You know your plane has landed in Punjab when...

...you see a tractor right in front of it!!



Power Wheels Dune Racer Ride-On By Fisher-Price - Pink (Google Affiliate Ad)

Natijaey

Ok, so the election results are old news-Mr.Badal is all set to return to his Chief Minister's post on the 14th of this month. This whole election was a record-breaking one- the voting percentage was the highest ever, the ruling party came back to power and we will now have the oldest chief minister in the country. The victory of SAD-BJP over the Congress is a surprise given the past history of the state. Depending on which side your sympathies lie with, you either believe that this spells big trouble for Punjab or you are really happy that your party (and therefore you) and Punjab will be in chardi kala for another 5 years. But one common thought that I have heard from people on both sides is, that in the larger scheme of things, it doesn't really matter which of these two parties is in power as the underlying issues of corruption, nepotism, etc always remain constant. What I find surprising and disappointing is that PPP, the party which held some promise to tackle these issues failed to win even one seat in these elections. Like I had mentioned in one of my previous posts (Votaan), it was very unlikely that they could have made a huge impact on the elections in the first-go itself. I am also aware of the fact that PPP has not proven itself enough as of now and it needs to work its way up from the grassroots level to win the peoples' trust. But, just the fact that there was an alternative to the routine crop of politicians with their open (and hidden) agendas should have been enough to motivate people to at least give them one victory. That ,of course, did not happen and people just voted based on their long held beliefs or loyalties. Punjabis need to give change a chance, we really need to start voting based on issues and past performance and not just for whoever our dadajis voted for.

 Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/elections2012/punjab_intractivemap.html

Anhe Ghorey Da Daan

I hadn't realized that my wish for Jollywood would be granted eni chheti!!! Gurvinder Singh has won the National Award as best director for his movie Anhe Ghorey Da Daan  (http://dff.nic.in/59thNFA2011.htm). Earlier this movie had been featured at the Venice Film Festival making it the first Punjabi film to go to an International Film Festival. The movie is based on a novel ,by the same name, written by Professor Gurdial Singh and deals with the subject of industrial revolution and its effects on the people of a village in Punjab. Kudos to the director, writer, all the crew members and artists for this great achievement! Hope this opens up the door for more meaningful Punjabi cinema.

                                                     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085746/

Nikon J1 10.1 Megapixel 10-30MM VR Lens White Digital SLR N1J1WHTOM 

You can see an interview of the director and producer at the VFF here:

Balley Balley for Jollywood!!

All the raula-rappa over the Oscars, which were awarded last Sunday, got me thinking about the possibility of a Punjabi movie winning this accolade. Every year, since 1957, India has been sending its best film of the year to the Oscars, hoping that it gets nominated and then wins the Best Foreign Film Award. Only three films have made it to nominee status- Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan and none of them managed to win. Getting nominated is no small accomplishment and hopefully one of these days an Indian film will win too. But the probability of that Indian film being in Punjabi is very less. If you look at the list of films that have been entered by India, you will see films in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Malyalam, Telugu and Urdu but not even one Punjabi language entry. Over the years there have been some really good Punjabi movies, some of the ones that I remember are Chann Pardesi, Batwara, Ucha Dar Babey Nanak Da, Laung da Lishkara, Sarpanch, Visakhi, Jee Aayan Nu, Mahaul Theek Hai, Shaheed-e -Mohabbat, Des Hoyea Pardes. This is not a complete list and there are other Punjabi movies too that are good but there are not a lot of them and certainly only a few of them have made it to the top among Indian movies, leave alone at an international level.Its not that Punjab lacks talent, in fact, a  lot of the the big name actors, directors and producers in Bollywood can trace their roots back to Punjab. But somehow this connection has not borne out well for the Punjabi movie industry.  A majority of the movies made in Punjabi are amateurish attempts at recreating Hindi films. They don't have a good storyline, acting and humor are both exaggerated and there is an overall lack of substance in the movie. No doubt, recently, the visual and cinematographic quality of Punjabi movies has improved dramatically but these are just superficial changes. The characters lack depth and consistency and beyond looking good, driving expensive cars, having palatial homes/farmhouses and going abroad  they don't have to put in much effort for the role. There are so many great  and powerful stories and characters that define Punjab but somehow our filmmakers are afraid to tackle these subjects. Preferring, instead, to stick to run of the mill love stories,  family dramas or NRIs returning to Punjab themes. I am not saying that these aspects of Punjabi culture should be ignored-these should be portrayed too but there is more to Punjab and Punjabis than just this. We have a rich heritage, a long history full of figures who can be used to tell awesome stories, we have a dynamic culture that is facing new challenges everyday and we have people who are overcoming these challenges. All of these stories should be told and we have the talent, the resources and the expertise to do this, all we need is a vision.      


PS 1: Jollywood is our term for the Punjabi movie industry (partly because of Jalandhar DD and as a nod to the famous jolly nature of Punjabis)




PS 2: Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow of " The Hurt Locker" fame is shooting for her next movie in Chandigarh, hope this helps the Punjabi movie industry in some way.


Hollywood crew comes calling
Oscar-winning director in city to shoot film on Osama bin LadenChandigarh, February 29 
There is excitement among students of Punjab Engineering College (PEC) as Oscar-winner and legendary Hollywood director Kathryn Bigelow, who has directed “The Hurt Locker”, is shooting a film on Osama bin Laden on the campus.A Hollywood film on the life of Osama bin Laden being shot in the Sector 15 market, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan



http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120301/cth1.htm#5




References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_submissions_for_the_Academy_Award_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Punjab


http://www.tribuneindia.com

Paani Punjab Da

Sirhind Canal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhind_Canal

Bujaartaan (Punjabi riddles)

Bujaartaan are a fast disappearing part of Punjabi culture. Long before the assault of video games, bujaartaan pauniyaan (playing riddles) used to be a good pass-time especially for kids who would generally be asked these witty, one lined questions by their parents/grandparents. I remember playing this game with my bapuji (grandfather),right before bed-time, whenever we visited him. Unfortunately, I  don't remember a whole lot of them now, but here are the ones that I still remember  (I will add new ones that I come across)

1. Oh gayi, oh gayi 

2.Nikki jehi kuri lai paranda turi 

3.Nikka jeha bhai uhdi khich ke nikkar laai

4.Maa jammi nahin, te putt khotey te

5.Tu chal main aaya

From our readers, thank you:)

6. Katore te katora, puttar piyo toh vi gora

7. Hari si man bhari si, motiyaan naal jarhi si
    lala ji de baagh vich, dushaala layi kharhi si

8.  Baba ji bazaar jaana , saarey ghar da ahaar liyaana
     bahutey paisey kharach na aana, buddhiyaan layi gulfaa saara
     bakri layi haraa chaaraa, murgi layi daana pyaara
     Ik toh zyaada cheez na liyaana, bahutey paise kharach na aana

9. Ikk Katora vich do rang panne

10. Hari main...kaale mere bacche

11. Babey de kann vich budhi var gayi

* For answers, look beyond the saron de khet

Answers:

1. Nazar (eyesight)

2. Sui-dhaaga (needle and thread)

3. Kela (Banana)

4. Agg te dhuaan (fire and smoke)

5. Darwaja (door)
6. Naariyal (coconut)
7. Makki di chhali (corn cob)
8. Tarbooz (watermelon)
9.  Anda (egg)
10.Elaichi (cardamom)
11.Taala-Chaabi (lock and key)

 Punjabi Munda baby bib (Google Affiliate Ad)                         

Punjabi Bumper Sticker (Google Affiliate Ad)

Purana Punjab

A short documentary depicting life in a village in Punjab in 1925.

Nikkammi Behenjis (ineffective female teachers)

Recently, I came across this news article in Ludhiana Tribune in which it has been reported that indiscipline is on the rise in government schools due to a decrease in the number of male teachers.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120211/ldh1.htm#6

The reason that less men are being hired is that now selection to these teaching posts can't be made on the basis of gender i.e. only qualifications will be considered (I had no clue that this was not the case at one point of time). So apparently more females are qualifying now that the decision is based purely on merit (gasp!) and the result has been a decrease in discipline. You ask why?According to one unnamed source it is because male teachers have a "stricter" approach towards students and they can understand their psychological problems much better. Another renowned educationist thinks that another aspect to this meritorious selection of teachers is that the female teachers are subjecting the students to rote learning.

So, here is my analysis of the problems highlighted in this story and my take on them:

Problem: Female teachers who are otherwise better qualified to teach than their male counterparts are physically weak and are inept in psychological evaluation of students..
My take: The B.Ed curriculum for women needs to be modified to include weight-training, martial arts, etc so that they can better control the classroom. This should be coupled with extensive course-work in psychology.This is apparently more important than knowing your subject matter and how to present  it to the students. Of course it would make no sense for the principal/school administraton to implement policies which would help improve discipline or for the school to hire a counsellor for helping kids with psychological issues.

Problem: Women are not being creative enough in the classroom and are stifling the students' creativity and potential.
My take: If that is the case, those women are not to be blamed, it is probably the way their teachers (who were most likely males because of the predominantly male work-force in India till recently) taught them.
I am no fan of rote learning, but that is the way 95% of learning is done in India-a change needs to be brought about but don't blame it all on the women.

As much as I love all things Punjabi, the way in which women/girls are treated in our society makes me feel ashamed of being a Punjabi. Don't get me wrong,there are quite a few Punjabi families that don't discriminate between their sons and daughters at all and who absolutely dote on their daughters. There are also a number of people who respect women in general but the bitter truth is that the vast majority of people in Punjab would prefer having a son rather than a daughter. This fact need no further illustration than a look at the female to male ratio of Punjab which stands at 893 females/1000 males. A lot has been said and written on this topic and although I am glad that the 2011 census shows a slight improvement in the sex ratio over the ratio in 2001, fact is that female foeticide is still so rampant that a lot of people think of it as natural and justifiable. It is justified because a daughter is considered to be a burden on the parents, someone whom they will have to feed and protect for a number of years before she can be married off with the marriage itself  "costing" the family a lot.On the other hand, a son is considered as someone who will take the family name forward, be a support for parents in their old age and with luck, his marriage will bring in goodies in the form of dowry.

Women have been struggling hard and fighting long to change this state of things-they are performing much better academically than boys, they are becoming an integral part of the work-force and are taking on multiple resposibilities-both at home and at work and doing a good job of it. I am appalled that views like the ones discussed above, can be considered newsworthy in today's day and age where women are doing as well or much better than men in every professional arena. Portraying them as weak and inept, who despite their qualifications are ineffective in the classroom, is in my view a step backwards in the efforts to change the way in which women are treated in our society and a reinforcement of the negative perception of women's worth and abilities.

Mera Pind, Mere Khet..

Wheat Fields-Punjab

Sat Sri Akal

Through this blog, we want to share our thoughts on various subjects related to the land, people and culture that we come from. We have been  "out" of Punjab for a long time now but we never lost it from within ourselves, if anything, the distance has only made us more aware of who we are and where our roots are. We want this blog to be a window to the Punjab as we see it today, have seen it while growing up and want to see it in the future..

The first post had to be of Sri Harmandir Sahib as it is the one thing that symbolizes Punjab in every respect. Sri Harmandir Sahib is a golden structure surrounded by a sarowar which has its doors open to one and all and Punjab is a golden land surrounded by water that has, over the ages, welcomed an uncountable number of people and made them her own...

Harmandir Sahib -December 2005