Punjabi

Satinder Sartaaj recently performed in Delhi and the show was a big hit. It was also advertised on Facebook and Insta like crazy, so anyone having anything to do with music, even remotely, knew about it. Folks in my wifey’s office were talking about the concert and they asked her if we went to see it. She said no, and then added that this guy was a little too self-obsessed and it’s gotten kinda annoying lately. They were surprised to hear that. What was she even saying? How could we miss that concert…that “legend of a thing”? ...

Amrita Pritam’s poem from her book navi’n rutt ਰਾਂਝਣ ਵੇ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਾਂ ਪਹਿਲੇ ਲੀਤਾ ਮੌਲਵੀ, ਜਿਸ ਰੱਖਿਆ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਾਂ ਫੇਰ ਰਾਂਝਣ ਰਾਂਝਣ ਕਰਦੀ ਰਹੀ, ਤੇਰੀ ਕਰਮਾਂ ਵਾਲੀ ਮਾਂ ਰਾਂਝਣ ਵੇ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਾਂ ਅੰਮੜੀ ਨੇ ਲੀਤਾ, ਬਾਬੁਲ ਲੀਤਾ, ਲੀਤਾ ਫੇਰ ਭਰਾਂ ਭੈਣਾਂ ਲੀਤਾ, ਭਾਬੀਆਂ ਲੀਤਾ, ਲੀਤਾ ਸਾਰੇ ਗਰਾਂ ਰਾਂਝਣ ਵੇ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਨੂੰ ਦੋਸ਼ ਕੋਈ ਨਾ ਦੇਵੇ, ਕਰੇ ਨਾ ਕੋਈ ਮਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਪਰ ਤਦ ਕਿਓਂ ਬਣੇ, ਗੁਨਾਹ ਵੇ ਰਾਂਝਿਆ, ਜਦ ਮੈਂ ਹੀਰ ਤੱਤੀ ਮੂੰਹੋਂ ਲਾਂ ਰਾਂਝਣ ਵੇ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਾਂ ...

In recent times as people have become more health-conscious, diagnostic centers have been popping up like mushrooms. With corporations partnering with companies providing such services, this sector has become a money making one. All you need is some capital investment, a few tie-ups and you are ready to go. I needed to get a test done and it became bit of a deal. First the appointment wasn’t confirmed timely, then the diagnostic center messed it up. ...

Read Part 1 - Punjab is a very rich state ! Punjabi music is all about beats ! Thankfully it is not. What you get to see is Bollywood’s use (use as exploiting something; i say use because Bollywood includes Punjabi songs in a movie to make the album hit not to promote Punjabi music) of Punjabi music. Far away from that adulterated stuff you get to hear there exists some beautiful Punjabi music of so many different genres including dance numbers, sad songs, spiritual poetry and so on. ...

Most of the stuff that non Punjabi’s know about us Punjabis is typical stereotyped stuff shown in Bollywood movies and Punjabi songs. Most of it is some non-sense wrapped around “balle balle” as if dancing is what Punjabi’s do all the time. So thought about doing some posts telling the reality instead of what is being shown on small or big screen. How it actually started was that once I drafted a post explaining that how in Punjab there live people of all religions, not only Sikhs as a lot of non-Punjabi’s seem to think. But this post remained in the draft for months. Then last week a colleague in office was talking about something similar. From there an idea struck me to write about multiple topics related to Punjabi stereotypes. In each post I will try to talk about one topic (or more if they are very closely related). The posts are not going to be very very detailed but would briefly talk about the subject. You can add your criticism/views/corrections of any facts in the comments section. Some of the posts might be ridiculously short but length isn’t really the important thing here. Important is to make the point about some issue that we are seeing around us. ...

This topic has been in my mind since long but never got to write about it. And it is not only about Punjabi language. It applies to any of the regional languages. And here we are talking about the people who live away from their native regions. I have lived in Delhi for six years. There is a sizable Punjabi population in Delhi and Punjabi has got the second language status. But one thing that is very much noticeable is that generally the people you see speaking Punjabi are all above 40 years of age. No one from the newer generation speaks Punjabi. In fact the reality is that can’t really speak even if they want to. Leave few broken sentences that they might be able to construct and speak. ...

One thing that always gets ignored while talking about India’s independence is the partition of India. It was the largest displacement of people in the 20th century. The state worst affected by this was Punjab. It was divided into two parts and a large displacement of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus & Sikhs to India started. Result was that an uncontrolled bloodshed followed. The unfortunate thing is that today’s generation hardly understands what exactly happened during those times. Even Punjabis don’t understand what exactly partition meant ? A friend sent me the link to this poem by a young Pakistani poet Afzal Saahir that describes the pain of the people who had to leave their homes and move to a complete new place. They could never forget the pain of leaving the place of their childhood and youth. In the poem Afzal talks about similar emotions. ...

For the first time, I am trying to translate a poem of Baba Bulleh Shah. Excuse my misinterpretations, if any and please post the correct meanings, if you know :) ik nukte vich gal mukdi e (nukta - point, idea) means it all is contained in a single idea/point fad nukta chod hisaaban nu, get hold of that idea and forget all your calculations kar door kufar dian baaban nu (kufar - disbelief, unbelief in existence of God | baab - miserable state) ...

A wonderful ghazal sung by Jagjit Singh Zirvi. eh tere pyar de pattar main awein saambh rakhe ne eh tere pyar de pattar jo hun tak saambh rakhe ne na hun eh tumbde mainu na hai ehna ch nigh koi kadi veraan chup raatan ch je kar khol v behna na dil tadpaun hun mera te na hi karan diljoi eh tere pyar de pattar main awein saambh rakhe ne mohabbat v shalaga v hallasheri v ehna wich ate tokan nahore v gile v te dilase v eh apne aap wich dunia c aasha te niraasha di eh madra de pyale san eh san vikhia de kaase v eh tere pyar de pattar main awein saambh rakhe ne ...

After I came out of Punjab, I was met with a new caste(caste or what ?)-describing-terminology “ladka/ladki Punjabi hai”. No such thing was there in Punjab. It was Jatt/Ramgarhia…in Sikhs, Pandit/Baniya/Khatri… in Hindus and so on. It was after coming to Delhi that i heard about this new thing that ladka/ladki Punjabi hai. What annoys me the most is that everybody living in Punjab is a Punjabi so what this classification is ? For me, to best of my knowledge being Punjabi means you/your ancestors belong to Punjab. Let it be a Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian or anyone else. So what does this definition mean ? Can someone shed some light ? ...