Pashaura Singh Dhillon

Nine months ago, after many practice sessions, and gentle nudges by my son and daughter, I was finally happy with the first track of my a-capella (without musical accompaniment) interpretation of Waris Shah’s Heer: Ranjha Leaves Takht Hazara. It was the heart-wrenching scene wrought with emotion when Ranjha makes the incredibly difficult decision to leave everything he knows and loves behind: his family, his ancestral home, and in a sense, his entire world. Something I am sure many of us, especially those living outside of India, can relate to.

As many of you know, I have never studied singing or poetry in any professional capacity, either through a Guru or in a classroom. At a very early age, I discovered the power poetry had to describe emotions and to change minds, first through poetic verses written in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Book, and also through the progressive poetry of many stalwarts in PreetLarhi (I was introduced to the magazine by Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna).

The first time I read Waris Shah’s Heer on stage , I was studying Ag.(horticulture) at Khalsa College in Amritsar and was mesmerized by the depth of human emotion that was conveyed in the words of Waris Shah from a seemingly simple tragic love story.

In the decades that followed, many life changes took place. I became a landscape architect, a husband and I became a father. With my family, we travelled and lived in many countries half round the world through my job involving the United Nations projects, eventually ending up in Central California , U.S.A. where I returned to my “roots” in agriculture. Like Ranjha, I also had to make the difficult decision to leave not only my home, and everything that was familiar to me, but also my home country. Now I am in my 70s and am a double grandfather to two beautiful grand-daughters and a grand-son.

The reason that I, like many Punjabis the world over, have such a deep connection with Waris Shah’s Heer stems from the beauty of the poetry, the universal sense of longing and separation, but also because this is a part of Punjabi literature, which many have disparaged as having nothing of substance. On the other hand some learned people make the comparison with Shakespeare or references to Greek tragic love stories, such as Jeet Singh “Seetal” who compiled a wonderful scholarly book on “Heer Waris” published by Navyug Press and presented to Bhai Sahab Dr. Jodh Singh, the then VC. Punjabi University Patiala in 1963. He describes the legend of ‘Heer-Ranjha’ as follows:

“In the land of Five Rivers, Waris breathed a new life in to the most famous love story of Heer-Ranjha. In so doing, he created such a ‘Shahkaar’ which played the same significant role in the history of the Punjabi literature as was played by the mythical romance of ‘Hero-Leandran’ in the Greek literature.”

In order not to confuse the reader in what is a legend, a myth or a fable , suffice it to say here that in the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the remote past. Consequently the love story of Heer and Ranjha is believed to be a true story of two lovers who once roamed the land of Jhang Sial and Takhat Hazara now in Pakistan, but will always remain in Punjab and in the minds and hearts of Punjabis the world over.

There have been many scholarly books and articles that have been published since then, some separating the myth from the reality, but most follow a similar train of thought and feel the need to compare this love story to a more familiar counterpart. My view is that Heer-Ranjha is in a category of its own. And the reason I say this is not out of an emotional response because of my Punjabi roots, but because there really is no good comparative love story. In the world’s most famous tragic love stories: Romeo and Juliet, Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Hero and Leandran, and even love stories from India and Pakistan like Salim and Anarkali, or Laila Majnoon, they all end in the same way. The doomed lovers commit suicide when they realize they can never be together. In Heer-Ranjha, it is much more painful because the lovers still have this realization, but they must continue to live out their lives without their true loves by their side. I can’t think of anything more enduring and tragic than that.

My reason for even wanting to give my own interpretation of the beautiful verses from Waris Shah is to add to the understanding of how profound it is, and for Punjabis to be proud of their literary heritage. Several years ago, I was in Chandigarh for my first Rubaroo (a book launch) for my first collection of poetry. It was attended by many students of Punjabi literature from Punjab University and since there are many expanded versions of it freely available, I was surprised that many of them had not read Waris Shah’s real (Aslee) Heer. Many of them hadn’t even read any version of it!

After being happy with that first track which I finalized nine months ago, with the help of my son, I uploaded it to bandcamp and then to FaceBook where I received some very encouraging responses from people from all over the world.  Many of you (especially my family, who are my biggest supporters) wanted me to start working on the second track. My daughter even drew the cover design back in June for a Father’s Day Present to encourage me.

I am pleased to tell you that I have finally finished the second track of Heer (also acapella) after a significant amount of recording sessions. I would like to thank all of you for all your encouragement and support. Please listen to the latest track at the top of this blog post, “Heer: Yaran Nu” and let me know what you think through comments or email.

Although I did not practice much since my college days, a series of audio recordings in my voice, singing selected passages from Waris’s Heer, will continue to improve and follow in my next blogs and You Tube. Punjabi lovers stay tuned!

Many of you have been asking me for an audio download of the poem I sang at the Kavi Darbar of the 542nd Guru Nanak Prakaash Utsav in Caruthers, California celebrating November being officially designated as Sikh-American Awareness Month. If you haven’t read my blog on that yet, you can do so here: Caruthers Makes History. If you’d like some basic information and terms in Punjabi Poetry, please also check out Punjabi Poetry At A Glance.

Without further adieu, here is my poem, which you can now listen to and download for free:

Caruthers, California Makes History

I first started working for the Fresno County Department of Agriculture in 1994 and still remember my supervisor, Paul Cook, telling me about Caruthers after he had described the satellite towns around Fresno which would fall under my jurisdiction. He looked at me jokingly and said, “Now don’t ask me where the hell is Caruthers. You have to go there to see it!”

When people talk about the Central Valley of California, they immediately think of Bakersfield, Tulare, Selma, Fresno, Madera or Modesto etc.. Not many people are aware of this sleepy, tiny town tucked away 30 miles southwest of Fresno en-route Hwy 41 South. Caruther  lies right in the middle of miles and miles of almond groves and vineyards, many farmed by Sikh American farmers, producing some of the best almonds and raisins in the world. Caruthers is also a base for the well-known Gill Insurance Company of Gill brothers and of course is the home for the Sikh American farmer who is considered to be the  largest Raisin Grower of the world, Charanjit Singh Batth, affectionately  nick named the “Raisin King.”

But Caruthers made a history of a different kind on November 19, 2011 when Randy Mehrten of  Fresno County Education Department presented the Sikh Council of Central California (SCCC) at the 542nd Guru Nanak Prakaash Utsav, its proclamation designating November 2011 as California Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month.  And the Assembly member Thirty First District Henry Perea persuasively spoke of working with other legislators in the Assembly to make it permanent.

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Punjab Assembly Elections are here one more time at Punjab’s doorsteps. In the spirit of “freedom,” there will be candidates and party propagandists from the parties in power and aspiring for power, selling their new slogans and others repackaging or coining new phrases to sell the old ones, all in the hopes of getting our votes and becoming elected in the 2012 Elections. The voter, on the other hand, is also getting smarter and shrewder if not totally fatigued and frustrated over this seasonal drama recurring every 5 years since 1952. The voter is expected to look and listen more carefully this year before casting his or her vote. As far as the NRIs in the Diaspora are concerned, since they have no vote or have no bowl of rice directly at stake one way or the other, it is big community news and the subject of gossip and discussion anywhere Punjabis congregate: at Gurdwaras, Mandirs, and Masjids all over the world, including California, where I and many other Punjabis, live.

Eying the voter at home in Punjab, there will be horse trading, arm twisting and dangling of all kinds of carrots to lure the voters in and keep the candidates to toe the line. Paid news, muscle power, threats, blackmailing, bribery, alcohol, and drugs are almost seen as acceptable and “natural” means to seduce the bride to come to the altar for all states in India. Falling for an extra fancy for it, and taking it to new heights or depths (depending on your perspective), this practice has been especially facilitated in the land of five rivers by our successive governments over the years so much so that this has slowly but surely crept into our most sacred of elections for our religious institutions such as the SGPC. People in general and that includes our political parties, have little faith in the local police. Running an honest and ethical election has become quite the challenge for the Election Commission who is contemplating import policing to conduct their business this time; this is what democracy looks like today!

View Irony of Punjabis and Our 2012 Election (Part 2)

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The Ghadar Party

History repeats itself we often hear. What was witnessed here in North America during Manpreet Singh Badal’s recent visit was unusual to put it mildly. 100 years ago in 1913, Indians working in America and Canada primarily from Punjab formed a movement which began with a group of immigrants known as the Hindustani Workers of the Pacific Coast. Under the presidentship of Sohan Singh Bhakna and guidance from Lala Hardyal, it established its headquarters in San Francisco, California. This Hindustani or Indian Association later came to be better known as the Ghadar Party. The aim of the Ghadar Party was to force the British to “Quit” India after their hold on the country for 100 years, and regain the self-respect of every Indian – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, and Atheist alike.

Not many people may be aware of the fact that having come away from India and watching Americans enjoying  as a free nation, the Ghadrites were the first group of Indians who had dreamt the dream of freeing India some 15 years before the Indian Congress passed its resolution in 1928 to the same effect. Their dream was to set up a national democratic government on the sub-continent similar to the federal system of the United States of America.

Coming from enslaved India a century ago in 1913 and being so few in numbers as workers in America, they kept their meetings secret yet they all gathered together in these same cities in California to rally support amongst their countrymen. How the Ghadrites did what they did and became such catalysts in the wider struggle to free India is a history now!  And because of their sacrifices we are not only free in India, we are also free in  America as NRIs and proud Sikh Americans, playing full part in making this country the best place to live.

View Irony of Punjabis and Our 2012 Election (Part 2)

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This year for Father’s Day, I received a very nice joint gift. My daughter, Navreet Kaur Dhillon, is a physician in the Bay Area, and also a very talented artist. My son, Navdeep Singh Dhillon, is a Creative Writing/English Literature lecturer in New York City.

Both my son and daughter collaborated via phone and internet from East and West Coast to create a CD cover for “Heer,” an album I didn’t even know I was making! I had recorded one track giving my own interpretation to Waris Shah’s epic poem, and uploaded it to FaceBook after several people requested me. It was (and still is) available for free download in a blog post I wrote, “Heer Forever Stands Tall (ਗੁੱਝੀ ਰਹੇ ਨਾ ਹੀਰ ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਵਿਚੋਂ )” in addition to Audio Downloads (above in the navigation bar). Many have since asked me to sing some more tracks, which I had said I would do in my own time. Now, it looks like I better get moving!

Below is my daughter’s original drawing:

Original Artwork for CD Cover of "Heer" by Navreet Kaur Dhillon

And below is my son’s contribution. Have a listen to this CD, which currently only has one track, but there will more soon! Let me know what you think!

While you wait for “Heer” to be completed, check out my e-books, available in Punjabi (both Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi scripts) and English. You can also download/listen to completed digital albums/CDs at www.pashaurasinghdhillon.com/audiodownloads

Leila Khaled

Times come around and the revolutionaries of yesterday become legendary symbols and potential peacemakers for the future. One of the most such legendary figures of the Palestinian struggle for national liberation is Leila Khaled, who re-visited the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon recently.  A refugee herself, Leila was forced to flee Haifa as a 4 year old girl in 1948 and later became the first female member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1967. She remains a member in the PFLP Leadership Council and no doubt a potential participant for any lasting peace treaty whenever that happens.

Leila made herself and the Palestinian cause the newspapers headlines, when she first hijacked a TWA plane going from Rome to Athens and landed at the Heathrow London Airport in 1969. This was perhaps the first hijacking of its kind carried out by a young woman ever in the history of aviation to draw to the attention of its global community, an international problem blatantly ignored. Ironically, her cause remains as potent today as it was then 42 years ago. What followed in the Middle East and elsewhere for that matter, relating to this festering saga, directly or indirectly, turned uglier and uglier. Supporting the rights of Palestinians now automatically means being anti Israel and a support for suicide bombings and violence against innocent people, while the fact remains that the Israel has a right to exist and displaced Palestinians need their home and their rights restored. It is eerily similar to how people react to prolonged and polarizing issues of the not-so distant past in Punjab. Land, Language and Water rights in Punjab somehow became relegated to “Sikh issues,” which caused the further partition of Punjab and further loss of culture and Punjabiat. Discussing the grave situation Punjab and its people have been subjected through in the 1980s ending with the horrifying state sponsored massacre of innocent Sikhs in New Delhi, usually ends up being a politicized argument based on religion, and political affiliation.

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There are, of course, many poets in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, and English who I have read and been influenced by in some way over the years, but these eleven poets are perhaps the reason I am even a poet today. Their beautiful verses touched my soul from a very young age and helped me make sense of post-partition Punjab, as well as the world around me. It has taken me around 60 years to feel comfortable enough to pay homage to my all time favorite Punjabi poet, Waris Shah. This is my rendition of one part of his epic tragic love story,”Heer.” This particular scene is when Ranjha makes the difficult decision to leave Takhat Hazara.

Classic Punjabi Poets

Sultan Bahu (1628-1691) wrote in Punjabi and the Persian language, but is much more well known for his Punjabi poetry. What separates him from many other poets of his time (and indeed of any time) is that his verses are sung in a variety of genres associated with Sufi music.

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One of the questions I am often asked about is something that confuses many people: what are the various terms in Punjabi poetry? People have this misconception that Punjabi poetry is not at par with poetry from other languages in the region, such as Urdu or Hindi. It has an incredibly long history and is as complicated as any other form of literature. There is also a misconception that Punjabi is not a poetic language. What this is based on, I am not sure, but if this were true, at over 70 years old, I would have found another language to sing and write my poetry in by now!

Like many other ancient languages, Punjabi has evolved through various stages and Punjabi poetry is perhaps as old as Punjab’s Indus Valley civilization. It has beautiful and complex ballads both from the past and contemporary Punjabi poetry can easily be compared to verses from Shakespearean sonnets, traditional Japanese haikus, or modern “free verse” forms of poetry, including Spoken Word. Stalwarts from the past have contributed significantly to Punjabi poetry like Waris Shah, Sultan Bahu, Bullhe Shah, Chandar Bhan and Ali Haidar amongst many others. Bhai Vir Singh, Puran Singh. Mohan Singh and Amrita Pritam are considered luminaries who pioneered the new era in Punjabi Poetry. Properly defining the different styles and forms found in Punjabi poetry is an impossible task for someone who is not a literary historian. I have never taken a poetry class, or studied the form in an academic setting. I have read countless poems over the decades and they have all, in some shape of form, influenced my views on life and, of course, on my poetry.  Here is Punjabi Poetry at a Glance:

Definitions
The ghazal has its origins in the Arabic language and is traditionally considered a more scholarly form of poetry. It is a collection of couplets that embody a single thought or subject. A couplet is known as a sher. The plural of a sher is an ashaar(s). A  ghazal contains  5-15 ashaars and follows the rules of matla, maqta, behr, kaafiyaa and radif.
Here is an example of a sher from Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s poem, “ਮਾਏ ਨੀ ਮਾਏ”/ Mae Ni Mae :
ਮਾਏ ਨੀ ਮਾਏ/ Mae Ni Mae
ਮੈਂ ਇਕ ਸ਼ਿਕਰਾ ਯਾਰ ਬਣਾਇਆ/ Mai ik shikra yaar banalia

There are many subcategories of a ghazal and the rules that govern its definition can get very complex. For example, a ghazal is an arrangement of lines whereby the first two lines rhyme with each other which in turn rhyme with the fourth, sixth, eighth and so forth. Each couplet conveys a complete message and may be interconnected to continue a theme. I told you it was confusing!

Any poem which does not pass the criteria to be considered a ghazal is called a kavita in Punjabi and a nazm in Urdu.

For a more in-depth look at the intricacies of the ghazal and many of the terms surrounding it, check out this article, “What is a Ghazal?”