SIKH FORMAGGIO
Final Script
Devyn Bisson, Dan Duran, Katie Wise
[0:00-0:07]
CARD: DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
[0:07-0:12]
CARD: Cremona, Italy
Lombardy Region
[0:15-0:21]
LUCIA
The region of Lombardy is very very popular all over Italy for the production of cheese.
LOWER THIRD ID: LUCIA OLIVIERI
Cremona Local & University Student
[0:39-0:50] --In Italian--
DALIDO
The production of cheese in our region would have had many problems as our youth were not willing to work in farming if it had not been for the presence of Sikhs.
LOWER THIRD ID: DALIDO MALAGGI
Mayor of Cremona
[0:59-1:12] --In Italian--
DALIDO
It was an occupation which was traditional and typical of Northern Italy but with the local workforce dwindling it was fortunate that the Indians came to fill the labor gap and save the cheese making economy.
[1:25-1:30]
CARD: SIKH FORMAGGIO
[1:33-1:47]
JASPINDER
My dad left Punjab because he didn't find any job and he was married and he needed money to maintain his family, that's why my dad flown to Italy.
[1:53-1:57] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
When I arrived in Italy for the first time everything was different.
[1:57-2:01] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
I didn't know the language, the food was so different from Punjab.
[2:08-2:15] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
At first when I came, my aim was to work and settle here, and step by step I achieved my target.
[2:18-2:24]
JASPINDER
We arrived, me and my mom we arrived here in 1992, in April 1992.
[2:25-2:28]
JASPINDER
And my brother was born in 1993, here in Italy.
[3:30-3:39]
JASPINDER
Hello, my name is Jaspinder Saini and I am 22 years old. I study foreign languages for international trade at University of Verona.
LOWER THIRD ID: JASPINDER SAINI
[3:44-3:50] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
My name is Onkar Singh and I come from Punjab
[3:51-4:01] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
and right now I work in the agriculture sector, in a dairy farm with cows.
LOWER THIRD ID: ONKAR SINGH
Dairy Farmer
[4:05-4:11]
JASPINDER
My dad and the majority of the population who lives in Punjab are from an agriculture tradition.
[4:12-4:16]
JASPINDER
they own a little bit of land, they have animals, and they have farms,
[4:17-4:24]
JASPINDER
and so when he came here he didn't find that big difference between Punjab and Italy.
[4:27-4:32]
JASPINDER
because as you can see also we live in a country side, they are quite the same.
[4:36-4:41] --In Italian--
DALIDO
The Sikhs have been in this area
[4:41-4:45] --In Italian--
DALIDO
since the late 90's.
LOWER THIRD ID: DALIDO MALAGGI
Mayor of Cremona
[4:46-4:53] --In Italian--
DALIDO
The men came for opportunities in agriculture business.
[4:54-4:58] --In Italian--
DALIDO
PESSINA CREMONESE HAS AN IMMIGRANT POPULATION OF 16%,
[4:58-5:03] --In Italian--
DALIDO
the Indian community being the most numerous.
[5:07-5:12]
CARD: Nearly 16,000 Indian immigrants are employed in agriculture in Italy, predominately in the Northern Region.
[5:40-5:49] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
My work starts in the night at 12:30am. I go there and then I set up all the machines,
[5:49-5:55] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
and I check out all the cows if any have fallen down or maybe are stuck somewhere.
[6:00-6:09] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
Then I begin with the milking process and I finish around 5:00 or 5:30am in the morning, there is no precise time that milking finishes.
[6:18-6:21] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
Yes, a man that works so much would get tired
[6:22-6:27] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
but the truth is that the Italian owner realizes that not many Italians are willing to work in this sector
[6:28-6:39] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
because they feel it's dirty and they don't have time for it, waking up in the night and in the morning and being in wet clothes and Italian people don't like it.
[6:40-6:45] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
Also the Italian owner does not have confidence in local Italians to run his business.
[6:50-6:54] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
The first thing is there is no work anywhere.
[6:54-6:57] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
If there is, they pay 1000 to 1200 euros.
[6:57-7:02] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
We can't live off that. Where I am, I'm good here now.
[7:06-7:12] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
The milk that we produce is collected by PLAC (cheese manufacturer) and then they produce the formaggio (cheese)
[7:22-7:25] --In Punjabi--
INDERJIT
My name is Inderjit Singh Bains
[7:25-7:33] --In Punjabi--
INDERJIT
I've been working here from 8 years. In the morning we start work at 5:30am. My work is to collect the milk, I do 2 truck runs.
LOWER THIRD ID: INDERJIT SINGH
Cheese Factory Worker
[7:54-7:59] --In Punjabi--
INDERJIT
From Punjab my ancestors moved to Rajasthan and lived in Ganganagar district.
[8:00-8:04] --In Punjabi--
INDERJIT
We are farmers in Rajasthan, we farm.
[8:33-8:40] --In Punjabi--
INDERJIT
When I first came to Italy, I did not wish to work with formaggio (cheese), but this is clean work.
[8:46-8:50] --In Italian--
ALBERTO
My father and grandfather founded this factory.
[8:50-8:59] --In Italian--
ALBERTO
When I was 20 I began to dedicate myself to the production, aging,
LOWER THIRD ID: ALBERTO CORRADI
Cheese Factory Owner
[8:59-9:03] --In Italian--
ALBERTO
and distribution of Parmigiano Reggiano.
[9:10-9:21] --In Italian--
ALBERTO
Bains has been my employee for the past 7 or 8 years. The Indian workers are good because they are trustworthy.
[9:59-10:22]
JASPINDER
It depends on the people, at some point I can say that Italians are quite afraid because we are such a huge community and we are occupying everything over here you know from the work in the farms and right now we are studying at the University level so they could be afraid, oh my god these people is coming here and literally invading.
[10:27-10:35]
LUCIA
If you go in Cremona, in the city, you don't see Sikh people walking around very often.
[10:36-10:45]
LUCIA
I think not just me but lots of people wouldn't expect that the majority of immigrants in our region ta
LOWER THIRD ID: LUCIA OLIVIERI
Cremona Local & University Student
[10:57-11:02]
LUCIA
Apart from the Sikh presence, I was very surprised about the temple.
[11:09-11:23]
LUCIA
And in the middle of the countryside what I saw for the first time was huge temple with a huge number of people in it. It looked a different world.
[11:30-11:48]
JASPINDER
It's important to stay attached with your roots, just to explaining to your future generation who we are. Because obviously I could be an Italian citizenship but my skin color is not white. So I have to answer to the other people question from where do we come from.
[11:53-11:59]
JASPINDER
Because we are living outside Punjab you know. So we are influenced by a lot of factors.
[12:01-12:36]
LUCIA
I think that um Sikh can find some struggle in this community. And also with their identity because uh sometimes when you have to interact with Italians you can find somebody very ignorant or somebody that is scared simply doesn't know the things, so is scared about you just because you wear something different, you have a long beard and you have lot of children and you are stealing the jobs, these are the usual things.
[12:37-12:52]
LUCIA
And if a Sikh person tries to hide this part of his identity just to be accepted, I think that uh he loses something.
[12:55-13:14]
JASPINDER
My dad cut off his hair because in Punjab there was a kind of phobia you know of long hair. In Punjab, they told him if he goes out with long hair with a turban maybe he can find some difficulties. That's why he cut off his hair.
[13:19-13:25] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
I got my visa and was ready to leave, but cut my hair a few days before I left.
[13:28-13:36] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
No, when I cut my hair and it didn't feel right in my heart, but after I got it cut I felt ashamed and I continued to wear the turban.
[13:36-13:38] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
Then after a few days, I stopped wearing the turban.
[13:43-13:48] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
In those times it didn't matter so much because the other guys were doing the same.
[13:52-14:12] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
At that time my friends either wore turbans or had cut their hair. But in my heart I didn't feel right having cut my hair.
[14:14-14:26] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
I cut off my hair because of the circumstances, I felt I couldn't leave Punjab otherwise. When I reached Italy and after my life was settled work was good and my situation improved.
[14:26-14:32] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
I didn't want to cut my hair anymore, and I did not want to stay outside the beliefs of my religion.
[14:35-14:48]
JASPINDER
But after a few years he became again a Sardar with full beard and hair because he find that nobody was judging him, nobody was afraid of him, and he became again a Sikh.
[15:01-15:06] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
I have no difficulty working with my turban. I feel good tying my turban.
[15:33-16:05]
JASPINDER
In Italy eating is a tradition, even in Punjab, so we mix it up. We eat also Italian food and we also eat Indian, Punjabi food. And you will see our pizza mixed up with onions, and peppers and so on so we mix up everything. And I like both of it, even my brother and even my family.
[16:22-16:30] --In Italian--
DALIDO
I don't know if the next generation of Sikhs will continue to work as their fathers do on farms and fields
[16:30-16:45] --In Italian--
DALIDO
because this new generation has assimilated well into the academic environment and are greatly excelling at school and obviously may aspire to other professions than their fathers.
[16:50-16:56] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
We work in the farms but the next generation won't farm. They are educated.
[16:56-17:04] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
Earlier, even the Italians used to be the farmers. They worked in agriculture and in the dairy farms.
[17:10-17:30] --In Italian--
DALIDO
At that point there could be the same problem which we faced earlier until new workers, possibly from India or other developing nations continue the work of Sikh.
[17:31-17:35] --In Italian--
DALIDO
The Sikhs did truly save our economy.
[17:38-17:54]
LUCIA
Cows are Italian ok, but the territory is Italian, but the people who work actually on the cheese are not Italian. And this in my opinion is a little bit pity, because it means that we have already lost some parts of our identity.
[18:01-18:15]
JASPINDER
So yes my dad and other Sikhs are going on in this work because at first it was actually demanded because they didn't have labors to work in the farms.
[18:15-18:22]
JASPINDER
And right now they became very very precious to Italians because without them cheese are not going to be made.
[18:40-18:45] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
When we first came, there were few Sikhs in Italy but now Sikhism has spread here.
[18:58-19:00]
JASPINDER
I'm an Italian Sikh.
[19:01-19:04] --In Punjabi--
ONKAR
Sikhs are Sikhs anywhere.
[19:10-19:16]
CARD: SIKH FORMAGGIO