During the Spring of 2020 I got a chance to visit the Pagdi (turban) Museum, Gobindgarh Fort Amritsar, Punjab. It was fascinating because I always thought that there was only one type of turban.

The museum showed the evolution of turbans through the ages. It had a high ceiling and the museum was crowded but it was well distributed as the museum had enough space to accommodate large crowds. When I took a closer look at the turbans, I learnt that some colours like orange, blue and white are worn during religious celebrations while red is worn during weddings. ‘Patka’ is a turban worn mostly by children to keep their hair tidy and clean. The ‘pugg’ is the most commonly used turban and is angular in shape. However my favourite turned out to be an ‘Akali’ turban, worn by the Sikh warriors. This was the first time I got to see the turbans this close. I also got to know about the largest turban that has been made from 400 meters of cloth. It belonged to one Major Singh.

It was wonderful to know the history of Punjab from the Turban Museum. I was fascinated to learn that various types of turbans had the emotional, ethical, religious, spiritual sentiments attached to it. I was grateful to my parents for taking me to visit the special museum.

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