our own ranks - in howsoever small numbers - break the rules. To be sure, the number of such recalcitrants - young and no-so-young - has been growing over the recent years. In 1990’s the SGPC had launched a Gurmat Chetna Lehar to create greater awareness of the basic Sikh philosophy. But the movement fizzled out for want of a committed and determined leadership in Akal Takht, and because of SAD’s preoccupation with power politics, as also the absence of a cadre based grassroot organisation under the aegis of an authentic committed body like the Students Federation.

The new generation needs to be mobilized and its energies harnessed at the village and the town levels. The SGPC has a clearly defined role. Unfortunately the complexion of the state government has changed. The Sikhs’ worst enemy is the illiteracy in Gurmukhi script, the ignorance of Gurbani and a certain inertia to learn the history and heritage of Sikhs. The youth also look up to younger role models like Navjot Singh Sidhu and Harbhajan Singh (in sports) Bhai Analjit Singh (in industry), Chiranjeev Singh Kathuria (in commerce), Rajwant Singh and Amarjit Singh (medicine), Amardeep Singh and the Bindra brothers (in banking) and many others in India and abroad.

A grassroot movement has become all the more a compelling imperative in view of the recent events in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack and, more particularly, in the aftermath of genocide in Gujarat.

There is a real threat to India’s "composite culture" in the context of Art. 51-A of the Constitution, which enjoins on the citizens "to value and preserve the rich heritage." In all conscience the people of India are entitled to know every strand of our common culture, which includes Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian and others. But the govt. machinery and the media seems to be working overtime to project and promote only one culture - that of the majority community. Homogenization and assimilation are their subtle underlying objectives.

Sikhs are politically free but culturally enslaved and socially subjected to discrimination. In the multitudinous world the people’s aspirations for recognition are but natural. Religious, cultural and ethnic identities are, more than ever before, becoming the defining elements in a pluralist society like India. Those who set the political agenda and control the educational systems have a duty to the Constitution - and to their conscience - to hold the scales even, for promoting a better and more comprehensive understanding of minority religions and cultures.