Pashaura Singh Dhillon

Is Punjabi a dying Language in all Punjabs and disappearing from the face of the earth? I use plural
because Punjab is not one entity anymore and should be viewed as split in five parts with fragments
in Delhi, Haryana, Himachal, East and West Punjab. Adding the Diaspora as one entity, it becomes six.
Disappearing or not: That is the question looming large in the minds of some of the intellectuals who
know better!

Some say that the situation is hopeless outside of East Punjab, but Pakistani Punjab is waking up and fighting back a belated fight to save the mother tongue. Interestingly, some of our Pakistani brothers look up to us in the East Punjab with envy and think Punjabi is thriving in the East. While the grass may not be that green here either, what exactly is going on one needs to ask!

When the UNESCO report was brought to light a few years ago by a Punjabi newspaper that the Punjabi language will disappear in the next 50 years or so, it sparked frenzy amongst many Punjabis all over the world, including eminent author and journalist, and ardent son of Punjab, Kuldip Nayyar. He shamed higher authorities and intellectuals in both East and West Punjab into promising to do something about the threat that the Punjabi language may become extinct in 50 years if no changes were made to current policies. Emergency meetings took place, announcements made, numerous resolutions were passed in Punjab, along with serious concerns shown by some organizations in the Diaspora.

As many contradict, I am not here to enter into a debate on whether the UNESCO report is real or not real. Assuming the report is real and Punjabi language was predicted to vanish in the next 50 years, the important questions that need to be asked are: did anything tangible happen to stem the tide in Punjab or in the Diaspora? Did it change the mindset of those concerned or not concerned?

And the answer is a resounding “No.”

On the other hand assuming this report is not true, this is still no time to rejoice. Languages do not die out because of reports. They vanish because of many factors such as:
If any languages like Punjabi, are not taught in schools as a proper subject or as a medium of instruction. If educated people think it is a language of the uneducated and not civilized to talk to their children in this language. When it is considered ‘crude’ and impolite to talk in Punjabi to your boss or colleagues, especially in the newer breed of fast spreading corporate culture and it is not used in any official correspondence. When it does not help to earn your livlihood in anyway;  you don’t need a language historian to tell you that Punjabi Language is not going to survive under these conditions. There are similar dangers in similar situations in other countries, such as the movement in the Chinese province of Guangzhou to save ‘Cantonese’ from the growing Mandarin influence. And our language is slowly fading before our very eyes.

Some people blame Bollywood, others blame politicians and state policies, and a host of many other things. These are all partly true. But the overlooked factor is us. Where do we fit into this? Shouldn’t the youth “want to” learn their mother tongue? Is it the sole responsibility of the Punjabi school? Or is the burden placed onto our shoulders: the older generation? An interesting article on TheLangarHall.com that resulted in an even more interesting conversation through the comments, posed these very concerns. The youth posed the question of whether it is the individual’s responsibility to want to learn Punjabi through university/online classes, or the parents’ responsibility. Check out the full article here.

This is a complicated question, and one we Punjabis, especially those in the Diaspora, have been trying to answer for many years. In fact, our forefathers a century ago were also faced with this question. But being the first generation of immigrants they had bigger problems of bare survival. Not only that they did not have resources, ask Gadrites our pioneers, majority Punjabis, why they became Gadrites the way they did. They were not free to look for labor jobs, eat at restaurants ; their hard earned pay packet were snatched by whites before they even reached labor camps and India being ruled by the British were taunted as Indian coolies or slaves. They were even not allowed to bring their wives from home, leave aside Punjabi schools or any courses or resources to help them. Consequently they married Mexican wives and being Punjabi fathers’, the  mindset was that teaching the mother tongue was the job of the mother alone and that there was nothing much they can do about it. Hard truth, stark reality! So obviously they could not pass along Punjabi as the mother tongue, they nonetheless tried to provide the children with their Punjabi roots in their own way.

The Mexican mothers on their part did what they could as mothers and wives of Punjabi husbands. They made Punjabi food at home, went to the Gurdwara, and the children often had eclectic names like Jesusita Kaur, or Armando Singh. And that was about it. The Punjabi fathers could not pass on their language or their religion down, and the result is an entire generation who have no real connection with their Punjabi roots.

I live in California and through various organizations here, we have made some monumental strides in promoting Punjabi language, but nothing substantial appears to have changed so far as our mindset is concerned. For example due to the hard effort of some individuals and groups, our Punjabi American community is making a headway in convincing the educational authorities and relevant legislators in California to author necessary Initiatives and Bills on the Legislative floors to this effect. History of Punjab and Punjabis who immigrated to North America especially California more than a century ago, is being included in the History and Social Sciences Framework and Curriculum in California Public school system for the first time. This has made it possible to create a Punjabi Language course in any high school in California, making it on par with Spanish, French, or German, and the only requirement is that 15 students or more need to show an interest in learning it. Apart from Yuba city, Kerman, and the Modesto City School District, no other school district in California could interest enough parents or students to produce the required number of school children to participate. Privately there are some efforts through Punjabi schools by individuals and Gurdwara Management committees to teach Punnjabi but that does not go beyond the basics and limited only to a limited families who already are conscious about it. A few courses offered at the University level stay devoid of students because of lack of back up and fresh suply at the high school level.

Last week I was invited to participate in a Punjabi Kavi Darbar (Punjabi Poets’ Meet) organized by one of our more progressive organizations here in Fresno and there are quite a few of them in the Central Valley of California. Coinciding with the March 23, Martyrdom Day of Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh, the occasion was appropriately dedicated to ‘Maan Boli Punjabi Chetna Divas’ (Mother tongue Punjabi Conscience Day) except there were no mothers. It was all male  ‘Maan Boli Punjabi Chetna Divas’. With plenty to eat and drink. There were some impressive speeches and thought provoking Punjabi Poems by good speakers and Punjabi Poets enthusiastically applauded by the jam-packed audience gathered in a modest hall. But the demographic is usually the same. Most of the members are of my generation, with occasional members of the younger generation, but they are almost always originally from Punjab and already have a firm grasp on Punjabi language. So, as they say, we are “preaching to the choir.”

So, whether the UNESCO report declaring Punjabi to become extinct in 50 years is true or not true, is irrelevant. State policies on the one hand, within Punjab must be changed and pressure should certainly continue on this front by creating an environment of encouragement in public schools and encouraging more artistic venues to promote Punjabi language through popular mediums. Additionally here are some quick and more innovative examples:

1) Vishavjit Singh, of SikhToons.com uses the comic book form to tell Sikh stories, and issues related to Sikhs. I have not seen any in Punjabi yet, but I hope this will be encouraged in due time. It is a great medium to reach the youth.

2) The Punjabi film industry has tremendous potential to cover a range of issues that are either absent or misrepresented in Hollywood or Bollywood.

3) Encouraging the youth to participate in Punjabi poetry in many forms, including Spoken Word poetry, Music, Rap and hip hop, to provide a more socially aware message than the cheap lyrics found in most of the Punjabi music today.

If ‘charity begins at home’ this is also true of a revolution or a big change. As the rapper Tanmit Singh of the group G.N.E. writes in his rap below,“the revolution starts with me.”

I leave you with this video in English, called “Soulja’s Story.” Also read this article about other rappers who rap about Sikh and Punjabi issues. With more encouragement, maybe there will be enough minds who talk about serious issues in Punjabi songs, rather than what is being sold to the youth as “Punjabi music” today.

Also, check out my poem “Tera Kaun Vichara” on the importance of preserving our mother tongue.

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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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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A few days back I was invited by one of my friends to attend a dinner party he helped arrange to honor a promising legislator from Punjab. The dinner party took place in Fresno the uncrowned capital of California. Fresnans of the Punjabi community are unique in welcoming politicians of all parties with equal zeal and affection. Although weary of unkept promises to the NRIs by visiting politicians from Punjab in the past and not so good news from near and dear ones back home, they still appear to be ever so anxious to hear any leader big or small, in power or in an opposition party from Punjab tell them what he or she has to say. They love to share their concerns and ask questions in the hope of learning something positive or expecting something new. Any news giving them the hope that Punjab is not going down the tube.
Over the years, I have attended many such gatherings, and the questions posed this time were ones I have often heard over and over covering topics from rude treatment meted out by the Indian Consul General office in San Francisco for getting visas, rampant corruption, brain drain by mass exodus of youth in hopelessness leaving Punjab by whatever means; drugs, unemployment, farmer indebtedness and suicides, safety of NRI life and property in Punjab, and everything in between.

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Regardless of whether you are a Sikh who wears a turban, a Sikh who doesn’t wear one, or are simply curious about why the turban is so important to the Sikh identity and cannot simply be taken off at will, here is a music slideshow of a poem I wrote with English subtitles set to my voice and images, conveying my thoughts on the matter. As always, please leave me a comment if you have anything to say.

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Dr. Mamta Joshi Live in Concert

Dr. Mamta Joshi, a Sufi singer with a Ph.D. in music, contacted me through FaceBook after listening to my poem “Umber Di Shehzadi: To the Princess of the Skies” set to images and my voice on the you tube. She is a young woman with a lot of passion and tremendous talent. She wanted to sing my poem at her upcoming concert in Surrey, Canada on October 10, 2010.  As many of you know, I have no classical training in singing, so I am very excited to see, how Dr. Mamta Joshi brings out the soul of a poem I wrote 41 years ago, with Sufi Music.

I am constantly amazed at just how small the world keeps getting. I wrote “Umber Di Shehzadi“ 41 years ago, when I guess the world was still too large and communication not so fast. The poem was published in Punjabi magazines and newspapers and I sang it amongst friends, certain party gatherings and local functions. It was only recently when my son Navdeep Singh Dhillon, a NYC based writer and English instructor, helped me to modernize the poem by creating Moving Images: setting the original poetry to images and my voice (as well as translating it into English), which we then posted on the you tube (subscribe to my you tube channel)

Although I received numerous phone calls, emails, as well as wonderful comments on the you tube worldwide, the world really started to get smaller when this happened:  Devinder Singh Saroya, Director North Zone Cultural Center (NZCC), Ministry of Culture Government of India, who shares an interest in other cultures, art, lalit kala, human rights, and happens to be from the same area of India I am from, found me because of this you tube video. He wrote this on my face book a couple months ago, “It is a pleasant surprise that human beings like S. Pashaura Singh Dhillon with such pious feelings and universal appeal can be found on Planet Earth in our times! Discovered him today from the page of an intellectual who in turn was found by sheer chance after two decades… “(Courtesy FB Suggestions).

And somehow, Mamta Joshi, the rising Sufi Maestro herself came to know of it. I still don’t know how she found me. I was logged onto face book one day and Dr. Mamta Joshi got hold of me in the chat box one night, a place I didn’t know even existed before she approached me to chat! During the conversation, she told me that she had watched my poem on the you tube and hadn’t seen anything like it before. “The poetry is so close to my heart,” she said before asking if she could have my permission to sing “Umber Di Shehzadi“ with classical taans for her forthcoming concert in Canada.”  I am very selective sharing my poetry, but for some reason, I immediately gave Mamta Joshi permission. Perhaps it was her enthusiasm or the way she spoke about music and poetry that gave me the confidence to let her have a go at a poem I have held in my heart for over 40 years.  I was immediately impressed and even more confident of my decision as soon as I heard her sing on the youtube. In addition to videos on you tube,  she has performed at venues all over India and abroad, with many articles written about her in various newspapers.

SD Sharma, a reporter for the Chandigarh Tribune writes about Mamta Joshi, a young lady passionate and learned in Sufi music. He writes, “Blissfully unaware of the lyrical connotations and deep philosophical and spiritual content of songs, child prodigy Mamta preferred to sing Heer Waris or the utterances of Bulleh Shah and other Sufi saints while her class mates relished popular filmy songs at her school functions at Jalalabad in Punjab. As ordained, Mamta kept achieving excellence in the realm of folk, classical and sufi  music in academics and performances. She was rightly hailed as a golden girl at the GNDU (Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar), winning six gold and silver medals each in various national music competitions. She also won the HRD (Human Resource Development) ministry (Govt. of India) scholarship of Rs. 50,000.”

Dr. Mamta Joshi, Canada Tour

In addition to holding a doctorate in Indian classical and vocal music, she also has a gold medal in her MA (Music) and a silver medal in MA (Kathak dance). SD Sharma continues, “Mamta Joshi emerged as a female sufi singer of eminence. After hearing her, acclaimed sufi maestros Wadali brothers Padamshri Puran Chand and Pyare Lal blessed and extolled in their inimitable style saying ‘If Pakistan has Abida Praveen, we have Mamta Joshi to emulate after she attains that age and experience.’ The prophecy proved true as Mamta Joshi became the first Indian female sufi singer to give solo performance of Sufiana qalams at the India Nehru Centre, London in June 2006. She repeated her tradition of excellence to perform at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall later. Earlier, as student artiste she toured UK under Heritage cultural exchange programme giving live performances in Glasgow, Wales, Chester, Cardiff, and Ludlow Castle in 2003 . “The exposure was a good learning experience. I remember that my recital of ornate sufi poetry enlivened the Shiv Kumar Nite at Birmingham in Septmber of 2008,” claims Mamta. Decorated with prestigious awards by legends like Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Amrish Puri and Indian High Commissioner in London, Mamta still has her feet firmly rooted to the ground. Mamta owes all the credit to her guru Arun Mishra ji for imparting the best nuances of music and DS Saroya for her promotion in the realm of musical arts”.

And now Dr. Mamta Joshi is going to pay a tribute to “Umber Di Shehzadi“ after 41 years of waiting, bringing out its grandeur and soul with Sufi Music. Her first concert is scheduled in Surrey, Canada on October 10, 2010. Mamta wants me to be there so that she and her husband Chetan could meet me and ask how I decided to write ‘Umber di Shehzadi.’ I am still debating if I should cross the Canadian border!

In 1962, I had just graduated with a degree in horticulture from Khalsa College, Amritsar. Excited about my newly acquired qualifications, I decided to find a job by heading to a city I had never been to before: Chandigarh. I reached Chandigarh via the overnight train, Kalka Mail, from Amritsar. I walked into the Director of Agriculture’s office – I would later find out his name was Dr. Pritam Singh Deol – in Sector 17 the next day. The assistant, a lanky fellow named Gupta with an unusually chirpy and cheerful attitude, told me of a vacant Horticultural Inspector position at Pinjore Gardens or as it was known at the time, “Moughal Gardens, Pinjore.” I remember him telling me matter of factly that it was ” a good post.” I had never even heard of Pinjore let alone its gardens. I was just happy to have been offered a job!

With my joining orders safely tucked in my shirt pocket, I took a very bumpy ride via a Pepsu Roadways bus – which in those days ran between Patiala and Kalka. Pinjore itself was no more than a small village at that time with only one bus stop, but the driver, on my request, pulled the bus just in front of the walled gardens. Following the signboard and looking for the superintendant’s office, I hesitatingly entered the main gate of something which looked familiar in a strange sort of way. Its massive doors with protruding toothed spikes reminded me of a royal fort rather than a public garden. As soon as I entered the main gate and had the first glimpse, I was totally mesmerized by its breathtaking beauty that unfolded before my eyes. It was a different world. A world which I find hard to describe to someone who has not been there.

It was early morning and there were no visitors, at least not on the first terrace (there are seven terraces). The only people there were gardeners tending the flower beds. After asking one of them for directions to the superintendent’s office, I made my way towards the office which was housed in an old burj (one room minaret) on the first floor (next door to the panj pirs monument). The Superintendant, Hardyal Singh Johl, vigorously shook my hand as I handed him my joining papers. I wasn’t quite sure why he was so pleased to see me, but found out later that his wife, Gurbrinder K. Johl was from the same famous border village of Bhakna (of Deshbhagat Baba Sohan Singh) I was from!

My favorite part of Pinjore Gardens is at night from the roof of Rang Mahal on the first terrace where I have enjoyed looking out at the Chandigarh glow of light over the Shivalik Hills above the Surajpur Cement Factory. There was no Hindustan Machine Tool Factory then. Looking north I remember seeing the Kasauli Lights at the hilltop. At first I thought it only seemed like it was walking distance, but we walked there several times during my time at Pinjore (1962 – 1966).
The Moughal Gardens, Pinjore (now simply known as The Pinjore Gardens) had the imprints of Maharaja Patiala all over the place from plants to palaces called Mahals. There was no electrification behind the water falls, only earthern deevas were placed behind the falling waters in those carefully designed dwakha like pockets. Pinjore Garden was like a ‘glow worm’ amidst a surrounding dark countryside. Today those deevas have been replaced with electric bulbs, a small petting zoo stands in place of a small section of the garden. It was a different world then and it is another one now.