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Summary of Question:	Turban Getting Knocked Off When Playing Sports
Category:	Hair
Date Posted:	Friday, 8/24/2001 1:32 AM MDT

SSA

I am a male sikh of 17 who is having a problem with my pagdi(turban)while i play sports like basket ball.In basket ball one unintenionally hits the turban in order to steal the ball from me, resultin in the disfiguring of the turban .MOreover when i wear the putka(which i feel ashamed to wear in public as i am more comfortable with a pagdii,i find wearing a putka at this age v.childish)the judda is hit and again resulting in the judaa moving away from its initial position...kindly suggest a certain method to prevent this from happening not only for me or for rather this sport but for all us young sikh boys who have trouble in sports like american football,rugby,etc..
SSA

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REPLY
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Try tying a small damaala. It is ideal if you can have someone at hand to teach you, but with the following guidelines and some experimenting you should be able to work something out.

You will need one piece of cloth about 3 meters long and another about 4-5 meters long. You may be able to manage with a single piece of cloth 4-6 meters long. (A narrow piece of cloth can be easier to work with, but should be longer.)

You will tie your juda on the top of your head rather than towards the front. With your hair gathered together to begin creating your juda, drape the 3m length of cloth over your head so that most of the length falls behind you while a portion of the cloth slightly longer than your hair falls in front - gather this front portion in with your hair and twist your hair and the cloth together and tie your juda.

You should now have a length of cloth hanging out of your juda behind you. Pull the cloth over the top of your juda, covering it smoothly and completely. Now wrap the cloth tightly around your juda, building it up even bigger using the cloth. Tuck the end of the cloth into the base of your juda tightly and push your kanga into your hair behind your juda at its base. You should now have a large, tight juda.

Tie the corners together at one end of the longer piece of cloth. Cover your head with the tied end of the cloth securely in place in back of your head. (At this point, you should have your head covered with the long piece of cloth, with the tied end behind your head and the long, loose end of the cloth hanging in front of your head.) Wrap the cloth around your juda once or twice and then do one or two horizontal wraps that go low over the forehead, just above the eyes. After one or two horizontal wraps, as you bring the cloth towards the back of the head, drop it low so that as you come around towards the front again you cover the ear and the cloth comes up over the forehead at an angle. (Sikhnet has a page with a picture of a young man wearing a full-size damaala - you can look at it for reference, but you might find that you prefer a smaller damaala for sports. The general appearance should be similar, though. The picture is the second one down on the left side of the page - it clearly shows the horizontal wraps that go across the forehead as well as the angled wraps that cover the ears.) After covering one ear, you will probably want to do another horizontal wrap and then do another angled wrap to cover the other ear. Use the remaining cloth for additional horizontal or angled wraps as you see fit.

When properly tied, a damaala is a very sturdy turban. Even a large damaala will stay on very well during intense activity. The damaala is worn by the Nahang Sikhs who maintain the gatka techniques and warrior traditions of the Sikhs.
Humbly,
MSSSK

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USER FEEDBACK
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WJKK WJKF
I'm just writing in regards to the post on the 17 year old Sikh Male who was finding it difficult to play sports while maintaing a pug. I liked your advice about tying a damaala, but in most instance's even a small damaala is a little to big. Having personal experience with this matter as I also play sports (basketball, football etc.) what I find works best is to do a putka over a ghol pug, or a ghol pug and over it wrap a patka without tying the top up.

WJKK WJKF

P.S keep up the good work