Fabric of a society

Guru Nanak (1469 to 1539), who founded the Sikh faith, picking up karma from Hinduism and monotheism from Islam, had said "The highest religion is to rise to universal brotherhood".

In his book "Sikhs in Thailand", Manjit S Sidhu says the majority of Sikhs immigrated to Thailand in the mid-1900s from what is now the state of Punjab in Pakistan. They came, in part to escape the chaos that ensued from the partition of the formerly British-ruled subcontinent in 1947. Arriving in Bangkok, they found a brotherly reception - most of them spent their first nights at the Sikh gurdwara (temple; literally, "the guru's home or portal") in Pahurat, Bangkok.

Being enterprising, it did not take long for the men arriving from the subcontinent to acquire mostly locally made fabrics on commission, and spend their days walking around selling the cloth.

More than half a century after the mass migration of Sikhs to Bangkok, shrines dedicated to Guru Nanak are a main fixture in the dozens of Sikh-owned shops of jostling Talad Pahurat, vying for attention with the Thai signs shouting "Lot raka!" ("Sale!") in this retail market for cotton, polyester, rayon and other fabrics.

The owner of AR Shop, Gurmeet Singh Sachadev, says his business may eventually close, as he has no sons, and his two 20-something daughters, after having worked here from time to time in their younger years, are not interested in staying here for a lifetime.

Gurmeet runs the shop with his wife, Rupinder, and a couple of assistants. "Even with shop-owning families with sons, the future of the area may change, as families are moving out," he says. "It's competitive here. To survive in this business, one has to offer something different."

Besides the job, though, what he is concerned about is the long-term stability of Pahurat, not to mention the Sikh culture in Thailand.

"Slowly, Sikhs in Thailand are becoming assimilated. Slowly, the Thai culture is coming into the Sikh culture," Gurmeet says. He observes two of Sikhism's "five Ks" - wearing a steel bracelet and, for men, keeping long hair wound in a turban.

Gurmeet says he would like it if his children would visit the gurdwara more often and appreciate their Sikh heritage, but "I tell them, 'Do what you want to'."

He says many children of Pahurat shop owners want to strike out on their own - in not becoming devout Sikhs and by finding a livelihood apart from selling fabrics.

While young Sikhs are going to the temple less often than their parents, and their grasp of the Punjabi language is slipping, they tend to marry within the local Sikh community.

In what was once a narrow lane selling religious statues, icons and trinkets, only one side of the alley survives today, as the other gave way to a wider lane that goes along the new India Emporium mall.

 "I think these shops in Pahurat will not continue into the next generation," Gurmeet says. "Thai people are very happy to see us as we are from the land of Buddhism."

 Sidhu writes, "The vast majority of Sikh migrants have done well since coming to Thailand." But only time will tell just how traditionally Sikh their descendants will be.