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| Boys tie their turbans at Monday's Annual Turban Competition at Surrey's Bombay Banquet Hall. Photograph by: Les Bazso, PNG, Vancouver Sun |
Iman Romana publicly wore a turban Monday for the first time in his 11 years.
He was in good company, surrounded by participants in the eighth Annual Turban Competition at Surrey's Bombay Banquet Hall, celebrating everything to do with the turban.
"I came here last year but I didn't wear the turban," said Romana. "Now that I'm older, I kind of want to show my culture more. It feels good."
His father, Sher-e-Punjab Radio host Jasbir Romana, who organized the event, said it was the largest of its kind in North America and maybe even the world. "You don't have this kind of event under one roof even in India," said Romana. "This is definitely the biggest and most talked about."
Romana hopes the younger generations of Sikh, Hindu and Muslim turban-wearers hear that talk and continue the cultural conversation with their peers. Attendance at the event, he said, has grown every year.
"Kids want to know about their roots and about their culture," he said.
The event was actually a series of competitions where secret judges wandered the room picking winners for categories such as Best Dressed Couple, Best Dressed Child, Biggest Turban and Best Dupatta Tying Style.
Full-size mirrors were set up on the hall's stage for turban tying contests, with competitors organized into age groups and awarded points for symmetry, speed, head coverage and complexity of their turban tying.
Sonny Cheema, 12, said he's been wearing a patka, the common fabric hair covering popular among young Sikh boys, for as long as he can remember. " I started tying it I believe at seven years old and before that my parents would tie it."
8th Annual Turban (Dastaar) Competition held at The Bombay Banquet Hall, Surrey.
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