My Pakistan Diary: Roots! A Spiritual Journey

Romair#1, 22:
Thanks for correcting ``Sohni Dharti``. Yes, it`s been a long journey. Life changes here more in two years than it changed in Kussak in one century. Sometimes, I wonder if we humans are genetically wired for such fast change!

I agree with Dullabhatti that dhotis/chaadar/laachas, etc. are passé in Panjab, except for bhangra parties and folk dances. Since you are a great fan of Indian movies, I guess you have seen Monsoon Wedding, that`s a fairly accurate description of a middle class panjabi wedding in India.
BTW, in this and your other similar posts, you put too much emphasis on the similarity between sikhs and Pakistani panjabis. I wonder why? There is really no cultural difference between Hindu and Sikh Panjabis. The differences are more along rural/urban lines. Are you subconciously trying to promote sikh-pakistani solidarity a la Zia ul Haq? :)

sadna#5:
Yes, they are interesting sites. Wonder why I didn`t find them, maybe I spelled Kusak with a single `s` during my search.

ajeet#6:
The opening of borders now makes it easier for people like us to go and reconnect ourselves with our heritage. Ultimately, one hopes that these physical borders will become invisible while travelling from one country to another, just as is the case now in Europe.

veeresh#9:
I did have a feeling of fulfilment of a dream; I don`t know if I can also call it a feeling of achievement.

Dost-Mitter

It is too little and too late, isn`t it? Now in the twilight years of your life you come to see `what could`ve been`, isn`t it. Yours is probably the last generation who would come to Pakistan for the reason of finding one`s `roots`. The generation that proceeds you will only come here for a taste of Pakistani hookers and to buy hashish from tribal belt but not to revisit their roots. Have you ever wondered why and how it came to that?

Dost, it is late now. So much water has flowed under the bridges. Isn`t it the time that instead of finding roots you should start assessing the legacy that your generation has left for the ``new India``? Don`t you see now that you HAD a choice to make it better but you chose not to? You had a choice to practice and demand justice, fairness and equality for your fellow human beings whose only crime was that they happened to be Muslims. You had a choice to do good, but you chose the worst. You are leaving a legacy of hatred, dishonesty, and bigotry for your generations to come.

Didn`t you have the choice to honor your promises that your forefathers made, while agreeing to the formula of Partition? You broke the promise and that resulted in the human tragedy of Partition followed by the war of 1948 – human beings divided, families broken, humanity torn apart. You again made promises in 1949 right in front of the world community that you would act justly, fairly, and honestly but instead once again chose not to abide by them and humanity again suffered another war in 1965. After 1965 you again made promises that you would resolve issues through negotiations like civilized human beings justly, fairly, and honestly via Tashkent Agreement and broke your promises once again and committed the naked aggression in 1971 instead, upon your neighbor, which resulted in one of the worst genocide human beings have ever seen. After flowing so much blood you again made promises in Simla Agreement that you will resolve issues honestly, fairly, and justly but once again you violated your own promises and committed naked aggression against your neighbor and occupied Siachin Glacier. And even then when you had a choice to act honestly, fairly, and justly you chose to start your nefarious pogrom of murdering and raping into submission the people whom you call your atut ang. You had a choice and look what have you done with so much murder and mayhem; the misery of your victims speaks for itself. Given your bizarre nature, I think you people got off easy at Kargill.

And now you people have once again come with promises and hopes. You have come to find your roots. Let me tell you people unequivocally and firmly that you have no roots here. The roots that once were have been severed by none but you. How dare you come here and call what is now mine as your roots. You have nothing here. I refuse you your roots. I forsake you and I disallow you your roots. I deny you your roots. Your roots are dishonesty, fraud, injustice, hatred and a psychotic superiority complex. This is your legacy and these are your roots. As for me, I would rather stick my finger in the mouth of a rattle-snake than shake hands with a Hindu and call him my brother. I have better chances of survival with a snake rather than a Hindu. This is the legacy of your generation. This is the gift you have given to your new generation. It is little too late to seek atonement thru your roots. Isn`t it?

Dost Mittar;

Great conclusion. Did you happen to pass by the small town called Bhaun by any chance? It also is in Dist Chakwal but was Dist Jhelum earlier. The closest train station was Chakwal.

#27 by ahmadzai:

Sorry for butting in, but your question to DMji surprises me. And I do hope the answers you get stick to the topic. i.e. ``If you were to suggest that Pakistanis made certain changes in our attitude towards making our lives better, what would those be?``

Why has it surprised me? I feel that Pakistanis should jolly well know how to make their lives better on their own. Am sure there are sensible elements in your society that could offer advice. In fact, if I were to answer your query it would be: Stop asking others, Indians or anyone, what to do with yourself. Indians don`t feel the need to ask their neighbours such a question, and I detest it when we depend so much on the opinion of the West. Same yardstick I would apply here...

However, at the individual level, perhaps you have a genuine need to know. Since I am not a particularly reasonable interactor, there will be others who will tell you just how your country must get its act together. And by mentioning Jay, you are only singling out the usual suspects whose bigotry is obvious...look out for the subtle ones!

Veeresh at # 28:

OK reasonable interactors is acceptable. Otherwise, just imagine what would a basket case like Jay suggest.

:-)

Ahmedzai/27 . . . may I request you to please permit the opening of your question to (reasonable) interactors?

On my side, the most important change I would like to see in your attitudes in Pakistan would be to for our mutual sake, please stop treating all Indians and India as sworn enemies. Competitors, neighbours, good - bad - ugly, pissing competition, all that is fine and part of life.

Thank you.

Dost saaheb:

This conclusion of an interesting series actually makes one sad. I had wished that you continued on it. I can assure you that a book in the future on the topic will be a `best seller` :-) and seriously, I would be looking forward to first book on this journey. I especially enjoyed reading your Punjab travel part (i.e. salt range, a region that I have never visited) and the heritage article was an absolute marvellous piece.

If you don`t mind, I have a question for you. If you were to suggest that Pakistanis made certain changes in our attitude towards making our lives better, what would those be? For example, I am taking it for granted that you will suggest that we take care of our heritage. What others, if any?

It is a request.

Pmishra # 20

(I am curious to know what else you consider ``natural`` : keeping women dressed in a sack from head to toe.....)

I have no personal standard for Dress code except that I am pro-choice. Every society voluntarily sets up its own measure of `modesty`. It differs from place to place. Even the most liberal have some kind of Code going for both men as well as for women. I agree that Pakistani society has moved towards a greater conservatism in last 56 years as compared to India. Why it has done so is a subject by itself.


(As soon as you leave the areas that had islamic kings and sometimes forced ``injections`` of islamic ``culture``, this stupidity ends .......)

Muslim kings have not been in India for last few hundred years - I guess the habit of covering the head is now voluntarily. (Pakistani women tend to cover both the head & the breasts) But there are always extremist fring element like the RSS who are not even for the benign events like Haloween. More such elements are in Pakistan and to a greater effect with even the State having a role in it.

But more important is that Cultures and Languages are dynamic and NOT static. These keep evolving - It is only natural and this enriches the society. (some anthropologist can correct the following!)

The Persian invaders brought Persian, meat & poetry.
The Turks brought Turkish & probably some form of dancing.
The Central Asians brought architecture, kabab, pulao etc.
The Afghans brought Nans.
The British brought Language, architecture, Democracy, tea etc.
I do not know what the Arabs brought - but I am sure they did not bring Islam or the Dupatta.
Second-hand Islam came to South Asia through the Saints` who tagged along with the Invaders.

Havn`t the Americans now brought the complete American corporate culture to Bangalore.
And havn`t the Indians changed the eating habits of the British who now eat Tandoories, Biryani & tikkas.

Thanks God the South Asia did not resist the invaders` cultural influences. It is a much richer society now.

Good last piece Dost ji. It does make people nostalgic..even the ones who were not born on the other side.

Romair #22: I don`t know how come sikhs were wearing so many dhotis in thsi party. Only dhotis you see in Punjabi parties is Bhangra performers wearing a colorful piece of chaadra...Dhoti is pretty much out....The chaadra that Sikh men in rural punjab wear is a a very big peice of cloth, much larger than a dhoti and unlike dhoti it is long and sweeps the floor...dharti sumbrda jaye type chaadra. That is disappearing fast in rural pUnjab too now...most of the older generation that wore chaadra have given it up for a Pajaama. Younger generation wears pants exclusively now matter how badly stiched it is.

Another point.....most of the Bhangra songs are based on punjabi folklore....yes there is a variety totally detached from folk traditions but mostly Bhangra is very much based on folk boliyan, folk tales, myths and folk language of the rural people.

Romair 22. . . if I as an Indian Punjabi had written what you observed, I would have been knocked about silly by Pakistanis here, including our friend the World`s Most Knew-it-All already Editor.

So anyways, let me add my observations to yours, if I may?

a) At most Punjabi functions here, we take great delight in making all the phirang goraas present dance to Kala Shah Kala. Which, by the way, emerged froma folk tune going bac decades, so it is not really Indian or Pakistani. But then, the attempt to track down old folk tunes is more Indian lately than Pakistani. Last night, for example, I attended a concert by the Egyptian ``ood`` (like a hand held guitar/veena???) maestro Georgos something who had gone all the way to Kashmir to find music that resembled Egyptian music. Well, after two years in and out of Kashmir Valley, he did, and here in India he played with Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor) and Rahat Khan (tabla) and the beats were from Carnatic Raag Basanti Makhori whch is also used in the North Indian areas for folk tunes. He had played two night ago in Srinagar.

b) There is much more booze at Punjabi functions here, right?

c) Indian Punjabi males are, goes without saying actually, positively more handsome than Pakistani Punjabi males.

d) This pre-rehearsed family dancing stuff is new to us in India. Which Indian women have the time for all this stuff, if they are women of substance?

e) Indian Punjabis will seldom marry within the family, cousin marriage is usually smirked about, ridiculed, if not frowned on. Therefore, at marriages, you tend to meet a lot more new people.

I could go on, but boss, if I had written what you have written, I would have been slaughtered here. Anyways, Indian Punjabi men are more handsome, so that`s for that?

Obviously things will be similar in both Indian and Pakistani Punjab. It is just that the art forms seem to be suprressed in Pakistan, while here in India we are currently letting them run free. I think letting things run free brings better results.

...you are a genius...;)

Recently attended a Sikh Mehndi (type function). All my Indian friends are married, so this was the first Sikh function of this sort that I have had a chance to attend. Quite interesting.

It was surprisingly identical to any such function one sees in Pakistan`s Punjab. If one did not take into account the traditional Sikh headgear, one could have mistaken it for a Pakistani function. The songs, dholkis, dances, etc. etc. were identical. As well as the clothes. All this time, I thought Kala shah kala, which I know by heart, and Dachi walia, which I don`t know by heart etc. were Pakistani hits......One learns something new everyday...These were the first two songs sung by the ladies It was funny, when my wife and I joined in on all the Punjabi songs, while all the non-Punjabi speaking Indians, didn`t know or understand any of the words.....They were quite impressed and very surprised......

One such function in North America, by one Sikh family, is obviously not enough to gauge the similarities and differences, but here are some of the subtle differences, I noticed:

- Sikhs speak Punjabi a lot more than Pakistani Punjabis do. Infact, Sikhs switch from English to Punjabi, without speaking Hindi. Much like educated Pakistani Pathans switch from English to Pushto, without speaking Urdu. While educated Pakistani Punjabis (of my generation at least) rarely speak Punjabi in public. They tend to go from English to Urdu and back. Punjabi, though now making a revival, somehow is considered somewhat of a language of illiteracy in Pakistan Punjab.

- Sikh women (even the rich ones) dress much simpler and use much less make-up than their Pakistani Punjabi equivalents. And the Sikh women are less superficial than the Pakistani Punjaib equivalents, at such functions.

- Sikhs (apparently) wear dhotis a lot. I have never seen a Pakistani dressed in a dhoti in such a function, in Pakistan. Nor have I ever seen a Designer dhoti in Pakistan. Some of the Sikh guys were wearing designer styled dhotis......Much like Pakistanis wear designer shalwar kurtas.....

- Sikh speak a more hardcore version of Punjabi than Pakistani Punjabis.

- Sikh Punjabi music is more bhangra based, while Pakistani Punjabi music is softer and more folk based...

- Sikhs didn`t know much about any Pakistani Punjabi singers, other than NFAK. No one knew Abrar, etc.

- Sikh(ni) dancers weren`t too co-ordinated or organized. But I think that may have been just limited to the dancing abilities, or lack thereof, of this one family. Pakistani dances at such functions are genrally well rehearsed........

nk #17

[quote]
Covering the head (veiling) with Dupatta has been and is part of the culture of these areas - as I see even now on the Indian Punjab TV - Dupatta being handled exactly in the same manner as here. Even Sonia Gandhi puts the Pallu of her Sari on her head. This cultural modesty is across the fault lines of religion.
[end-quote]

Sorry buddy, this is yet another ugly tradition brought through islam to india. Only in North India do women veil themselves with dupatta and/or sari. The worst instance of this is in Punjab and J&K, where women are still sometimes attacked if they walk around freely. Punjab and Haryana continue to be one of the misogynistic and anti-women areas of the country. They have the lowest women to man ratios in the world.

As soon as you leave the areas that had islamic kings and sometimes forced ``injections`` of islamic ``culture``, this stupidity ends. Take a look at a picture of Jayalitha, women politicians from Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra, Kerala, North-East etc. None of them finds it necessary to hide their face behind a sheet of cloth. Inshallah, this oppression will end sooner than later in all areas of india.

I am curious to know what else you consider ``natural`` : keeping women dressed in a sack from head to toe, female genital mutilation, conquerors right to rape women from the defeated party. Please enlighten us with more examples of ``culture``.

sadna...

...i love you too... chowk without you wouldn`t be the same even though the original sadna was livelier and had more fire-power...

#17
No doubt your admirers are swooning over your bravery in tackling the enemy. And evidently, making this a limited access website isn`t something one asks of a Sitara-e-Jurat like yourself. Chalo koi nahi.

Nb : To find Sitara-e-Jurat - go to http://www.google.com, type in `Sitara-e + Pakistan` in that empty rectangular thingy which you see, click on the button `Google search`. There you go. Now no maai-ka-laal can stop you from becoming the head of ISI as well.

...sadna ko ghussa kyon aata hai? did i touch a Raw nerve?? (pun intended)...;)