Subsequent Generations of Punjabi-Mexicans

The mainstream narrative is that the Punjabi-Mexican community has been fading into history and the populations thinning, but not much attention is paid to the community that remains as subsequent generations.

With a Washington Post article and others covering the Punjabi-Mexican community, the focus is on how the community and cultural blends have faded into history, not the blending of the cultures and identities themselves.

Punjabi and Mexican cultures share similar folk dance forms that also feature many bright colors as part of the traditional garbs. The above video represents collaborations between Punjabis, Mexicans, and some Punjabi-Mexicans to form a dance troupe and display the similarities and beauty of both cultures.

The dances can range from being very similar to very different, with some sharing of rhythmic tunes. Mexican and Punjabi culture both revolve around a rural way of life, which allowed for both cultural traditions to be preserved and shared within families.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/video/shows/ndtv-special-ndtv-24×7/us-sikh-community-how-hard-working-immigrants-made-a-foreign-land-home-242048

The video above features David Rai, a third-generation Punjabi-Mexican who farms in Yuba City, CA and speaks fluent Spanish and Punjabi. Mr. Rai shares the intricacies of his identity and experiences growing up, between Punjabi and Mexican cultures.

Many second and third generation Punjabi-Mexicans actually pick up both Spanish and Punjabi fluency, as Mr. Rai illustrates.

While Mr. Rai identifies himself as an America Punjabi-Hispanic, the line is blurrier for many others and the intersectionalities of Sikh Punjabi-Mexican identity offer no one clear answer to the question, who are you?

Growing up as a Punjabi-Mexican offered a mesh of two vibrant cultures; from tortillas to roti and daal, Punjabi and Hispanic camps, and the various other traditions each culture maintains.

Below is Mr. Rai’s mother, a second-generation Punjabi-Mexican who married a Punjabi man herself and shares her experience being a part of a subsequent generation of Punjabi-Mexicans.

Source: The Kamla Show. Ms. Rai was one of the few second-generation Punjabi-Mexicans who married another Punjabi or Mexican.

Similarly to her son, Ms. Rai’s friends are mostly Punjabis and despite the geographic disconnect between Punjab and the West Coast of America, the retention of Punjabi culture remained strong in many instances, although the same cannot be said for certain Sikh traditions such as keeping unshorn hair.

 

Mexican and Indian combined dishes remain very popular in the Bay Area, as many restaurants like ‘Avatar’s Punjabi Burritos’ offer dishes such as the Pumpkin Curry Rice Plate with Chicken featured below and burritos infused with chicken curry and masala. 

Image result for punjabi burrito

Source: Yelp

This tweet is one example of Punjabi-Mexican relationships and marriages that have been popping up in recent years, in contrast to narratives saying that the community is thinning.

Noor Kaur, a junior at UC Berkeley and Punjabi-Mexican Sikh, detailed to me her experiences growing up in Mexico to a Punjabi father and Mexican mother. Unlike most Punjabi-Mexican kids, she was raised Sikh, not Catholic, and from a young age attended both Punjabi school and learned Spanish. Her local Punjabi school was run by her friend’s mother and had about ten kids in total.

“The way you celebrate things in Punjabi culture and Mexican culture is very similar. You’re usually having a big celebration centered around being with the family and having big bashes for festivals.”

– Arshnoor Kaur

Kaur also said that she sees many similarities between the Punjabi-Mexican unions of today and those of the 1900s.

“Now there is a lot of intermarriages, as three of the five [Mexican-Punjabi] families that lived in my area have already remarried within the community, mostly between the boys and other Mexican women. This has become more and more common, especially as non-Mexican Sikh guys marry Mexican girls.”

– Arshnoor Kaur

“I speak fluent Punjabi, Spanish, and English but it’s hard to identify myself just as Mexican or Punjabi or Sikh. I definitely feel more Mexican at times because I was born there and I speak more Spanish than I do Punjabi, but my identity depends on the context, especially since I go to school in America.”

– Arshnoor Kaur