PUNJAB CULTURE AND PRESENT SCENARIO

CULTURE AND CHANGE

The cultural change in any society is one that can’t be avoided. Time and again there has to be instances that are path breaking and lead to the situations that ultimately are the building blocks of a new norm or cultural practice. One can’t remain unperturbed with the developments in the society, whether at superficial or ground level. If one remains static to these developments, that person is bound to be left behind and labelled as a person suffering from ‘generation gap’ syndrome.

PUNJABI CULTURE – THE RICHEST

There is nothing more appropriate than to quote first Nobel laureate of India, Rabindra Nath Tagore, “Similar to Germany in Europe, Tigris – Euphrates valley in Western Asia, Chinese plains in Eastern Asia, our Punjab is one of those tracts on the surface of the earth, where the streams of history flowed with full vigour. Punjab is that beautiful piece of land on the skies of which the first day of morn sprouted, in the forests of which sacred hymns echoed for the first time, on the surface of which was born the first civilized man of India and on the bosom of which the Indian culture originated.”

In fact, the Indus valley civilisation is believed to be older than even the culture of Vedic period. While the Vedic Aryans were rural, the people of this valley possessed the amenities of a developed city life.

The history of Punjab till the 10th century A.D reveals that not only it played significant role in the life history of India but also acted as a confluence for many people and cultures of Asia and South Eastern Europe.

To quote Sher Singh Gupta, “It became a cockpit and confluence in which there was an unending amalgamation of communities and cultures resulting in a broad, pragmatic, experimental and utilitarian outlook and a robust common sense. Throughout this period, Punjab acted as the sentinel of India.

Punjab is no doubt can be considered as the hub of the epicentre of the culture and traditions that are earthy and originally indigenous.

But the story is rather has a flip side too. The deterioration of the culture that we take pride in is fast being shunned by the new generation and are standing at bay from getting enriched with them.

As we are moving ahead in the 21st century, the western culture is taking its toll on the rich and golden pure culture that has prevailed since the time immemorial. Looking at the different constituents of our culture one by one, it will be evident that we are losing out the things that are to be cherished by every Punjabi.

FOLK CULTURE – WHO IS INTERESTED?

FOLK SONGS : Lok Geets are the body and soul of Punjab. They form the very base of our Punjabi culture and there is one for every occasion. Punjabi people, true to their reputation of being jovial, sang songs that are particularly for some specific moments

of life. For the joyous flight of birds, of bustle of grown crops, of dark blossomed nights, all had a specific one for them. They are ageless and none can boast of authorship for any of them.

But the new generation of Punjabi people present a pathetic picture in reference to these earthy songs. Sadly, they don’t hum these songs anymore, and it will not be wrong to say that they may not even know what the song means and on what occasion it is played on. A folk song is essentially a subjective expression of emotions, welling up from the depths of the heart.

To add to the woes, even older people, who have lived and seen it all, are also not taking keen interest to pass on the legacy to the new generations. They have always been involved in thinking about the ideas of minting money and leading a luxurious life. Moving to the foreign shores has a great role in enhancing this process.

FOLK DANCES : These are also an outburst of emotions. As described by Sukhdev Singh in ‘THIS BEAUTIFUL INDIA - PUNJAB’ said that “For Punjabis, folk dance is the bodily culmination of inner happiness”. Dances like the Bhangra, Gidda, Teean, Jhumar and Baagi are some of the dances that form the pillars of the Punjabi folk dances.

But again, except Bhangra and Gidda, other dance forms are extinct in nature. Even these two dances in there perfect form, are unknown to the young lads. They are now mostly restricted to the dance competitions where the motive is not to propagate such dance forms but to walk away with the prize and trophies.

If there were no incentives, these dance forms would have lost very existence to the new kind of Punjabi dance that are mixed with the English, hip-hop culture.

FAIRS AND FESTIVALS – LOST IN TODAY’S WORLD.

FAIRS: Punjabi’s being vivacious and gay people, have always been fond of fairs and festivals. People used to come from far flung areas to participate in these fairs. Many of fairs are still held in the memory of saints or pirs. They enjoyed various fascinating activities of the fair viz. races, wrestling, bouts, acrobatics etc. Playing of folk instruments such as vanjili and algoza filled the air with melodious tunes.Indeed, today these fairs are not at all enjoyed but the organizers are cursed for such activities. The people encountering such fairs consider them as nuisance for the general public and if allowed can seek a ban on these. To some extent, the village communities have played a vital role in holding on to such fairs but the urban population is least interested in these activities.The instruments mentioned above are from some alien planet to them and have been replaced by other western instruments like the Casio and guitars.

FESTIVALS : Only a few festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm nowadays as the people have become more work oriented and busy. Leaving aside festivals like Diwali, Holi, Gurpurabs etc the other festivals like Nirjala Ikadashi, Teeyani, Gugga Naumi, that were before celebrated with great fervour and enthusiasm are now not even considered as ones fit to be celebrated. The onus has always been on the rural people to safeguard these festivals as a symbol of punjabiat but they also cut out a sorry picture and have stopped being the saviours of such golden beads and threads of Punjabi culture.

PATRIOTISM – A DEEP ROOTED CULTURE LOST?

Think of the passion for one’s nation and a picture of a Punjabi man guarding the frontiers of our motherland appears in everybody’s mind. Right from the time when the British ruled India, a large chunk of their army was comprised of Punjabi people as they were the fearless and skilled warriors.Even before that, Guru Gobind Singh Ji was responsible for instilling a sense of fighting spirit in the Sikhs and the Punjabi people. He made them so strong that they were, time and again responsible to sweep mighty Mughals of their feet, with the courage and determination they displayed in the battlefield.After independence too, the sons of Punjab were the best in the business and at every occasion, nipped the evil intentions of the opponents in the bud.But nowadays, there is a reverse trend that is prevalent. Now the people are leaving their lands not to serve the nation but by leaving for the foreign shores to earn big bucks and lead a comfortable life. Once evident without any proof, the feeling of such type is bearing a question mark in every one’s mind today.

PATIENCE – A CULTURAL QUALITY EXTINCT!

This is one of the attributes of Punjabi people that have taken place in our lives as a recent development. We are considered to be the warmest people and have a reputation that is any day enviable. We are from the land where the religious head displayed unbending patience and courage.But counting on some recent incidents, this is a quality being lost by everyone.Ill treatment meted out to people from lower strata of life, physically and verbally doesn’t leave much to discuss about this aspect of our nature.One thing that cropped up my mind was that why do we have to be two faced and give large amount of money as daan in our religious places for the upliftment of our fellow beings and then once we are out of them are found shooing away the same people in a manner that is pathetic and disgracing ?In this way we are not only fooling ourselves but also the very purpose of teachings of our respected Gurus is defeated.This practice need to be checked if we have to protect the ‘brotherhood’ culture that our Gurus propagated, for a peaceful and happy co-existence.

WOMEN AND CULTURE – IS CHANGE NEEDED?Punjabi women are considered to be one of the most beautiful, well dressed and most cultured ones throughout India. They are also famous for courage and high level of self esteem that they possess. Even non-Punjabi person wouldn’t be able to stop himself from rooting for these Punjabi women.The sad part is that the present trend is very much disturbing. These women have no doubt moved on with the changing trends of the society and kept themselves abreast with the developments but have lost the charm and innocence that was once envied by the women from the other regions. Except a small percentage, the sense of culture and traditions of our land have been rendered extinct by these western Punjabi women.

Even in their dressing can be seen every kind of distorting that will make them look at par with the western world women, as if not following them will render them inferior to them.It is a harsh fact that the Punjabi attire is mostly thought as best suited for family gatherings for these women and not on daily basis as they fear of being typecast as old fashioned.The role of parents here is very important. Arming them with all the weapons to fight their way in this male - dominated and competitive society is important but they should make sure that the cultural innocence is maintained and should not be discarded as a worthless attribute. A point worth pondering upon!

CONCLUSION The above mentioned things discussed above are actually the very heart and soul of the Punjabi culture and any kind of mishandling with these will actually leave the entire aura of it as handicapped and one that will be close to nothing. The belongingness, the feel and the connectivity with our rich culture is only and can only be achieved through the following of these qualities as these are the things we are made up of and known worldwide for.Any kind of procrastination in saving it endangers our existence.Awake and save it from getting lost!

SUBMITTED BY:

NEETISH HANDA

4 TH YEAR

ARMY INSTITUTE OF LAW

WORD COUNT-1826