{"id":29649,"date":"2022-03-28T17:15:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T22:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/?p=29649"},"modified":"2022-03-28T17:52:23","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T22:52:23","slug":"darshan-shah-tilak-us-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/","title":{"rendered":"He is the Only Indian in US Army to Get Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty and in Uniform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The custom of adorning the space between the eyebrows on one\u2019s forehead with tilak was so ingrained in the everyday culture of Hindus that everyone from one to 100 years old or above would wear tilak as part of their regular appearance. Male folks of a household, from the Brahmin to the business community, would not step out of the threshold without tilak on the forehead. Tilak of sandalwood paste keeps the forehead cool against the emission of electromagnetic radiations during intense emotions like anger or anxiety. The customary practice of wearing tilak has been reduced to an occasional ritual during festivals and family functions over time.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29654\" style=\"width: 699px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29654\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-29654 size-full\" title=\"US Air Force allows Darshan Shah to wear Tilak while in uniform\" src=\"https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Darshan-Shah-in-US-Air-Force-gets-religious-waiver-to-wear-tilak.jpg\" alt=\"Darshan Shah US Air Force, Indians in US Army\" width=\"689\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Darshan-Shah-in-US-Air-Force-gets-religious-waiver-to-wear-tilak.jpg 689w, https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Darshan-Shah-in-US-Air-Force-gets-religious-waiver-to-wear-tilak-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Darshan-Shah-in-US-Air-Force-gets-religious-waiver-to-wear-tilak-640x417.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Darshan-Shah-in-US-Air-Force-gets-religious-waiver-to-wear-tilak-370x241.jpg 370w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29654\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PC: US Air Force (photo by Airman 1st Class Charles Munoz)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>However, Darshan Shah, an Indian-origin medical technician in the US Air Force, has been wearing tilak since he was a third grader<\/strong>. An aerospace medical technician at the Francis E Warren Air Force base in the state of Wyoming, he is the only Indian Hindu in the US Army to have been given a religious waiver to wear tilak while on duty. He sought the waiver right after his basic military training began in June 2020. His efforts bore fruit in February this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Darshan firmly believes that the tilak is part of his religious and ethnic identity as much as the uniform of the US Air Force is part of his professional identity<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s who I am. Wearing the tilak is special. It\u2019s my way of getting through hardships and difficulties in life. It provides me guidance. It has given me an overall understanding of what I belong to and where my roots are in this world,\u201d a press release from the Francis E Warren Air Force base quoted him saying. The uniform and the tilak, both are equally important to him.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He owes his understanding of religiosity and roots to his grandparents who live in Gujarat. \u201cThey taught me a lot about religion, festivals, culture, customs and my language. I would definitely say they had a positive impact on me during my childhood years. That\u2019s why my full identity manifests itself when I have the Tilak Chandlo on my forehead while wearing the uniform,\u201d said Darshan Shah.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Darshan who grew up in Minnesota and calls it home is proud of America where citizens are granted religious liberty and allowed to practice their individual beliefs<\/strong>. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes America a great country. We\u2019re not persecuted for what we follow or believe. I grew up learning English and Gujarati simultaneously in Minnesota. I would visit a nearby temple and volunteer there every Sunday,\u201d the press release quoted him saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The custom of adorning the space between the eyebrows on one\u2019s forehead with tilak was so ingrained in the everyday culture of Hindus that everyone from one to 100 years old or above would wear tilak as part of their regular appearance. Male folks of a household, from the Brahmin to the business community, would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[276],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Indian in US Air Force Gets Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Indian in US Air Force Gets Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The custom of adorning the space between the eyebrows on one\u2019s forehead with tilak was so ingrained in the everyday culture of Hindus that everyone from one to 100 years old or above would wear tilak as part of their regular appearance. Male folks of a household, from the Brahmin to the business community, would [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-28T22:15:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-28T22:52:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Darshan-Shah-in-US-Air-Force-gets-religious-waiver-to-wear-tilak.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"689\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"449\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"indianeagle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"indianeagle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/\",\"name\":\"This Indian in US Air Force Gets Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-28T22:15:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-28T22:52:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/#\/schema\/person\/7216d5b2d570cacb029943c9f43273e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"He is the Only Indian in US Army to Get Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty and in Uniform\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/\",\"name\":\"Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips\",\"description\":\"Indian American Community Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/#\/schema\/person\/7216d5b2d570cacb029943c9f43273e8\",\"name\":\"indianeagle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/682b4251288c7692dee6275293d35bdd?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/682b4251288c7692dee6275293d35bdd?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"indianeagle\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/author\/indianeagle\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Indian in US Air Force Gets Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/darshan-shah-tilak-us-army\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Indian in US Air Force Gets Religious Waiver to Wear Tilak while on Duty","og_description":"The custom of adorning the space between the eyebrows on one\u2019s forehead with tilak was so ingrained in the everyday culture of Hindus that everyone from one to 100 years old or above would wear tilak as part of their regular appearance. 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