Lohri and Baisakhi - Windows to a Punjabi's Life

During my search for the article on 'Sundar Mundriye', I  serendipitously came across some more  articles, that I had penned for the 'News Letter' of Punjabi Biradari. One of the articles is  on the festival of 'Lohri' and  another on the festival of 'Baisakhi'. The significance of these two festivals is not lost on any Punjabi worth his salt. Thousands and thousands of articles and volumes after volumes have been written on the origin and import of these two  festivals which are typical for Punjabis.  Yet, I had shown the temerity to write about them with a purpose and in my own way. I would not let go the opportunity of exposing them to a wider audience and readership which is afforded by modern devices such as  blogs. 

Here are the copies of the articles. Since the documents are very old, quality of the scans is nothing  to write home about.  Other minor mistakes and omissions  wrt spellings and grammar  may also be observed. These may please be condoned.  

Consider what Iqbal said

माना कि तेरी दीद के क़ाबिल नहीं हूँ मैं

तू मेरा शौक़ देख मिरा इंतिज़ार देख

Yearning, longing, pining and obsession

याद इक शोख़ की

याद इक शोख़1​ की शाम​-ओ-सहर2 आती है

ज़िन्दगी गोया3 कुछ दम को ठहर जाती है

सांस रुकती औ थमती है दिल की धड़क​

सारी हसती की तरतीब4 बिखर जाती है

एक बस एक ही मन्ज़र5 दिखाई देता है

उसकी तसवीर  चहुं ओर नज़र आती है

दिल के सहरा6 में रवां7 होती है ठंडी हवा

साहिल-ए-वीरान8 पे  मौज-ए-बहर9 आती है

फूल खिलते हैं तसव्वुर10 में आती है बहार​

बू-ए-खुश11 उनकी हर सिमत12 बिखर जाती है

 

Glossary

1. शोख़: Playful / mischievous ( beauty) 

2. शाम​-ओ-सहर: Evening and Morning - Dusk & Dawn

3. गोया : As if

4. तरतीब: arrangement , order

5. मन्ज़र: A scene / view

6. सहरा: desert

7. रवां: flowing

8.साहिल-ए-वीरान: desolate shore

9. मौज-ए-बहर: sea wave

10. तसव्वुर: imagination

11. बू-ए-खुश: खुशबू fragrance

12. सिमत: direction

Note: 

This is the poem I had referred to in my previous post. I had mentioned that a long time ago, two lines had suddenly popped up in my mind and I had not been able to dilate the same. The original lines were as follows

याद इक शख्स​ की मुझे शाम​-ओ-सहर आती है

वीरान ज़खीरे पर कोई मौज-ए-बहर आती है

Though I fortuitously got the inspiration enabling me to revise and expand on the above lines, I had digressed and had restricted the previous post to only include the article titled 'Sundar Mudriye Ho'.

This post is a course correction.

Sundar Mundriye Ho

 I am back to blogging after a long hiatus. This time too, the trigger has come from Yakhmi Bha. As mentioned by me umpteen times before, he bestows on me a privilege in that he calls me to give me an auricular preview of his latest poem. Keeping up the tradition, he called me a few days ago and recited his new poem. This time his interaction resulted in me getting reminded of an unfinished poem of which I had had the 'aamad' quite a while ago. The effect did not stop there because I got inspired not only to revise the two lines that had originally germinated in my mind but also to augment those lines with some more. Subsequently, I made a return call to seek his critical appreciation  of my effort. During the course of our chat, he was prompted by Mrs. Yakhmi to ask me to send them a copy of an article that I had written about  30 years ago. This article pertains to  'Sundar Mundriye' a folk song which is sung during Lohri, a unique festival of Punjab. I had written it for the 'News Letter' of Punjabi Biradari, an organization of Punjabis of Anushakti Nagar.  Fortunately, I was able to dig up a scanned copy of the article. I am reproducing that copy of the article here below. It will take a bit of doing to read this copy.

Induced Intellectual Meandering (in verse form) from Vulgarity to Sublimity

I shall be stating the obvious when I say that I and Dr. Kanta (my wife), have been forced to remain at home ever since the pandemic COVID-19 took control of lives of the whole world. This has caused drastic changes not only in our physical lifestyles but also in our thinking, psyche and general mental attitude. Touchwood, we have been distinctly fortunate till date to have escaped any kind of affliction in both the physical body and the mental body. I can ascribe this majorly to two things.

1. Regular interaction with family and friends.
2. Physical labour and Yoga

Our children Vrinda and Kumar have been regularly interacting with us through ‘Facetime video calls’ to inquire about our health and to keep our spirits boosted. Occasionally, Praveen (my brother at Jalandhar) and Sunita (my sister at Ambala) also call to inquire about our well being and keep us up-dated about theirs and that of the various relatives who are located nearer to them geographically. Some friends also frequently ping us to exchange news, ‘Take Care’ messages and good wishes.

Because the domestic helps, who earlier took care of daily chores including sweeping & mopping and washing of dishes & utensils, have been asked to stay away, we have been going through the daily grind by ourselves. Kanta has continued to do the cooking as before. I have been obliged to help in the other routines. Of these sweeping and mopping are particularly to my account. This self-imposed (involuntary) labour gives us the much recommended physical exercise. We have also taken to Yoga, ‘Pranayam’ in particular and we feel that it is doing us good.

In spite of the above mentioned routines, I get plenty of time to spare, which I while away by watching all sorts of programs on TV including new and old movies and web series streamed on OTT. Kanta is very selective on what she watches and her screen time usage is minimal. She is more hooked to Whatsapp.

Earlier, before the COVID-19 outbreak, I would occasionally get a flash inspiring me to write. Firstly, it was poetry that I would be nudged  to compose. A word, a phrase, a sentence or a 'misra' (one of the two lines constituting an urdu couplet) or part of it, would suddenly pop up in the mind, which would subsequently metamorphose into an idea. This idea would then be hammered and chiseled to shape and carve it into a poem or a blog post. Though some of my poems were accepted and published on poetry sites on the web, I did not venture to publish them as an anthology in the form of a book. 

Later, I took to blogging. The blogs written by me have also been advertently marked for restricted circulation and readership limited to family and some friends.

Now during this pandemic-induced self-imposed home quarantine, like earlier days, I got a flash which urged me to create something like a poem. In fact, I have managed to fabricate five compositions. I am very consciously aware that these compositions range from vulgar (not obscene) assemblage of words not necessarily complying with a rule book of poetry, to cogent and sublime amalgamation of words and expression of thoughts. It is not without a thought that I have chosen to title this post as 'Induced Intellectual Meandering ---.'

The current inducement came from two sources. 

😉The first was COVID-19 itself, which, as hinted in the foregoing, created unusual and funny situations, which can and did serve as a substrate for (wry) humour.

Savour this:

One day, I had just finished mopping and was washing my hands when the phone rang. By the time I wiped my hands and picked up the phone, the call had terminated. I got reminded of the following wonderful composition of Inderjit Singh Tusi, poet laureate of Punjab 

मेरे मौला मेरी माफ़ करना ख़ता

फूल पूजा के तुमको चढ़ा न सका

हाथ बंदों की खि़दमत में मसरूफ़ थे

हाथ उठ न सके बंदगी के लिए

Then came the flash which induced me to say something in my own words. And here below is the result of the prod. 

आज सुबह सुबह किसी का फ़ोन आया

मैं चाह  कर भी  अटेंड नहीं कर पाया

क्योंकि मैं तो था बस अधर में लटका

एक हाथ में था झाड़ू , दूसरे में था फटका

        पहले से मन खिन्न था, दिमाग़ भी था सटका

गिरा चुका था दूध की थैली, पानी का मटका

पत्नी ने पहले तो डाँटा, फिर दिया बड़ा झटका

बर्तन घिसना कपडे धोना भी मेरे सिर पटका

मेरी अक़्ल पूरी तरह से जैसे फिस हो गई

इसीलिए वोह फ़ोन काल मुझसे मिस हो गई

The realization that I am mostly in front of the TV produced the following limerick

कोरोना से कम मुझसे ज़्यादा परेशान है मेरी बीवी

वोह दिन भर करती है काम और मैं देखता हूँ टीवी

मैं ला धरता हूँ एप्पल जब वोह लाने कहती है कीवी

वोह करती है फलाहार मैं उड़ाता हूँ तेल-वेल घी-वी

डांट कर कहती है, हो तो बुद्धू बनते हो बुद्धिजीवी 

👉The second source of inducement is Jatinder Veer Yakhmi.

Jatinder Yakhmi is a dear friend who makes it a point to regularly keep in  touch with me through various modes of communication including chats, texting and voice calls. Apart from being an internationally acclaimed scientist, who has a large number of scientific publications to his credit, he is a prolific author whose writings, both in prose and verse, cover a variety of themes.  His poems, in easy to understand Urdu / Hindustani, are thought provoking, soothing and inspirational. I feel privileged to be one of a select audience who gets to hear a ‘Fresh-from-the-Oven’ poem from the horse’s mouth. For a long time, he has been humouring me by asserting that he recognizes a creative streak in me. He has been frequently goading me to write. But I was not able to add anything worthwhile to my limited repertoire.

A few days ago, Yakhmi texted me and inquired about my physical health with the following line 

क्यों भाई सरीर ताँ तकड़ैय?

The reply from me came spontaneously as if by reflex action in the following octet addressed to him ( fondly addressed variously as यख्मी भा, जतिंदर भा, भा जी or often simply भा)

भा जी !!!

उम्र दे लिहाज़ नाल सरीर तां तगड़ा ऐ

पर दिल ते दिमाग च बाहला झगडा ऐ

दिल आखदै  खा पी जो खाणा पीणा ऐ

दिमाग कहंदै परहेज़ कर जे होर जीणा ऐ

किस दी मन्नां समझ च नहीं आ रिहा

मेरा शशोपंज है वधदा ई जा रिहा

तुसीं ही मैनु कुझ समझा दिओ

किसे तरहां एह झगड़ा मुका दिओ

 The original query and my response thereof were in Punjabi. As an after thought, I have translated both these things into Hindi as given below

Query : क्यों भाई सरीर तो तगड़ा है ?

Response: 

भा जी !!!

उम्र के लिहाज़ से शरीर तो अब भी तगड़ा है

पर दिल और दिमाग के बीच  पड़ा झगड़ा है

दिल का कहना है खा पी जो भी खाना पीना है

दिमाग कहता है परहेज़ कर अगर और जीना है

किसकी मानूँ मेरी समझ में कुछ नहीं आ रहा

मेरा शशोपंज^* है कि  बस है बढ़ता ही जा रहा

आप ही समझ कर मुझे भी कुछ समझा दो

 कुछ भी करके बस यह झगड़ा निपटा दो

*शशोपंज: Indecision

As mentioned above, Yakhmi Bha is prolific and has composed a number of poems during the lock-down, which fact triggered me and this time I came out with the following three compositions in quick succession.

😧अजब अज़िय्यतपसंद है दिल मेरा

अजब अज़िय्यतपसंद¹ है दिल मेरा, मेरा रंज इसको मज़ा देता है

आतिश ए ग़म² जलाये रखता है, उस पे शोलों को हवा देता है

हर घड़ी मुज़्तरिब³ ही रहता है, इस को आसूदगी⁴ से रब्त⁵ नहीं

मैं अगर हँसता मुस्कुराता हूँ  यह तभी मुझको रुला देता है

कुरेद कर यह मेरे माज़ी को, हरे सब ज़ख्म किए  रखता है 

जिन हवादिस⁶ को मैं भुलाता हूँ , याद  उनकी दिला देता है

इस मुख़ालिफ़⁷ ने जां के दुश्मन ने, जीना दुश्वार है किया मेरा

जब मैं मरने की बात करता हूँ, उमर लम्बी हो दुआ देता है

पहले दोनों में खूब बनती थी, एक यह ही था तरफ़दार मिरा

जाने कब क्या खता हुई मुझसे, अब  यह  जिसकी  सज़ा देता है

 Glossary

1. अज़िय्यतपसंद—Sadist      2. आतिश ए ग़म: Fire of sorrow
3. मुज़्तरिब—Agitated , disturbed
4. आसूदगी: satisfaction, contentment, comfort, peace
5. रब्त: connection, relation   6. हवादिस: Accidents

7. मुख़ालिफ़: Opponent

 

😔 ज़िन्दगी मौत की अमानत है

ज़िन्दगी मौत की अमानत¹ है, 

इसकी अच्छे से देख भाल करो

लाज़मी है आरियत² का लौटाना, 

इस हक़ीक़त का नित ख़याल करो

मिली है जो भी उसे क़ुबूल करो, 

वस्फ़³ पे बस न कुछ सवाल करो

चार दिन उम्र इसकी मुद्दत⁴ है, 

जिओ रूहको निहाल⁵ करो

लुत्फ़ हस्ती का लो ज़रूर मगर, 

इसकी इस्मत⁶ का न ज़वाल⁷ करो

ज़र्ब⁸ न आये शिकन⁹ न दाग पड़े, 

संभल संभल कर इस्तेमाल करो

लोग यम के जब भी आ जाएँ, 

प्यार से उनका इस्तिक़बाल¹⁰ करो

वक़्त-ए-रुख्सत¹¹सभी का शुक्र¹² करो, 

और हरगिज़ न कुछ  मलाल¹³करो

Glossary:

1.  अमानत: a thing committed to the trust or care of a person

2.  आरियत:  A borrowed thing which is to be returned as such     

3.   वस्फ़: quality

4.   मुद्दत: duration , time limit

5.   निहाल: happy, pleasurable

6.   इस्मत: honour, integrity, chastity

7.   ज़वाल: decline, fall, deterioration

8.    ज़र्ब: blow, bruise, injury

9.    शिकन: fold, wrinkle, crease

10.  इस्तिक़बाल: reception, welcoming a visitor

11.  वक़्त-ए-रुख्सत: time of separation,  the moment of departure,

12.  शुक्र: Thanks

13.  मलाल: Regret

😂ख़ुशी के साथ जगता गो ग़मों के साथ सोता हूँ

ख़ुशी के साथ जगता गो कि^*  ग़म के साथ सोता हूँ

बहुत से ख्वाब तकता हूँ मैं उनमें खूब रोता हूँ

हैं पश्चाताप के आंसू कि बन आते हैं गंगा जल

लगा डुबकी इन अश्कों में  मैं सारे पाप धोता हूँ

न मांगी और न पाई है कभी इमदाद औरों से

ग़म-ए-हस्ती का सारा बोझ अपने आप ढोता हूँ

अकेलेपन के जंगल में  कभी तनहा नहीं होता

न हो जब दूसरा कोई  मैं अपने साथ होता हूँ

*गो कि: though

🙆Epilogue:

I am fully aware that the purists may scoff at some or all of my compositions citing metrical, syntactical or even lexical inaccuracies and discrepancies. I am also aware that writing in general and writing poetry in particular is not every body’s cup of tea. Any which way, I would express what I am urged to say.

So be it.

 

Loudspeaker - Greater Than God ?

"Pen is mightier than sword". In the days of yore, this proverb was often employed to encourage budding and diffident writers to put their ideas, however nascent, to pen. This proverb implicitly reckons a sword as a weapon of offence. Here the sword stands for  the power of authority buoyed by the support of  a disciplined, loyal, obedient, ruthless and subservient military. It precludes the fact that sword could be wielded in defence as well. Correspondingly, the pen is also portrayed as a device of attack, its capability to defend being also ignored.

As the time went by, the sword gave way to gun which term includes all kinds of firearms ranging from  a pistol to AK47, M16 etc. to more complex, potent and destructive high tech military armament topped by nuclear weapons.  

The  power of pen, emanates from the writer's intellect. It was so in the past, is so  in the present  and will remain so in the future too. The written words, simple or nuanced, are the  proverbial fireballs, brickbats, arrows and bullets  hurled out from  the pen. These optically invisible projectiles penetrate the readers' minds rather than their bodies. The wounds caused by the pen do not heal in a hurry. The hurt can be wide and deep. Whole communities can get affected for generations altogether.

With progress of time, the pen too underwent an evolution which saw it transforming from handwritten artifacts through print media to the software content forming the quintessential life support of ubiquitous electronic  media encompassing communication, entertainment, information, social interaction and a multitude of other spheres of human activity. Today, even the  man in the street feels empowered to hurl brickbats on any body, anywhere and any time thanks to easy and free availability of the  modern avatars of the pen like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Whats App and Messenger, coupled with the fundamental right of  'freedom of expression' 

Spoken words too have been a very powerful weapon since time immemorial. History and mythology are replete with examples wherein spoken words played havoc to the extent of even causing wars. Which of the two modes of communication viz. written words and the spoken words is more powerful has always been a subject of debate.  (See References 1, 2,3,4)

In the  present  times, the scale has  tilted in favour of the spoken words thanks to the loudspeaker which stands out as a very significant, if not the only, factor responsible for the phenomenon. In the present context, the term loudspeaker is not restricted in its definition to just the passive device that forms the last link in the chain of artifacts comprising an electronic sound system; rather it is justifiably broadened to include the entire system because the loudspeaker is the most perceptible component in the system. The term loudspeaker is very often shortened to just 'speaker'  and is also used in singular and plural interchangeably. 

It can be deduced from the above arguments that the loudspeaker is mightier than the pen. And by applying the law of transitive property of inequalities, it can be postulated that loudspeaker is mightier than the sword.

The loudspeaker, when used in a legal and controlled manner, is a great agent of delivery of  entertainment, information and knowledge with its feed coming from a huge variety of live and recorded sources. 

The flip side is that the loudspeaker is a major source of contribution to the noise pollution in Mumbai, Delhi and other Indian cities and is chiefly responsible for getting them the dubious distinction of being among the rank holders of noisiest cities of the world. (See Reference 5,6).

It is regrettable that the worst offenders, in respect of the illegal and / or uncontrolled misuse of the loudspeakers, are the abundant religious activities and places of worship. While some of these religious activities such as Ganapati festival, Navratri Dandiya, Dahi Handi, Eids, Muharram, Ramzaan and  Gurpurabs are yearly phenomena, quite a few others such as prayers and chants are more frequent. Azaan, the call for namaaz, one of the five basic pillars of Islam, is made five times a day through loudspeakers mounted on high minarets. The power of these speaker system is kept far in excess of that required to cover the area of influence of the particular mosque. In addition, in many localities, the Azaan is broadcast by more than three or four mosques in quick succession resulting in overlap which turns into an irritating babel what would otherwise be a very soothing wake up call exhorting the faithfuls to shun laziness and to get ready for saying their prayers. These mosques seem to compete with each other in respect of loudness and variety of sound. Some of them employ echo sound systems further aggravating the cacophony. In addition, some mosques broadcast religious poems and songs for an extended period of time before and after the azaan.

Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, regarded as one of the greatest modern poets of Urdu and a highly learned islamic scholar and ideologue  must have felt very irritated and frustrated by the practice of loud broadcasting of early morning azaan. Otherwise there was no reason for him to write the  following couplet wherein he has unequivocally lambasted the practice.

नवा-ए-सुब्ह-गाही ने जिगर ख़ूँ कर दिया मेरा

ख़ुदाया जिस ख़ता की ये सज़ा है वो ख़ता क्या है

( The morning call has caused my heart to bleed. O God, what crime am I guilty of, to deserve this punishment)

For me, the effect of the Azaan has been very positive. Earlier, I used to feel very lazy and would not get up from the bed till well after the sunrise when the sunshine made it impossible for me to continue sleeping. Now a days, when the morning Azaan is sounded, I get up, say my morning prayers and go for a walk. I kill two birds with one stone. While on the one hand, I avoid listening to the cacophony, on the other hand I do my mind and body a lot of good.

Another deplorable misuse of the loudspeaker manifests as very lengthy, loud and overlapping discourses accompanying the Friday afternoon prayer. And in localities where madrassas are co-located with mosques, the morning broadcasts include naats, qawwalis, poems and even class instructions for duas  for various occasions.

Consequently, more often than not, in India the loudspeaker becomes an execrable source of irritation, animosity, acrimony, ill-will and contention.

A number of legal petitions against the noise pollution caused by the use of loudspeakers during religious festivals and prayers have been filed in various courts. Some of the courts have ordered bans on their use in religious places. But the loudspeakers merrily continue to irritate, provoke and sicken the public at large  in blatant disregard and contravention of these orders.( See Reference 7, 8,9,10). 

The brazen and unchecked deployment of the loudspeaker forces one to deduce that many Indians trust the power of the loudspeaker more than that of God. It seems to be their firm conviction that God is afflicted with dysphonia and that He also suffers from hearing-impairment. These Indians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and others alike,  are equally convinced that He needs a loudspeaker to make His voice heard by them. And in return, these people cannot do without a  loudspeaker to make their voices heard by God. 

Whenever I think of the loudspeaker, I get reminded of the movie "Beneath the Planet of Apes". In the movie, "the protagonist, astronaut Brent, believes that he has traveled to another planet and forward in time to the year 3955 and he finds a population of telepathic humans who worship an ancient nuclear bomb". ( See Reference 11)


Taking a cue from the above named movie and given the Indians' penchant for creating gods every now and then, coupled with their ardour for constructing places of worship at every nook and cranny, it will be no wonder if a temple devoted to 'Loudspeaker' springs up somewhere in, the not very distant, future. And in the course of time, 'Loudspeaker' would muster a huge following comprising devotees who would not only worship It, but would also believe It to be Greater than God. And some time later, a declaration to that effect may get issued. This would have regenerative effect leading to proliferation of places of worship devoted to Loudspeaker everywhere. God would perhaps be dispatched on perpetual sick leave.

God Bless The Loud Speaker and Its devotees.

References:
1. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slowchurch/2014/08/19/the-spoken-word-vs-the-written-word/

2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/spoken-word-vs-written-navin-chandra-joshi
3. http://vwordpress.stmarys-ca.edu/nickgunawan/2011/03/31/spoken-word-vs-written-word/

4. http://arcade.stanford.edu/dibur/spoken-word-written-word-introduction 
5. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/these-are-the-cities-with-the-worst-noise-pollution/

6. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-worlds-noisiest-cities-dermot-foley
7. http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/04/18/hindu-janajagruti-samiti-and-shiv-sena-seek-ban-on-use-of-loudsp_a_22043914/
8.http://www.firstpost.com/mumbai/silence-please-remove-illegal-loudspeakers-used-in-mosques-festivals-says-bombay-high-court-2438882.html
9.https://scroll.in/article/672693/with-court-ban-on-illegal-mosque-loudspeakers-some-mumbai-muslims-oppose-street-prayers-too
10. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/ensure-religious-places-follow-noise-pollution-norms-ngt/articleshow/60752883.cms
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Planet_of_the_Apes