Pashaura Singh Dhillon

The Land of five rivers-Punjab, bears witness to one of the oldest, if not the oldest civilizations in the world, where man first brought the land under the plough. That little man called the farmer or ‘Jat’ in Punjabi, (also politically addressed these days as ‘aam aadmi’)  kept the civilization ticking for over 5000 years.  What can be a greater ironic tragedy of all times, than watching the very specie itself, being pushed out of existence in its own habitat, and in front of our very eyes?

A Relic of the Past: The Persian Wheel

Change that comes through progress also means the destruction of what was in its place before.  Evolution through which this universe has evolved also meant change. Man cannot stop the wheel turning but he can learn to regulate and steer it safely. In my own generation, I watched the Persian wheel with its earthen pitchers and wooden mechanism driven by oxen replaced by metal buckets, wrought iron mechanisms with ball bearings in its own time. The things moved so fast and out of control since then that shallow and shallower tube wells went deeper and deeper in no time and now all are replaced by submersibles sucking water up to and beyond 500 feet beneath the surface. Elsewhere I also watched the man landing on the moon, perhaps in search of more water! This is the story of water alone, and there are stories of this nature abound.

Judging  the direction the aforementioned, the aam aadmi is being lured to go, and the continuing trend beyond, I wrote these poems, ‘Piplan de sung Bohrr Gva Lei… and ‘Umber di Shehzadi de Naa’ many years ago. The other day, my son Navdeep Singh Dhillon who teaches college level English in New York, sent me an interesting music video ‘Kikran,Tahlian,Berian’ by a popular Punjabi satirist comedian /singer,  Bhagwant Mann.

Appropriately, the video starts with Surjit Patar’s  sher on Punjab,  recited by Patar sahib himself, which when translated from Punjabi to English, while it loses all of its poetic essence, means something like this:
All birds flew away from here,
Monsoons made a U-turn there.
Even trees now secretly plan here,
To go elsewhere, any place, anywhere!

Anything said, sung or spoken to raise awareness (amongst our not so fond of reading people), to stem the tide of environmental degradation under their very nose, must be appreciated, encouraged, shared and popularized at every level. Surjit Patar, from his high pedestal as one of the leading thinking poets alive, is well positioned to do that. And he has done a wonderful job in introducing this useful work of art in the form of this musical video presented artfully by dedicated Bhagwant Mann.

Having said that, it is not quite as accurate as Patar suggests. According to the introduction, everything ever written or spoken about Punjab prior to this video, are all lies and nobody before Mann told the truth about Punjab. Even his own sher translated above, reiterates this point. Since environmental degradation is a nationwide phenomenon, Patar himself along with others, though not many, which include some writers, journalists, poets and a handful of community activists both in north and south India, have reported the true picture nationwide many a time.  Jaswant Singh Kanwal, Kuldip Nayar, and Gurbachan Singh  Bhullar, for example, have written numerous articles to raise alarms from time to time about the near breakdown of Punjabiat and Punjabi culture in Punjab, which is a victim of the same overall mindset.

With a background dealing in the environmental matters, and having spent over thirty-years working as a landscape architect half around the world, I fail to see a comprehensive  environmental policy ever conceived or being enforced statewide. In a fast changing scene for road widening schemes just to take one example in one aspect, it has a major impact on its flora and fauna including man. In layman’s terms, there is no evidence of a compensatory tree plantation plan in action for these major ecological corridors that remain for the bird and insect life as the last refuge in Punjab.

Banyan Tree Cut in Punjab

According to many newspaper articles, century old trees are being axed under road widening schemes without proper alternate route studies and alignment options fully explored.  The most recent article I read was by Rashmi Talwar in The Tribune, Chandigarh, aptly titled “Century-old tree cut in the name of commercialism.

Environmental Impact Assessment reports based on alternate route studies which ought to be properly carried out by the professionals, fully understood by concerned parties, and made public under the Right to Information Act (RTI) are rarely adhered to in countries like India. Consequently, planting of replacement trees, which ought to be organized before the felling or axing should begin, hardly catches up even years later. The native trees such as Tahli, Kikkar, Neem, Pipal, Bohrr and others are replaced by fast growing species such as eucalyptus and poplar for quick effect. This may look good for the overflying politician in a helicopter in the short term but it offers no refuge and little solace for the insect and the dependent bird life. Hence my poems, ‘Piplan de sung Bohrr Gva Lei… and ‘Umber di Shehzadi de Naa’ published in my book ‘Diva Bale Samundron Paar’ were written in the same vein.

Surjit Singh Rakhra, President of the Oversees Akali Dal

This past weekend, I had the chance to discuss some of these issues with S. Surjit Singh Rakhra, President of the Oversees Akali Dal, currently visiting California at S. Charanjit Singh Batth’s residence near Woodward Lake in Fresno. His views on this subject were not new and mirrored what seems to be the general consensus: First, let India catch up to other countries in terms of technology, industry, and food. Then worry about the environmental damage. But getting up to speed for a nation delayed is one thing and is perfectly understandable for the respective governments to show to its people the quick results. But hoping to coming back and clean up the mess left behind later is an unrealistic goal. How can a century old bohrr (banyan) tree be uncut? How do we reverse the effects of air pollution and illhealth caused by air polluting vehicles, or industrial waste in our rivers and oceans by companies held unaccountable for their actions? There are, of course, steps that can be taken in the right direction, but many environmental problems such as groundwater pollution are simply irreversible.

Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal

It is not that the true picture has not been painted before the release of Mann’s video. The more poignant question to ask is where do we go from here? The only person today, who is brave and resourceful enough to catch the bull by the horn –  so to speak – appears to be Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, a Punjabi eco-activist.  By combining his assiduously cultivated self-help philosophy with the environmental essence of the Gurbani, Seechewal has successfully reinstated the 110-miles long Bein rivulet by his own design. A more scientific approach however, is adopted and vigorously advocated by Jaito based environmental community action group called Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) in Punjab. They appear to have initiated some innovative and systematic survey data collection work in the Malwa Belt infested with mysterious diseases apparently due to environmental degradation.  Maybe these kinds of initiatives and awareness at the grass root level are the only way forward to shame the present day rulers, policy makers  and the ruled alike. Your thoughts?