Maharajas of Patiala – Myths, Magnificence and Memories

The earliest memory of a Maharaja of Patiala ingrained in my mind pertains to the period immediately after independence of the country. Punjab was a picture of the life and limb torn apart by the wide spread communal violence in the wake of partition of the legendary land. My father, who had become a baptized Sikh a few weeks back - on 26th July and the ceremony costing Rs 7 and a quarter as recorded by him in the family record book called Vahie, was quoting passionately to friends the speech that Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala made at a public function in the neighboring town of Mandi Ahmedgarh. Father was profusely praising the grace and dignity and an extraordinarily taller stature of the Maharaja. He particularly described the drama how the stand of the mike (of those days) was not high enough and even the support of a stool and harmonium box could also not be of any help. Father explained how the Maharaja had taken the situation in good humor and began his speech joking that people of Mandi had never seen ‘the Lamba Jatt - the Tall Peasant - of Patiala’ before !

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh

I can vividly recall what I, as a child of four, had heard my father quoting forcefully from the Maharaja’s speech, "… Hindustan and Pakistan are now two independent countries … Nawab Sahib (Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan of Malerkotla who, sporting a Patiala-style blue Pagri, was present by his side), his forefathers and the Muslims of the this area have enjoyed fraternal relations with the Sikhs and Hindus … we will provide them full protection of life and property and they will have all the rights as equal citizens of India … But those among Muslims who desire to go to Pakistan, their departure will be facilitated … and those Muslims who stay back must be loyal citizens of India … and must not entertain any secret love for Pakistan, this would neither be fair nor would be allowed …" Father further tellingly quoted the Maharaja, "Beware of those Sikh leaders who proclaim that Panth is in danger … Panth of Gurus would never be in any danger … it is the pockets of greedy and corrupt leaders which face danger" (pocket was indeed registered as one of my first words of vocabulary of English). Father remained a big fan of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and had led a local delegation at the Bhog ceremony of his great hero in June 1974.

I had come to know sooner that the Maharaja of Patiala had been granted an amount of Privy Purse of Rs 17 lakh per annum - and used to wonder how he would be spending this amount! My father had joined the Government Service as a Vaidya at a salary of Rs 88/pm in 1957 and my own starting salary in August 1966 as a lecturer in the DAV College, Jalandhar, according to the much mentioned UGC scales was Rs 200+ Rs 40/pm as D.A. ! I remember that a text book of ‘Shahiriat-Civics’ prescribed in the fifth class pertained to history and administration of PEPSU. A poem titled, 'Sahib Kaur di Vaar – Ballad of Sahib Kaur' by Mohan Singh described bravery of sister of the inexperienced and spoiled third ruler of Patiala who led the forces in repelling the attack of Maharattas on the state in 1793. The book had a laudatory chapter about Maharaja Bhupinder Singh but students had very naughty things to whisper about him-even Khushwant Singh won’t dare to print them! Never take minds of the children for granted about the material to be included in the lessons of the text books! A photo or a sketch in a school book – I am talking of my school years in the fifties of the last century - did surely leave a most enduring imprint on young impressionable minds. A framed photo of all the nine rulers of Patiala in the one room home of our neighbor - a competent carpenter who, perhaps, had worked in the Palace of Patiala for some tome - remains clearly etched in mind along with all the names.

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh had remained a prominent personality in the public service of independent India as the Rajpramukh of PEPSU till 1956; as President of Olympic Association of India; leader of Indian delegations to the conferences of the UNO and serving as Ambassador of India to Italy and Netherland. I had long last the opportunity to see this magnificent man in February 1962 when he came to preside over the Annual Sports Function of the DAV College Jalandhar. To my great surprise, again adjusting of the mike of the loud speaker revealed the enormous difference between short statured Principal Suraj Bhan and the tall towering Maharaja-to the wild delight of students. We had later lined up on the G.T. road to steal another glimpse of the smart Maharaja driving himself his stylish Mercedes car, sporting wings of a plane!

When I was at school, my father told me that I was born in the same year-albeit a few months later - in which Yuvraj Amarinder Singh was born (March 11,1942). Although my parental village was situated in the smaller state of the Muslim Nawabs
of Malerkotla, it was the grandeur and magnificence of the Sikh rulers of Patiala which was talked about in the family with pride and intimate emotional connection. The family lore and chronicles including the celebrated biography, in Brij Bhasha, of patriarch Baba Gajjan Shah (1734-1840) titled Gajjan Bilas clearly mention the closer spiritual relationship established with Patiala during the reign of Maharaja Sahib Singh (1781-1813).The family records further indicate grant of landed and urban properties to our ancestor by rulers of Patiala and Malerkotla as well as Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The developments in the government and administration continued to move fast in the first decade of independent India. The PEPSU was merged in Punjab in 1956 during the re-organization of the states in the country. The long drawn struggle for a Punjabi speaking state culminated in the creation of present truncated state in November 1966. Maharaja Yadavindra Singh contested and won election for the first time to Punjab Assembly as an independent candidate in 1967 provoking a subtle satire by Fikar Taunsavi to pen a column titled, 'A Maharaja versus Potato' implying that the former ruler, like the potato among vegetables, was ready to mingle with any party. Meanwhile Yuvraj Amarinder Singh had been commissioned in the Indian Army in 1963 and was married on 31st October to Preneet Kaur daughter of S. Gian Singh Kahlon, ICS. The politics of the shrunken Punjab had been assuming a new character of Congress versus the Rest with Akali Dal sniffing power as a leading political force. India’s decisive victory in Bangla Desh War in December 1971 enhanced the political prestige of Smt. Indira Gandhi and Congress regained power in Punjab with Zail Singh as Chief Minister. Amarinder Singh was first elected MP in 1980 from Patiala and, barring a brief interval during the peak of militancy in Punjab, the Patiala seat has been with the family.

Meanwhile Maharaja Yadavindra Singh had opted to remain active in the public service at the national and international level, attending several conferences of the UNO He passed away on 17th June 1974 while posted as Ambassador of India to Netherland.
This prince, patriot and statesman made significant contribution to many walks of national life including education and sports. The Patiala Rajgharana must chalk out an ambitious and imaginative plan to commemorate the centenary of this many splendored ruler of the state. I, as a well wisher and admirer of the family, may venture to make some suggestions

1. The establishment in Patiala or in Bathinda (the city of future in Punjab) of Yadavindra International Centre on the pattern of India International Centre, N.Delhi


2. The creation of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Chair of International Relations in a premier university of Delhi/Lahore
3. Endowing an Annual Yadavindra Memorial Lecture to be delivered in Delhi by a personality of international repute


4. Issuing of a Commemorative Postal Stamp


5. Creation of a National Award for an outstanding Diplomat/Administrator of India . South Asia


6. Publication of a high quality Commemorative volume on the Life and Times of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh


7. Naming of the road leading to Embassy of India, the Hague, after his name.


8. Installing his statue near Patiala House, N.Delhi 9.An exhibition of his personal artifacts/documents, photographs etc


9. Yadvindra Public Schools to organize year long festivities/cultural programs.

There could be more ideas and inputs by persons who had the privilege of working with the late Maharaja

As for the former Chief Minister of Punjab-and the expectant Chief Minister - in-waiting - Captain Amarinder Singh, one would like to pray for him saying – Aapna Mool Pachhan i.e know thy true self. He must indeed prove himself a breed apart from the present species of politician in Punjab, parading as leaders but who are essentially ‘dealers’ - eager to sell down the drain whatever precious heirloom of the state their greedy eyes fall upon. The land and people are indeed cursed where the Representatives treat their election victory as ‘license to loot’ for five years! Captain Amarinder Singh must break himself free from the ‘Chakra Vyuh’ - vicious circle - of hangers on, particularly of the flatterers kind and the Khaki hue. The civil servants who have been privileged to function with him deeply admire his personal integrity, high intellect and right instincts - but these come out only in their one to one discussions. He has a historical role - a la Bihar - to make Punjab stand up and be counted as a promising player in the larger scheme of national developmental effort. He has to transform his party into a fighting fit unit free from petty factionalism - a Herculean task indeed but the experienced Captain would have to be strong and wise enough to prevail in the battle of ballot box due in months.

Captain Amarinder Singh who belongs to my generation should now be considered to be at the peak of his careers in public life. I recall how I had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time in 1976 when he came to Tehran with a dream - team of agricultural experts. He wanted to negotiate a deal for a king size farm to be developed as a model for an agricultural revolution in the oil rich Iran. Those were the days of heady success story of Punjab. Time in Iran had, however, become pregnant with another brand of revolution. The practitioners of power politics must always be conscious of the illusion and reality of political power. Ultimately, only the deeds done with a sense of nobility, sincerity and humility for survive. Twenty eight years after our meeting in Tehran, I was welcomed by Captain Amarinder Singh to join the Congress Party on April 9, 2004 - hardly any one was ready to bet for a win by Congress on that date. Any prediction for the Punjab polls next
year or national elections in 2014?

I was told one of the most astonishing and baffling story in the palatial house in Tehran belonging to S. Rattan Singh Rangi, located in the vicinity of the Saadabad Palace of the Shahanshah. He was a respected businessman with family links with Patiala. I forget who the narrator was but the story ran as follows: "When the heir to the throne of Patiala was born on 7th January 1913, all the court Jyotishis - the learned futurologists of various disciplines - were summoned as per tradition … most of them predicted great goings for the newly arrived Prince … his extraordinary personality, wisdom and charm, achievements as a ruler, many worthy distinctions … but one of the astrologers, looking quite nervous, wanted to speak only to the Maharaja, in strict privacy … when it was agreed, he whispered in the ears of the proud father,’ O King, what my other astrologer- brothers tell you about the destiny of the Prince is quite appropriate and OK, but …, but, ahem, according to my interpretation of the various stars and the planets attendant at the time of Yuvraj’s birth … the great Prince is destined to die in a foreign land, doing a paid job !!!"

When i was born, thirty years later, in a mud home in an obscure village of his kingdom, situated at a distance of 52 km from Patiala,no astrologers were summoned to predict my future: that I too would be destined to do exactly the same job in the far off lands as one of their tribe had predicted with trepidation, in a trembling voice, for Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, soon after his birth in the Moti Bagh, one of largest Palaces in the world!

Guru Tegh Bahadur – Mission, Martyrdom and Message

The following article appeared in the publication Guru Nanak Foundation, ND, Quarterly, 'Studies in Sikhism & Comparative Religion' Vol.XXX No.1, Jan-June 2011

The martyrdom, 335 years ago, of Guru Tegh Bahadur (April 1, 1621 - November 11, 1675) in the complex of Chandani Chowk – literally the moon lit square, the pleasure market in the evening of the royalty and aristocracy - facing the massive Red Fort and not far from the majestic Jama Masjid, both reflecting the might and splendor of, Shah Jehanbad, the new capital of the Mughal Empire at its zenith, has become the most defining moment in the history of not only India but the entire human civilization. Here lies the consecrated spot of an extraordinary example of the supreme sacrifice of life by the Ninth Guru - the most exalted teacher - of the then nascent but the popular integrating faith which had been bestowed the ‘Pothi’ - the Book, by his grand father, who had been martyred six decades earlier in Lahore.

The unique distinction of the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur is underlined by the much larger issue at stake - the freedom of conscience and right of an individual to profess the faith of his choice. Guru Tegh Bahadur had stood up to defend the persecuted people of India who were not even the followers the faith enunciated by the great predecessor of Guru. This self sought martyrdom for the fundamental human right of the freedom to profess any religion was a path breaking idea which culminated into a resounding echo in the adoption on December 18, 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations Organization and represents the heart beat of the Constitution of Independent India.

To understand the spiritual background of the transformation of Sikhism, it would indeed be revealing and rewarding to refer to the Bachittar Natak - Stanza 444 - where Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth and the Last Guru - points out that the two significant forces represented respectively by the First Guru, Baba Nanak (1469-1539) and Zahir-ud-Deen Babar (1483-1530), the founder of the Mughal Empire and their successors were created by God around the same time. The former represented the benign spiritual power and the latter, physical temporal power. Guru Nanak came into contact with Babur whose name finds mention in his verses in context of, "reproaching the Almighty - the Shepherd obliged to protect His innocent flock - for letting loose on them the lion - conqueror from Khurasan, bringing death and destruction on Hindustan." It is recorded in Sikh chronicles that Guru Angad Dev (1504-1552) had been contacted by Babur’s son, Humayun; Guru Amar Das (1479-1574) and Guru Ram Das (1534—1581) were paid cordial visits by Emperor Akbar; Guru Arjan Dev (1563-1606) had also interacted with Akbar and but Jehangir had him martyred for his faith, and the allegation that the Guru had sheltered rebel Prince Khosrow. Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) had also faced the wrath of Jehangir and Shah Jehan; Guru Har Rai(1630-1661), Guru Har Krishan (1656-1664), Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) were all contemporaries of Aurangzeb (1618-1707). It may be pointed out that the rampant intrigues and conspiracies among the Mughal princes for succession in the wake of the passing away of liberal and farsighted Akbar combined with the sharp controversies of sects of Islam led by Sheikh Ahmad Sarhandi of the hard line Naqashbandi order created an atmosphere of distrust and confrontations with Sikh Gurus. When Sheikh Ahmed’s son Muhammad Masum, predicting Aurangzeb’s victory in the war of succession, became his mentor, an era of intolerance and fanaticism in enforcing the strict Sunni tenets of Islam became the order of the day during Aurangzeb’s long reign for a half century.

It is instructive to go into the details of the life of Guru Tegh Bahadur and understand the circumstances faced by Community of Sikh people during this period. Born in the early hours of April1, 1621 in Amritsar, the youngest of the five sons of sixth Guru Hargobind, Tegh Bahadur, as per the instructions of his father, was trained to be a rider and marksman and was also taught the various classics. He was, however, noticed to be of mystical temperament with disposition towards prolonged spells of contemplation and was even known as Tyag Mal-the Master of Renunciation. But his bravery in the battle of Kartarpur in April 1635 earned him the name Tegh Bahadur-the hero of the sword- from his father with whom stayed in Kiratpur for the next nine years. He was married, as per the practice, to Gujari on Feb.4, 1631. As desired by his father, he and his mother Nanaki and wife Gujari (1624-1705) made Bakala, a prosperous town not far from Amritsar, as their residence for the next two decades. He was engaged all these years in the spiritual studies and undertaking pilgrimages. Then came the call of destiny when the Eighth Guru Hari Kishan, before his untimely demise on March 30, 1664, pointedly indicated that the his successor-the next Guru- was to be found in Bakala. The emergence of many impostors –Sodhis of Lahore / Amritsar and descendants of Suraj Mal / Dhir Mal of Kartar Pur created a big commotion in Bakala for many months. The Sikh references profusely detail how a devotee, Makhan Shah Vanjara, a trader from Muzaffarabad, Kashmir announced from the house top on October 7-Guru Ladho Re-Guru has been found-proclaiming Tegh Bahadur as the Ninth Guru in the line of Nanak,
to the congregation gathered for Diwali.

Tegh Bahadur had to face continued hostility from the pretenders who created obstacles for him to enter the Hari Mandir and refused to respect the desire of the followers to hand over to him the Pothi prepared by Guru Arjan. After spending some time in Kiratpur, Tegh Bahadur, following the tradition of the Gurus’ house, founded a new township, and called it Chak Nanaki, on June 19,1665 - later to be known Anandpur - in the hill state of Bilaspur. He set out soon on missionary tours, accompanied by his mother and wife and a few devout disciples. Travelling to the south eastern region of Punjab, he got wells dug up at places of scarcity of water, inspired people to work honestly, weaning them away from tobacco and other intoxicants. He also visited Kurukshetra, Agra, Ittawa, and Prayag. Benaras,Gaya, and finally reached Patna. He resolutely refused to perform rituals at the various temples on the way saying,” He who trusts in God and makes an honest living to share with others and injures no one…need perform no other rituals…And, as for the ancestors, they gather the reward of what they themselves have sown and no one can bless or curse them after they are gone.” He proceeded further on tour of Kamrup (Assam) via Dhaka and preached there for about two years. He is also mentioned to have brought about a compromise in 1670 between forces of Raja Ram Singh, a general of Aurangzeb, and the local King. It is believed that he might have heard the news of his son’s birth on December 22, 1666 at Patna during his eastern tours which began in the middle of that year. He spent about three years in Patna after his return, taking special care to arrange instruction of his young son not only in Sikh religious lore but also in Persian and Sanskrit as well as in traditional sports including riding, hunting and swordsmanship, as testified by Guru Gobind Singh in Bachittar Natak.

It was during 1671-73 that the Guru returned to Anandpur, preaching all the way back to the devotees. He found that the condition of non-Muslims under the rule of Aurangzeb had worsened as never before. In a general order of April 1669, Aurangzeb called upon, "all governors of provinces to destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of infidels; and they are strictly enjoined to put a stop to the teaching and practicing of idolatrous forms of worship". The celebration of festivals like Diwali and Holi had been forbidden and there were wholesale demolition of temples in the country. It was in the background of such crushing situation that a deputation of Kashmiri Brahmins led by Pandit Kirpa Ram Dutt of Mattan visited Guru Tegh Bahadur on May 25, 1675 at Anandpur and narrated their tragic tales. The Sikh chroniclers narrate that the Guru, after a thoughtful pause, advised them, "Tell the Mughal Viceroy that the Brahmins will embrace Islam if Tegh Bahadur, whom we revere as our Guru, is persuaded to do so." The wheels of the Mughal state moved fast; the Guru and his three companions namely Mati Das,Sati Das and Dayal Das were taken into custody at Malikpur, Pargana Ghanaula on July 12, 1675 and were sent to Sirhind where they were kept for about four months. They were eventually taken to Delhi on November 5, 1675 under formal orders from Aurangzeb. After the formality of trial, the Guru was made to witness the killing of his three companions in the most brutal manner- and was beheaded the next day, on November 11, 1675. The Sikh narrations detail how Guru’s body was cremated in Raisina area by Lakhi Shah Vanjara who put his house on fire to prevent detection by the authorities. The head was carried all the way to Kirtpur on November 16 by Bhai Jaita and his two companions and it was cremated the next day at Anandpur by his son, Gobind Rai.

It may be stated that a lot of scholarship has been invested in defining and elaborating the tradition of 'martyrdom' in the history of all the faiths of humanity. Originating from the Greek word, 'maryr', meaning 'witness', it has come to signify, 'willingness to die rather than renounce one’s beliefs or principles'; 'supreme self- sacrifice for faith bearing witness to its truth' and, in its purest form, martyrdom is a voluntary, conscious, and altruistic readiness to suffer and offer one’s life for a cause. In Western society, the death of Socrates (399 B.C.E), described in Plato’s Phaedo is an early example of a martyrdom that defended ideas. Jewish tradition assigns the honor of martyrdom not only to those who affirm the faith against threat, but also to victims such as those of the Holocaust, who were not given the choice. The persecution of Christians by Romans towards the end of the third century produced many early martyrs. In Islam, Shahid - the word for martyr - also means witness and it is in Hadith literature that the figure of the martyr is delineated in great detail as a unique person set apart from all other Muslims. The classical period witnessed the development of distinct proto-Sunni, proto-Shiite traditions - the martyrdoms of Ali while praying , unarmed ,in a mosque in Kufa; the Prophets grand sons, Hasan who was poisoned by an agent of enemy and Husayn who was slain in 680 C.E at Karbala have become central to Shiite Islam observance. The Sikh tradition pioneered by the twin supreme martyrdoms of Guru Arjan Dev( 1606) and Guru Tegh Bahadur certainly provided a unique vitality and spiritual strength to the suffering people to be ready to die for a life of honor following their faith. The uniqueness of the two martyrs lies in the authentically ample sacred verses for their followers to reflect upon and incorporate in their way of living.

Guru Tegh Bahadur, apart from his other remarkable qualities of head and heart, was a blessed poet with profound imagination and insight. The poetic composition of the Guru preserved in the Adi Granth-in the form of hymns (59) and Shlokas i.e. couplets (57), exquisitely set to 15 Ragas - musical modes - of Indian classical music, and is believed to be only a fraction of his work. According to Sikh sources, while proceeding to Delhi under the summons from Aurangzeb, the Guru experienced a spontaneous flow of poetry which was speedily scribed in Persian script by Sati Das - it was, however, seized by unscrupulous authorities branding it as charms. The language of the compositions of the Guru is main stream Hindi, popular in Uttar Pradesh ,Bihar and areas beyond where Guru had a sizable following. The concept of Vairagya-detachment - finds a dominant note in his verses-the whole world is ephemeral: ‘like the shade of cloud’; ‘false like a mirage’; ‘like a dream destroyed in no time’; ‘like a mountain of smoke’. The implicit point driven home is that a person should aspire for an honest nobler life detaching himself from greed, pride, luxury, sensuality. It is an enormous challenge to follow the right path in a world full of vices and blemishes - ‘the pleasures of Maya-Illusion - are unstable like the wall of sand.’ The solution offered by Guru is quite clear,’ Childhood, youth and old age are three stages of life, but without the remembrance of Hari - the Righteous One, all the three are futile.’ The weakness of body and flesh, fickleness of mind, agony of desire, emptiness of pleasures and the ultimate reality of Death are explained in deeply haunting similes and metaphors used by the Guru in his verses.

Guru Tegh Bahadur’s verses, hailed as the Divine Songs of Nirvana, indeed epitomize ultimate values of the spiritual heritage of not only India but entire humanity. We listen to the deeply lyrical and powerful voice of a poet-prophet who celebrates spirit of human freedom and Divine wisdom, keeping it all so simple and steeped in the fragrance of the purity of his own soul. The scholars of music of India have been fascinated by the patterns of the musicality of the Guru’s verses and the selection of Ragas reflecting most appropriately a special mood during the time of the day and the mystical nuances in the hymn. The hymns begin with Gaudi Raga, origin attributed to Gauda-east Bengal, and other Ragas including Asa and Asavari, Maru Ragini, Bilawal, Dhanasari, Devgandhari, Bihagda, etc have been befittingly employed. He is the only Guru to write hymns in Jayjavanti Raga, having the tonality of vigor, tenderness, prayer and aspiration. Interestingly, it is mentioned that Siranda, a modified variety of Sarangi, an invention of Guru Arjan, was a favorite instrument of the Darbar of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh.

To sum up, it may be stated that Guru Tegh Bahadur who assumed the responsibilities to lead his people in the most trying circumstances - personal feuds in the extended family and increasingly oppressive regime of Aurangzeb - was quite clear and focused on his mission and the message and he set out to accomplish both with classical restraint and dignity. According to Professor K.R. Srinivas Iyengar, the two historical Shlokas-Guru Tegh Bahadur’s address to his son, "All human power has failed. / humanity groans in chains;... Lord, save them... as Thou didst save / The elephant that prayed." and Gobind’s reply, "All power is mine with Thy Grace, / The fetters of bondage are broken, For Liberty of Truth, everything is possible, / Lord, everything is in Thy Hands." – between them embrace the whole mystical tremendum, the passion and the tragedy of human despair, and the martyrdom that was the guarantee of the resurrection and rehabilitation. Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom in the heart of the mythological city personifying the heart of Hindustan and his message in the exquisite poetry in the language of his people will indeed continue to inspire eternally all those subjected to suffer under tyranny and injustice. He is verily the Chaddar - protecting shield - of the people of Hind, and beyond!

Giani Zail Singh - Limitlessness of Art and Craft of Politics

Reminiscences on his Birth Day

I can vividly recollect that it was around 21st of February; 1957.We had finished the sixth and the last paper of Middle Standard Examination in Govt. High School, Malerkotla. This Special examination, meant for the Govt. Middle Schools, was not mandatory for High Schools but we - the select three students - were sponsored by our school to appear for the scholarships awarded to those scoring high marks in this examination. I do remember that it was the time of the Second General Assembles of the States and the Lok Sabha Elections in India and the high-pitched propaganda by loud speakers was indeed in full swing. We could hear it loud and clear in the examination room, even though engrossed in solving our question papers.

The announcement on the loud speakers on that day informed that Shri Dhebar, President of the Indian National Congress, would address a public meeting in the evening in the ground of the Grain Market of the city. I got quite excited to have a glimpse of a leader who was the chief of the party of Gandhi and Nehru - the Party that had won freedom for the country. At the big public rally, I - then a child of 13 - was, however, impressed much more by the oratory in Punjabi and personality of a Sardar, immaculately dressed in the black Sherwani and churidars - and a well adorned white turban distinguishing him apart among the many crowding at the stage. He was soon holding the mike to introduce the frail looking Gandhian, announcing his full name - Uchharangray Navalshankar Dhebar Ji - and made a moving speech eulogizing the sacrifices of the Congress Party in the struggle for freedom. The name of this person, in his youthful early forties, was Giani Zail Singh, who was then Vice President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. I came to know that he had himself been imprisoned and tortured in the notorious Princely state of Faridkot. It was confirmed in the later years that he was a faithful friend of the freedom fighters in my town, Ahmedgarh, including my school teacher Giani Sucha Singh ‘Dardi’ and other popular patriots in the area like Sardar Ganda Singh Kup Kalan, S / Shri Babu Ram Sood, Amar Nath Jain, Ram Sarup, Hukam Chand etc –all Advocates and Praja Mandalites (activists against native rulers) - in the neighboring state of Nawab of Malerkotla.

After serving for one year as a lecturer in English in the DAV College, Jalandhar, I was selected for Punjab Govt. Service and served in Govt. College, Bathinda from Sept. 1967 to June 1969. My soul mate friend, Prof Sat Prakash Garg, was quite intimate with many political animals of the area including the several working closely with Giani Ji. I remember meeting one Zora Singh Brar. There were tons of stories floating about his deep concerns for the marginalized masses of the formerly PEPSU area under the oppressive feudal lords; his being a rare amalgam of being a devout Sikh and a truly secular nationalist; his abundant humanity and humility as a politician and above all his fabled generosity towards old friends of the era of freedom struggle, not to speak of his magnetic charm to win new friends.

Giani Zail Singh, on the right, after release from the
Raja of Faridkot's prison, with his elder brother and father.

The politics in the state had undergone a quick sea change in the wake of the reorganization of Punjab in Nov. 1966 after the formation of the new Punjabi speaking state. The next five years witnessed a game of musical chairs with six chief ministers warming the chair and the situation of instability resulting in grievous set back to the progress of the state. The limited factional agendas and divisive communal politics of the Akali Dal and the then Jan Sangh sowed seeds of many avoidable problems in the newly born truncated state. The turning point was observed in the horizon in Dec. 1970 when Giani Zail Singh emerged victorious in a by election in Anandpur Sahib. On the trail of this victory, I became an authentic witness to a rare comic-politico event in my home town, Ahmedgarh. Shri Kishori Lal, who claimed to be Giani Ji’s comrade during the struggle of the Praja Mandal epoch, in moments of tall talking in the company of fun loving friends in the Gandhi Chowk-the Hyde Park of my town, got tricked into a bet that he could get Giani Zail Singh to come to speak to the people in the Chowk within 24 hours. And, lo, behold, the waiting crowds getting bigger and bigger-around 10pm, Giani Ji was seen alighting from the old Fiat car, smiling and holding proudly the hand of Kishori Lal. Though looking exhausted, he climbed the make-shift stage and exclaimed in a deeply hoarse voice, "when old friends call me, come what may, I have to come to reciprocate their affection and good faith-I would continue doing so even when I am not in this world!." He, of course, cautioned Kishori Lal to be more prudent in future in staking their friendship over trifles. Giani Ji had surely conquered the hearts of all the people gathered there - I being one of them, now a few months away to join the Indian Foreign Service. I had the privilege to call on Giani Ji in Oct. 1972 in his office as Chief Minister of Punjab, along with three other IFS colleagues, after we finished our District Training Program in Punjab. My career in the Foreign Service resulted in my lying abroad for the most of the years of Giani Ji’s active political career till his last. It was, however, always so instructive - at times deeply disappointing and disturbing too - to discuss with good old friends the complex forces at work during the long dark period of extremist violence in the Punjab. Some of them opined that the return of Mrs. Indira Gandhi to power in 1980 with a massive mandate against Janta Party’s sickening internal feuds and gross misrule had the seeds of degeneration and decay of political proprieties in her party. The naked parade of dynastic rule; the rag tag of Sanjay’s followers; the principle of ‘poodle loyalty’ above all; ministers turning money - spinners and ‘masterly mishandling’ of situation in the Punjab consumed not only the last four years of great Indira Gandhi but also singed a promising career of youthful Rajiv Gandhi. Giani Ji was destined to play –or some times denied to play-the most crucial role in the events pregnant with most tragic consequences for his beloved Punjab. What an irony of history: the most valiant and most patriotic Sikhs had been at helm of affairs in every walk of national life of India since Independence till a devout Sikh was elevated to the highest constitutional post of the land.

With Indian Cricket Captain, Kapil Dev
and the Cricket World cup in 1983

The memories, anecdotes, jokes, gossips - good, bad and ugly - of the colourfully simple life of Giani Zail Singh (May 5, 1916 - December 25, 1994), continue ‘Google-searching’ in the ocean of my consciousness - some one who never knew him personally. The well wishers of Giani Ji - and also those not well disposed towards him - it is some satisfaction that the book, in the first person, titled, 'Memoirs of Giani Zail Singh, The Seventh President of India' compiled by S. Manohar Singh Batra, who in the words of Giani Ji, "is a highly competent official, a retired Deputy Director General of All India Radio … my Officer on Special Duty since early 1986", was published in 1997. The 50 chapters of the book, Pages 317, Har Anand Publications make an engrossing reading for all those interested in a turbulent period of India’s recent history. The politicians of Punjab have preferred not to pen their memoirs. Giani Ji too willed the book to be published after his death. The Indian politicians, perhaps, are extra cautious to keep all options open till the last breath - the political truth could be conveniently modified according to the attendant and evolving individual ambitions. Giani Ji could muster limited belated courage, of putting on record - in words of English - his thoughts and perceptions on some of the fiercest political battles of complex national challenges in which he was caught- some time firing political salvos, sometime in the cross fire.

Born in a humble home of a peasant - carpenter family in the most backward part of Malwa region of Punjab and brought up under conditions of acute physical hardships and missing formal education, Giani Ji had indeed continued confounding his admirers and detractors by his consummate political skills in the ever turbulent political waters of not only Punjab but also at the Byzantine Delhi Durbar. As a popular mass leader, he reflected the quintessential ethos and aura of the sufferings and sacrifices during the freedom struggle of India. He had few peers as a forceful and mesmerizing orator in Punjabi and Hindustani. He had an elephantine memory of old comrades and even faceless congress workers in the country and believed in helping them without their asking for the favor.

The admirers of Giani Ji ruefully remember how his caste conscious opponents in his home state of Punjab derisively called him ‘Gulli Gharh’ - the wood worker. Punjab has been waiting since long the change in the caste of the chair of Chief Minister. The quintessential son of the soil and ever a hard realist and nationalist to the core, Giani Ji wisely chose to be cremated in Delhi, in the vicinity of memorials of the Father of the Nation and the First Family of the country. How the nation will plan to remember him in 2016 - the year of the centenary of his birth - will is quite instructive to watch.

What is my Religious Identity?

For a liberal mind - perhaps, better to say, ‘liberated mind’ or ‘secular mind’ - in independent India, the word ‘religion’ - Dharma, according to the Hindu scriptures and Deen/Mazhab in the context of Islamic theology - would seem to evoke, on the one hand, the whole lot of the paraphernalia of the most inhuman ‘caste system’ which historically polluted even the other egalitarian foreign faiths landing in India and, on the other hand, the never ending bloody antagonism between ‘the But Prassat’ - the Idol Worshippers Hindus and ‘the Buut Shikan’ - the Idol Breakers Musalmans.

For a ‘secular’ - the word still remains ill defined and hotly debated - Indian, the troubles for humanity must have started multiplying with the invention of ‘My God versus Your God’. The races and tribes in different lands must have sought to sanctify their earthly greed and gains by invoking the supernatural authorities. The strictly selfish motivations of later day rulers often made God to be a stake holder in their nefarious ventures undertaken with their bigger battalions and deadlier weapons. The evolution of self perpetuating priestly classes must have soon become a formidable partner in the social dispensations as well as in times of peace and war. The mercenary invasions and conquests, edified as crusades and jihads, were followed by colonialism and political subjugation by resorting to horrible and despicable deeds in the game of one human group preying upon another.

In the sacred land of Bharatvarsha boasting the flourishing of ancient civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, the soul stirring Bhajans and Dohas - the hymns and couplets - of Bhagats - the wandering saint singers - and the Qabbalis and Qaafis Sufi Faqirs - the integrating poets - proved indeed lasting but limited in their influence against the power driven engines of the state. To mention a few like Fareed, Nanak, Kabir, Ravidas, Ghalib, Sahir - representing the long lineage of inspired bards singing praise of One and Omniscient Divinity - even rebuking Him for tolerating injustice in the world supposedly sustained by Him - have all indeed endeavored hard incessantly to transform the ‘evil in mankind’ into ‘nobility in humankind’.

In a mysterious and fascinating process of spiritual awakening, every individual is undergoes a unique religious upbringing in the family, an illuminating experience in a multicultural environment of India. While one could afford to feel relaxed about the inherited religion depending upon the family traditions, it is the caste identity which has continued to play havoc with the young impressionable minds in the land whose length and breadth is often quoted using a withered phrase, “Kashmir to Kanya Kumari and Arabian Sea to Bay of Bengal”. The social-tsunami of ‘Mandalisation’ triggering ‘Kamandalisation’ has tragic-comically reinforced the socio-religious identities of the nation with a constitution clearly codifying elimination of all distinctions based on creed, caste, color, gender…etc. There is hardly a single day in the life of the nation without reports of serious clashes ignited by sectarian or caste issues. The shrieking lines of poem Sahir Ludhianvi sung soulfully by Mohammad Rafi, heard in childhood, continue ringing in my ears - “Jinhen naaz hai Hind par, voh kahan hai” - “Where are those proclaiming pride in the heritage of India!”

The 12th of February this year: a young school teacher turned enumerator for National Census - 2011 revisited our residence to record the second category of information on the socio-economic profile of the family including the ‘philosophically challenging’ question of ‘religion’ and the most explosively and divisively debated column of ‘caste’.

The response to ‘religion’ made me travel into the totality of the experience of how ‘religiosity’ has been assuming various contours in my consciousness. The earliest is a misty image of pilgrimage as a toddler with mother and her family to Amritsar. I remember being told that I had behaved with a seriousness and discipline far beyond my age while taken around the sacred surroundings of Harmandir Sahib, refusing to urinate or relieve myself till the holy site was out of sight! My tall and well built maternal uncle had been carrying me on his broad shoulders. He lifted me up to sway and ring the big bell hanging from the ceiling of Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai - in the process; I got hit in the face with some blood flowing from nose!

The childhood experiences of the religious kind, perhaps, personify the essence of spirituality - to quote Nida Fazli, “Baccha bola dekh kar, Masjid aalishan / Ek akele Khuda ko, itna barha makan!” - “Looking at the majestic mosque, the child asked - why such a huge house for God who is solitary and single!” The ceremonies of Mundan - the first religious shaving of the head; the Sunnat - the circumcision of Semitic faiths; the Janeoo - sacred thread, unshorn hair of a Sikh, etc, leave lasting impressions of religious differentiation. My upbringing was a subtle mix of liberal Sikhism and broader Hinduism - the unshorn hair but a non-Sikh name as per established family tradition adopted for a few generations in our own sect of Deewana Sadhus - the free mendicants. By the time I completed my two classes of school from the neighboring village, my grandfather had made me learn by heart, with intense affection, Hanuman Chalisa along with many Dohas and poems relating to Ramayana while grandmother made me recite Japu Ji and Rahiras - morning and evening Sikh prayers.

The deaths in quicker succession of mother when I was less than three year old followed by deaths of two beloved great grandfathers, maternal grandfather would seem to have struck strange awe and void in me. I recall that there was also the tradition of the family Guru - a Sodhi, supposedly a direct descendant of Sikh Gurus. When I was in the fifth class, the family Sodhi Sikh Guru, Baba Bhola Singh, a dignified person with well tied white beard and well dressed in ‘churidar-bandgala’ - a tight white trouser with closed neck brown jacket - said to my father that I was now grown to be ceremonially baptized as his disciple. I marvel at my father’s quick but thoughtful reply, ”Look, Guru Ji, things in every sphere including religious practices are changing so fast in free India; we don’t know what this child is going to be … let us not burden him with anything which belonged to a past tradition of our time.”

The atmosphere of my High School in the grain market town of Ahmedgarh during 1951-58, with its Gandhian and nationalist ethos and thanks to scholarly-secular teachers opened up, the gates leading to respect for all religions but malice towards none. The two years of graduation in the DAV College, Jalandhar made me conscious that communalism could go around camouflaged in subtle hues. I felt that Punjab, the land of the mighty minds and brave warriors, was cursed many times over to suffer grievously due to the narrow minded interpretations of the most universal of faiths born of its spiritually fertile soil.

I was destined to around the globe for my livelihood. The greatest satisfaction - I may say salvation - in my means of livelihood indeed was derived most loving cross-cultural and multi-religious experiences. The duties of lying abroad in the various lands including those of glories of ancient Persia of Zoroaster (628-551BC); the magnificence of Cordoba/Granada in Moorish Spain; the sands of liquid gold of the sacred birthplace of Islam; Armenia of Noah’s Ark in the mythological Koh-e-Kaff, not to speak of once-our-own Taxila – have made me belong to all the faiths of humanity but slave to no one.

The enumerator of Census of India quoted the rule book to tell me, “You have the choice to record in the column, ‘No religion’ but not to say, ‘Secular’. The word, ‘secular’ is yet to mature to be entitled an entry in the National Census of India - 2011. As for the conundrum of caste, the less said the better about, “We the People of India”.

I, as one of the most law abiding senior citizen of Independent India, would like to know - for how many more generations the people of India are doomed to carry the cross of unbearable divisions - in the names of murderous religions and killing castes!

As for my own ‘religious identity’ I may quote from ‘Prayer’ by Faiz Ahmed Faiz:

Aayiye haath uthaen ham bhi/ Ham jinhen rasmen dua yaad nahin
Ham jinhen soz-e-Mohabbat ke siva / Koee buut, koee Khuda yaad nahin.

Come, let us also raise our hands / We who do not remember the way to pray.
We, who except for burning flame of love / Remember not any idol, any God

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Faiz A. Faiz - Romancing the Revolution

Since my return to Delhi in retirement in 2004 after crisscrossing the continents for consecutive 21 years-including 777 days in Pakistan during 1992-94 - my 1st day of the new year has been invariably celebrated attending the day-night cultural function dedicated to the memory of Safdar Hashmi. Safdar was a political street-theatre activist in mid–thirties of his life when he was martyred on this day in 1989 by goons of a Party never tired of invoking the name of Mahatma Gandhi. This multidimensional event showcasing music, drama, poetry, painting, book-sale/souvenirs, etc - all embracing revolutionary, secular, progressive causes - has come to personify the touching simplicity and dignity of nostalgic grandeur of all that the Marxist and progressive ideology has stood for. The themes of 150 years of 1857 / Birth Centenary of martyr Bhagat Singh; threats to freedom of expression of artists and tribute to Chhatisgarh - theatre fame Habib Tanvir have been the focus of special celebration in the recent years. I have been expectantly looking forward to what signature tune - and tone - of the national cultural consciousness would be ushered in for the new year in the lawns of Vithal Bhai Patel House, boasting an all-weather-withered grass!

It was indeed immensely impressive and appropriate to find that it was ‘Faiz Hi Faiz’ as the theme of the year 2011 to herald the year long activities in India, Pakistan and all over the world - where ever a few ‘Deewanas - aficionados’ of Ghalib and Gorakhpuri’s medium of poetic expression happen to lie! As on 13th February, the 100th birth day of Faiz (1911 - Nov.20, 1984), more than 60 countries have already announced various kinds of functions dedicated to the memory of the poet with a global vision of the relentless struggle for the freedom, justice and dignity for the oppressed and exploited humanity. The internet has surely become the most potent instrument of revolutionary upsurges in ‘globally-wired-connected community’ - including the celebration of centenary of Faiz. The poet of people would have certainly penned his most lyrically eloquent poem in praise of ‘internet’ which has united the largest ever number of people in history!

The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat) function was indeed a very generous (the word, ‘Faiz’, interestingly means generosity, bounty, beneficence) and imaginative treat for the indulgent and ‘well-versed’ audience which included Minister Jai Ram Ramesh (not the slightest protocol fuss) and controversially dazzling Arundhati Roy not to speak of so many stalwarts of the progressive platforms led by historian Prof Bipin Chandra and jeans-shawls adorned youthful Tulba-university students. The Shamiana venue was tastefully decorated with the calligraphic posters of proverbially quoted shae’rs - poetic couplets - of Faiz. The popular lyrics - Ghazals - of Faiz were soulfully sung by Rekha Raaz while recitation of select Nazms - longer compositions - by film-maker activist Sohail Hashmi and scholarly Syeda Saiyidana Hameed were a rare delight to listen - in their impeccable Tallafuz-accent of Urdu which Faiz himself might have envied!

The solid and the most significant content of Sahmat function was, of course, the release of the ‘Faiz Centenary Special’ commemorative issue of quarterly in Hindi, ‘Naya Path - New Path’, Vol. 24, Issue 4, Oct.-Dec. 2010, Price Rs 100. The journal is an organ of Janvadi Lekhak Sangh - Peoples’ Writers Union. The impressive publication of 432 pages, with four portraits of the poet by eminent artists is indeed a collectors’ item for Faiz aficionados. The editorial under title, 'Yun hi uljhati rahi hai zulum se khalaq - the people have, for ever, risen against tyranny’ underlines that celebration of Faiz’s birth centenary is becoming a part of the incessant struggle of the oppressed against the oppressors. Faiz was a firm supporter of friendship between India and Pakistan and considered it to be vitally important for peace and prosperity in the region and beyond. He remained in the forefront in the movement for restoration of liberal democracy in Pakistan and his ideas expressed in exquisite poetry were indeed a source of strength, inspiration and solace for the terrorized masses. It is particularly pointed out that the publication has brought forth for the first time the views of younger poets of Hindi explaining how they are indebted to Faiz for their creative energy and inspiration. The special number has four parts - titled respectively, the Mirrors of Memories; Conversations via Letters; Faiz’s Select Poetry/ Essays and In the Eyes Literary Critics. The publication has even endeavored to bridge the Urdu-Hindi divide by explaining meanings of less familiar words in the select poetry in it.

The Faiz Centenary Calendar, 2011 released by SAHMAT has 6 evocative paintings by M F Hussain - 'Faiz - A Portrait'; 5 paintings with quotations of Faiz poetry - Aaj ke naam aur aaj ke gham ke naam… to the present and sorrows of present…; Zuban pe mohar lagi hai to kya… It matters not that the lips are sealed …; Mere Qatil, mere dildaar mere paas raho… my tormentor, my love, be near me…; Nisar mein teri galion pe ae vatan… I abandon myself defenseless to your streets ,my country…; hamne jo tarz e fughan ki thi qafas mein iizaad… lamentations which we had created in cage…. Mazrooh Sultanpuri is quoted proclaiming Faiz as the Meer Taqi 'Meer' of progressive poetry while Raghupati Sahai 'Firaq' Gorakhpuri observes that, "enlightened wisdom, sensitivity and artistic finess with which Faiz combined affairs of the heart with other social concerns was something novel and unique in Urdu poetry."

For me at a deeper person level, introduction to the poetic magic of Faiz was made some time in May 1956 during a local conference of the Communist Party affiliated Primary School Teachers Federation in my small town, near Ludhiana. I, freshly promoted to Sixth class, was hanging around the venue of the conference because my uncle, a teacher, was closely involved in organizing it. I can distinctly recall how the lines of Faiz’s celebrated 10 line poem titled, 'Tarana - Chorus Song’ recited by teacher Bahadur Singh had, as if, pierced into my soul. Later, I was to know more about this poem of Faiz but must quote first the memorable lines:

Ai Khaqnashinon, utth baitho,veh vaqat qarib aa pahuncha hai

Jab takhat giraye jayenge, jab taaj uchhale jayene….

Katate bhi chalo,barhte bhi chalo,bajoo bhi bahut hain,sar bhi bahut

Chalte bhi chalo ke: ab dere Manzil pe hi dale jayenge….

O, the oppressed, Rise up: Time has indeed arrived

When thrones will be pulled out, crowns will be tossed around

March ahead, even with limbs severed: arms are many, heads many more,

Press on, move forward; we would stop only at point of destination

The free translation by me cannot do justice to the ringing rhythm of the original. How fascinatingly strange that these very lines were echoing in my ears thirty two years later in the winter of 1978 in Tehran when I was a witness to surging street protests against the Shah of Iran!

I was further privileged in Tehran to enjoy the most instructive company of great poet and critic Ali Jawad Zaidi (1916-2005) who had himself been a leading light of progressive movement. Zaidi observes in his celebrated classic, 'History of Urdu Literature', "Faiz raised his voice in support of freedom of expression… He has created new symbols or imbued old ones with new meaning and has a knack for conveying … the most fiery sentiments in a misty tone which cast a spell on the reader … His real greatness lies in utilizing the traditional erotic imagery to express the patently social aspirations and conflicts without being obviously didactic about a theme which invites a semi-philosophical approach. He absorbs the agony of the wounds time has inflicted on his poetic being to recreate his experiences into a moving symphony of words."

When I landed in Lahore in the evening of 6th of September 1992, it was the lines of Faiz haunting my thoughts - "Ae roshnion ke shahar - O, city of Lights…" So many kind friends in Pakistan including Faiz’s poetic inheritor Ahmed Faraz narrated to me tons of anecdotes to bring out how Faiz was a (Sufi) saintly soul, a rare gentleman and a friend-philosopher to a generation of struggling creative individuals in Pakistan and India. The current state of affairs in Pakistan, particularly the atmosphere bloodily surcharged by the religious extremism in the wake of broad day killing on 4th Jan. of Faiz’s nephew, Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer made Faiz’s daughter Salima to recall her father’s verse:

Jis dhaj se koi maktal mein gaya, baat yehi rah jaani hai.

Yeh jaan tou aani jaani hai, iss jaan ka rona kya kije.

The tale how proudly he walked to slaughter house, will endure forever

This life comes and goes anyway, what use is there to mourn its loss!

A statement made by Progressive Writers Association ( PWA) of Pakistan on Faiz centenary has emphasized, "…when identity of Pakistani people has been severely tarnished by self - appointed protagonists of Islam who are engaged in heinous crimes against humanity, there is no one better than Faiz to project the real self of the nation…". The PWA, Pakistan has invited all to protect and project all the ideals and central concerns of Faiz’s poetic vision. In Pakistan, the Association has called upon to promote peace and harmony amongst people of all races and nationalities, transcending religious, ethnic and linguistic differences and, globally, to represent Faiz as the ambassador of the soul and feelings of people of Pakistan, with the theme of Faiz centenary:

Aaiye hath uththaein ham bhi

Baraey aman-e alam aur insaani khushahali

Come, let us all raise our hands in prayer

For peace in world, and prosperity of all people

The two most esteemed souls I had the unique privilege to know and who knew Faiz so well - AJ Zaidi and Ahmed Faraz - would have surely more to add to the statement by PWA, Pakistan.

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The 9th Pravasi Divas - Signs of Diminishing Shine

The following article appeared in the online publication South Asia Post, Issue 127 Vol VI, January 15, 2011

THE Bharat Pravasi Divas(PBD) - the annual Kumbh Mela of Mother India’s children scattered all over the globe - was conceived and designed by the AB Vajpayee led NDA government to cater to the aspirations of India’s Diaspora Community for a renewal of cultural ties and playing roles in the feasible areas of mutual benefits. A lot of enthusiasm was generated during the two meets in 2003 & 2004.

Then the BJP faced an unexpected electoral reversal when people of India refused to be convinced of the slogan of 'shining India'. The UPA-1 Government was quick to create a Ministry of NRI Affairs - not a very thoughtful nomenclature which had to changed soon to Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs (MOIA). The choice of Shri Jagdish Tytler as the first Minister was also to prove controversial and he was replaced by Shri Vaylar Ravi with the rank of a cabinet Minister. The experienced hands of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) strongly feel that the new MOIA, grossly handicapped as it is in terms of both resources and expertise, is not an ideal arrangement - and that the MEA with an Overseas Indians Department can handle the matters of the Indians living abroad in a more competent and holistic manner.

The 9th Pravasi Divas held in Delhi from the 7th to 9th of January had all the standard ingredients of the previously set patterns. The events in India preceding immediately before the meet do cast a light or shadow over the deliberations during the conference. If the terrorist attack on Mumbai had its impact in 2009; return to power by the UPA-2 had defined the atmosphere in 2010. It might have been the whispers of recent spate of scandals of corruption filling the corridors of the PBD conference this time. The ‘feel good’ for Pravasis-Pardesis - could be as good or as bad as the Desis feel! The region of North East of the country had been show cased as the theme of the 9th edition of Pravasi Mela.

Before the formal inauguration of the meet the next day, there were series of seminars on 7th Jan for sectors of Education, health, Diaspora role models for the North East of India, initiatives by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Minster Kapil Sibal said that the gross enrollment ratio of children joining colleges has been set to increase from 12 to 30 by 2020 and that it would require 1,000 more universities and 4,500 more colleges involving an investment of $150 billion. He further informed that the Foreign Universities Bill would be passed very soon. The MP from Canada Ruby Dhalla talked of opportunities to be made available for adoption of schools and classrooms by overseas Indians. The Pravasi participants sought more slots/scholarships for their children. The super technocrat and PM’s advisor on Education & innovation, Shri Sam Pitroda, addressing participants in discussions on, ’Engaging Young Overseas’ asked, citing example his own daughter, them ,’to discover opportunities and meet challenges of a complex and chaotic land’.

The seminar on engaging diaspora in public-private partnership in the sector of health was addressed by the Representative of World Health Organisation in India who pointed out that India, with 17% of world population, carried 21% of burden of diseases, many avoidable, causing an annual loss of $54 billion. Dr Ramesh Mehra, secretary general of the Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO) informed that there are around 300,000 doctors of Indian origin working abroad and that they are keen to work in a variety of ways in India, including voluntary work, support in collaborative research and medical education. He further mentioned that 40.000 doctors of Indian origin work for National Health Service in the UK. A further 10,000 are retired and 15,000 are under training and that many look for opportunities in India - a scenario of reversal of brain drain. He also referred to the scope of research for cheap drugs but cited ‘bureaucratic obstacles...even in simple things.’ He drew attention to the issue of recognition of foreign medical qualifications. The discussions on Diaspora Philanthropy brought out interesting points. It was observed that while ‘charity’ was a gift of heart, ’philanthropy’ was ‘an act of head’ to make a sustainable change in the minds of people. Sh Sanjay Sinha ,President American-Indian Foundation, referred to its setting up of American-Indians Foundation in the wake of earthquake in Gujarat for people to people cooperation and that it has made investment in projects worth $65 million.

The discussions on investments by the PIOs/NRIs became livelier when the soft spoken Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh observed that India was not after their money if it was not profitable for them to invest here. It was mentioned that the figure for the FDI by Indians abroad was a meagre $26 million out of $ 27.2 billion. The remittances for 2009-10 remained impressive at $55.12 billion. The raising of references to Havala/black money caused raising of many an eyebrows!

The discussions pertaining to areas of Information, Communications and Entertainment(ICE) highlighted the range of enormous possibilities of building new bridges between India and her diaspora. It was noted that the emergence of digital connectivity has been a revolutionary factor in fostering power of social media. It has to be recognised that as the communication landscape gets denser, more complex, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, public discourse and coordinated action. The relevant organs of the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and other agencies have to upgrade their digital interaction with the diaspora.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pritabha Devi Singh Patil said what they were expected to say. PM’s announcement about the Right to vote by the Indians abroad, according to to perceptive insiders, is more of a tokenism involving a long process. The much mentioned ‘dual citizenship’ has been caught in a complicated debate over legal/security implications. Minister Ravi has rightly diluted it to the new Overseas Citizen of India(OCI) card. The plight of workers in the Gulf countries has been put into focus in the wake of several high profile criminal cases including those of death sentences.

The Chief Guest of the 9th Pravasi Divas Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor General of of New Zealand eminently deserved the honour bestowed upon him, being the only example so far of a person of descent of India rising to such a position in a predominantly white country. He narrated how his ancestors had departed from India four generations ago as indentured labour to Fiji from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh respectively and how pursuit of education changed the destiny of his family. I had the privilege of a closer interaction with him as High Commissioner during 2001-03 when he was Ombudsman of New Zealand. There were a dozen more of Pravasis conferred ‘Samman’ for their for their contribution in community work and professional excellence.

Apart from the CMs of the North-Eastern States and CM of Haryana, Deputy CMs of Bihar and Punjab actively interacted with the diaspora and the media. Sukhbir Badal underlined the need for for an agreement with Canada to bring to book ‘the exploiters of NRI girls for marriages’ and cited a figure of 25,000 such cases. He also referred to the complaints of NRI’s ‘treating their parents like servants’. He announced that Punjab will set up a Commission for the NRIs-the first state to do so. The social engagements of the visiting high profile Punjabi NRIs made interesting page 3 reports.

The Pravasi Divas has, perhaps, over the years been evolving to assume the character of an annual Lohri Mela or even a fashion show for ‘pushy-high-heeled Indians lying abroad for their own gainful choice’. Time would seem have come to consider whether ‘annual hardy event’ should be made a biennial if not triennial exercise to be a more looked forward event reflecting a more rigorous and focused agenda. An old film song seems appropriate:

Ghar Aaya mera Pardesi, pyas bujhi meri akhiyan ki!
Darling one from distance, has come home
Thirst of awaiting eyes, has been quenched!

A Poet - Therapist of Pains of Punjab

Here is my article on eminent Punjabi poet Surjit Patar, who was recently awarded the prestigious award of Saraswati Samman.

During the long spell of my 'lying abroad' - 1975-'80 and then 21 consecutive years from 1982-2003 - it was my soul mate pen-pal Prof Sat Parkash Garg (1937-'96) of Bathinda who kept me posted till his last about the affairs of the beloved Punjab, particularly the developments on the socio-cultural and literary scene. It was he who had quoted (as advice!) Surjit Patar to me in one of his letters, "enna sacch na bol, ke kalla reh javen / Chaar ku Bande Chhad lai, Modha den laee - Do not tell truth to an extent to be left alone / Do spare four people to be pall-bearers." With the spreading of Patar's reputation for 'looting' all the Kavi Sammelans - Poetical Festivals - with his mesmerizingly melodious voice, I imagined him to be an inheritor of the mantle of inimitable lyricist Shiv Kumar whom I had listened and studied since student days.

The two recent functions in Delhi – one in Sahitya Academy and another to Award him prestigious Saraswati Samman on 17th September - established my literary introduction with Patar as a poetic-prophetic voice of my generation, in my mother tongue. I could recently finish reading all his poetical works in quick succession: I felt that his poetry has some thing about it comparable to the notes of agony and ecstasy in Bismillah Khan's Shehnai!

As an extra inquisitive student of the recent history of Punjab - the proverbial 'Land of Five Rivers', not to speak of 'Sapat Sindhu' of folk antiquity - I have been tempted to ask, "When was it that this land mass indeed enjoyed a period of a single generation of relative peace and progress since the celebrated poetic name figured formally in the official records during the reign of Emperor Akbar?" The popular war poem - Jang Hind - Punjab - by Shah Mohammad leaves me with a disgusting feeling that the destiny of the children of the Lion of the Punjab and the Khalsa Fauj was indeed fully deserved. One is grudgingly forced to seek some answer, with a substantive data, in the eight decades between 1880-1940 of the British rule when Lahore indeed emerged as a vibrant capital of commerce & culture and the province developed dream canal colonies. The revolution of rail / road transport had quietly knit colonial India together, never mind the 666 plus native kingdoms also flying their own flags.

Then, in the wake of freedom for the nation of Ashok and Akbar, befell the worst calamity of the Partition of the Five Waters. The arbitrary lines, drawn in a tearing hurry on the palm of Punjab by the white Sahib Radcliff, would transform for ever the Destiny of Punjabis - the Sikh in particular. The rulers in their new 'avatar' of politicians, representing characters in Mahabharata to the warring children of maker of Taj Mahal had their own selfish scores to settle causing 'collateral' massacres, genocides, mass rapes... It was left to the genius of Sadat Hasan Manto to tell the bitterest truths of the tragedies of the most madly partitioning of the legendary land of Buddha, Farid, Nanak... - but who cares to remember a Manto!

The poets have been becoming martyrs in the service of history by challenging the tyrants. During modern age of the M.A.D. - Mutually Assured Destruction - with the stock piles of nuclear weapons more than sufficient for decimating the planet many time over and the recent decades of mindless global terrorism, many of the soldiers of pen have dared to be warriors of peace in providing the healing touch and moral spine for the innocent masses who are victims of the oppression by both the instruments of state and those resorting to arms against perceived wrongs by the state.

Surjit Patar (Born Jan.14, 1945) has been acknowledged as the lyrically captivating and profoundly authentic voice in Punjabi poetry of the besieged Punjabis. He has been penning the most polished poetry without 'shying away' from the 'explosive' issues raging during the troubled times of terrorism in Punjab. A bright student in a village school near Kapurthala, he had shown an early promise in poetry and music which found a fuller expression during his studies in college. After completion of Post Graduation in Punjabi from Patiala where he met many kindred literary souls and later earned a Doctorate, Patar (pen name denoting softer version of the name of his village), joined the Dept. of Journalism, Languages and Culture in the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana in 1971.

The city of Sahir - Wizard (of words) - surely provided Patar a stimulating atmosphere to grow pretty wings of poesy while working under Mohan Singh, the veteran poet of, 'Saaven Pattar' (Published in 1936). This was the period when the Naxalite movement involving many literary activists had been brutally crushed by the state and the ideological space was being contested, among others, by the Sikh religious revivalists. Surjit Patar got formally launched in 1973 when the ten of his poems were published in an anthology titled, 'Collage'. The poems including, 'Pachhon te Purvaiyya' - Eastern and Western Breeze'; 'Gharar, Gharar - Incoherent Word'; 'Budhi Jadoogarni - The Old Witch' and, 'Chaunk Shahidan - The Square of Martyrs' attracted critical acclaim for Patar's effective and subtle mix of the declamatory and dramatic elements in expressing challenging themes:

Mere Punjab ne taan bahut chir hoeya, Khud Kashi Kar layee si…
Te meri maut da maatm karan da haqq hai kewal havavan nuun…

My beloved Punjab committed suicide long ago…
Only Breezes (East-West) are entitled to mourn for me…

The excesses under the rule of Emergency and its democratically dramatic overthrow by the people of India and the Great Shia Islamic Revolution in Iran could be considered for Punjab the two defining events of the seventies. Meanwhile in 1979, Patar brought out a comprehensive collection of 51 Ghazals - the celebrated Perso-Urdu poetic form comparable to Sonnet - with the title, 'Hava vich Likhe Harf' - Words Etched in Air. Patar proclaimed, "the Ghazals have kept me attuned with my deeper attachment with music … they are written in conjunction with the totality of my poetic creativity … they don't denote some sudden impulse or toeing the tradition" - the couplets below would indeed attest his assertion:

Asan tan du-bb ke khoon vich likhi eiy Ghazal
Oh hor hovange, likhde ne jihre behir andar

I composed Ghazal delving deep into my blood
Others may compose it sub-merged under rhyme

Kadi bandian de vaang saanoo milia vi kar
Aiven langh jaanai, paani hava di tarah

Meet some time, like a person of flesh and blood
Don't pass by, sometime like water, then like wind

In the eighties, Punjab had started slipping deeper into a complex tragic abyss with continuous killings of the innocent blamed on the Sikh militants. The Operation Blue Star, the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi and the triggering of mass killings of Sikhs all over India created the worst imaginable situation in Punjab. The real culprits of letting loose the engines of evil, as it happens in such colossal tragedies, will never be clearly identified - one may be tempted to pick up a piece of truth one likes. Surjit Patar dared to take on the monster of hatred and meaningless violence with his piercing poetic utterances. To the immense delight and satisfaction of Patar's discerning readership, the two anthologies of his poetry were published in 1992, titled respectively ,'Birkh Arz Kare - A Tree Implores' and, 'Hanere vich Sulghadi Varanmala - An Alphabet Simmering in the Dark.'. Patar shared with the readers:

Meri Kavita mere har mausam di vithia hai
Bahuta mera, thora thorha samian da itihaas vi hai

My poetry describes various seasons of my own tale
Mostly it is personal, here and there bits of history of my times

The poem 'Dhukhda Jangal - The Smoking Forest' is an extended metaphorical narrative of Patar's poetic perceptions of the crippling pains of the body and the soul of the present 'One-Fifth' of the original (British) Punjab - attributed by perspicacious Marxist critic Tejwant Singh Gill to political paranoia as well schizophrenia. The Varanmala has a number of poems which have indeed acquired the status of classic commentary on the crisis of Punjab.

Lafzan di Darghah

It is, however, my literary appreciation of the recently awarded, 'Lafzan di Darghah - The Ultimate Court (Kartar di Katcheri) of Words' published in 1999 - the Tercentenary year of founding of the Sikh faith - which I had set out to share with the readers in this column. Patar introduces the book saying, 'To mould my anguish into a song / is my way of salvation / if the other doors are shut / here is the door of a court of words.' He is at gentle satirical best in poems like, "My Poem - My mother could not make any sense of my poem, though it was written in my mother-tongue"; "Here Came Nand Kishore … How intimate is the relationship / between language and livelihood" and, "Meri Jaat - And stating my caste, I felt tongue tied."

Enjoy reading and reflecting over this anthology of 73 gems of vintage Patar - poetry.
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Video of Surjit Patar with his collection Udas Dosto - Melancholic Friends

A Vintage Voice in Punjabi Poetry

The following article appeared in the online publication South Asia Post, Issue 121 Vol VI, October 15, 2010

THE kindergarten teachers know that poetry precedes in the mysteriously unique process of learning language by the tiny tots. The learned linguists attest that this beautiful phenomena is applicable to the over all evolution of languages of humanity too. To take liberty with William Blake's often quoted lines - "Breathes there a person with soul so dead: Who to himself a line of poetry never said"! The people have zealously kept alive the rhythmical words of poets, the mighty conquerors of human hearts: the great warriors and conquerors who built vast empires remain consigned to the dustbins of history! One should observe the grace and dignity with which people throng around the tiny – make shift - grave of Armenia-born Sufi martyr poet, Sarmad, in the middle of stairs of the massive Jama Masjid, facing the historic Red Fort.

The introduction to poetry, as if, dawned upon me - thanks to my doting and poetry loving two great grandfathers and the First World War soldier grand father - before I could make a sense of or speak a simple sentence! It was, however, in the last week of February 1952 when at the age of eight plus, I was witness to the crafting of a poem, in the early morning hours, titled Shubh Kaamna Suman Mala - A garland of Flowers of Good Wishes - by a Hindi/Sanskrit scholar friend of my father, to be read at the marriage of my paternal aunt - Bhua ji - on 2nd of March. I am glad to say that this composition, embroidered with classical imagery of celebration of spirit of Vasant - Spring - impresses me even today.

Enters Krishan Kumar - a poetically inclined, shy, smiling friend of my literary minded uncle - Chacha - who was more than eight years my senior. I vividly recall how Krishan had attempted the first draft of the Sehra - a traditional wedding poem from the groom's side - for the second marriage of my widower father, solemnized in a village near Rajpura on March 9, 1953. To my amazement, Krishan still remembers couplets from this Sehra! Krishan Kumar – I think that he had added Thakhallus - pen name - 'Ashant' - 'the Restless' - before he passed Matriculation in 1954 in the First Division, completing ninth & tenth classes in one year. He had side stepped sincere advice of his favourite teachers in M.G.M.N. High School, Ahmedgarh that he should not be in a hurry and that he should aspire to win a university scholarship. Krishan Ashant is understood to have convinced his teachers that saving of one year of life was more precious than the amount of scholarship! The philosophical and intellectual fascination with Time - the ever elusive, eternal and omnipresent, Kaal - in its myriad dimensions, had possessed our poet and futurologist much earlier in life!

It, therefore, came as no surprise when Krishan Ashant, as an under graduate student in Ranbir College, Sangrur, became a popular figure - with his fulsome poetic beard and a healthy frame of a college boxer - at Kavi Darbars / Mushai'ras that were regularly organized in the pulsating Punjab of fifties by Sahit Sabhas / Literary Circles fired with a genuine zeal for progressive ideology. Ashant's first anthology ,Taare te Kinke - The Stars and Specks of Dust - was quick to follow in December 1957, published by Lahore Book Shop, Ludhiana,; 1,100 copies; 128 pages; Price - Two Rupees! I think that several poems by this college-student-poet had fired the imagination of young readers and also attracted attention of encouraging senior writers. Master Ashni Kumar, one of Krishan's admirers among his school teachers, asked me - then in my eighth class- to write a letter of felicitations to the First Poet of our school, founded forty years ago. Ashant retains a distinctly sweet memory of that letter and flatters me for my neatly calligraphic handwriting in Gurmukhi! The following lines of the opening poem had become popular quotes for declamation contests in schools / colleges in Punjab, of the times when its boundaries embraced Delhi and Lahaul-Spiti:

Hasat rekhawan di chinta na karo/ Hatth sirjanhaar ne taqdeer de.
Ikk saya hai Khuda insaan da/ Rabb, banda rukkh ikk tasveer de.

Lament not over lines (in palm) of your Hand/ Hands shape your Destiny.
God is but a reflection of Man/ God and Man are cast in same Image.

Ashant did MA in Philosophy from Mohindra College Patiala where he shared roof in 'Bhootwara' - Ghost House - a rented accommodation fondly nicknamed and remembered as the legendary abode of extraordinarily talented students of literature like Gurbhagat, Navtej (Bharati), Harinder (Mahboob), Lalli, Gubux (Soch), etc. It was lovingly 'supervised' by an inspiring team of teachers led by the stern scholar, Prof Pritam Singh. Ashant, unlike his many friends who chose to be academicians in Punjab, decided to plunge into the 'big-bad' world of Delhi. The anchor was provided by his love marriage to a class fellow who became a teacher in the capital and allowed him luxury of shuffling jobs involving travels to distant and charmingly different destinations. The fields of his work in fast developing discipline of mass media brought him in intimate interaction with people braving acute urban rigors of shelter-less / jobless existence; the deprivations of the Tribal people ; dreams dying young all around; insensitivity of society at large…

All this resulted in, Shilalekh - Inscription in Stone - dedicated to his beloved wife, Kamal - brought out in 1978 by Aarsi Publishers, with a cover design by Imroz and sketches by Nikhil Biswas/ Dev, Price: Rs 10. In the 'Last Word' of the book, Ashant has confessed that for almost two decades, he could not write anything worth while because of an 'inner turmoil' about bedeviling realities all around Interestingly - and paradoxically - he turned to poetry to seek solace, "like crying bitterly over the dead body of a loved one and sigh as deeply as one can!" There are many subtle, memorably satirical, poems in this anthology. Janardan - Common Man - a poem of more than 500 lines - stands apart and is indeed of epic proportions in capturing an entire gamut of endless challenges of modern life. Meanwhile, Ashant had increasingly turned towards serious studies of Astrology and soon adopted it as a full time profession. He authored in 1994 - in Punjabi /Hindi - 'A Tale of 3 Evil (astrological) Houses', a product of lengthy conversations with Amrita Pritam and followed it with highly exclaimed texts titled, Lagan Darshan and Laal Kitab Jyotish.

Beete Nuun Awaazaan,
by Krishan Ashant

Since my return to Delhi after spending 21 summers abroad, I had been pleading - and prodding - gently and respectfully - with Ashant Sahib to share with his large circle of admirers all those poems which might have been lying in custody. It is, therefore, certainly a cause for celebration for all serious readers of poetry in Punjabi that, Beete Nuun Awaazaan' - Summoning the Past' - 49 poems and 12 Ghazals (Sonnets) saw the light of the day in August - thanks to Shilalekh Publishers. Here, we meet a poet of a mature vintage and a rare detachment who is reflecting deeply over eternal issues of human existence. The imagery, similes and extended metaphors are so profoundly rich in questioning both the day to day and the ultimate dilemmas of humanity. Ashant, poet-philosopher-futurologist rolled into one, is capable of enlarging the range and horizon of Panjabi poetry in this period of globalization - one should listen to the voice of 'Buddha Jand':

Ikk bande da khudi nun chhadd ke / Khud hi Khuda hona;
Alaamat hai ishak di…Mai tan Buddha Jand Han rohi da:
Evein jee rihan/ Aas hai ke ikk din aashak koee
Meri thandi chhan vich baithega aake!

When one transcends one's ego/ one merges into Him,
And that is a sign surely of True love.
I'm but an old Jand tree in the wilderness
Alive in aimlessness
But hoping that some lover might pass by this way
And take rest under my shade!

Ashant is firmly rooted in major Indian languages, scriptural mythologies, and has a full command over prosody and classical poetic devices which are amply reflected even in his Ghazals:

Tun Khuda si,tainu sharminda vee je karde asin;
Ess laee har kahar nun -kehnde rahe teri mehr
Main te jad jeevan da saghar rirkia,vish hi mili
Jhooth lagda kanth vich rakhi-Shivan saari Zehar

God, how we could make you feel ashamed!
So, we termed your tyranny too, as your kindness
Whenever I churned sea of life, I tasted only poison,
Seems false, Shiva has stored all poison in his throat!

Beete nuun Aawaazaan provides us the privileged to listen to a vintage voice of an immensely accomplished poet who traverses vast realms of heritage of Punjab echoing profundities – of past, present and future - having universal appeal. Poets are known for playing games with their real or poetic names - Ashant had also once toyed with Seetal Saroj - The Cool Lotus - as nom de plume: I hope that in the 75th year of his life, Ashant has attained 'the inner quietude' in its fullest poetic connotation!

Reflections on ‘PEPSU’ versus Punjab

The following article appeared in the online publication South Asia Post, Issue 119 Vol V, September 15, 2010

Nawab of Malerkotla, Iftikhar Ali Khan

THE title of this column might indeed bamboozle many readers except the senior citizens - more particularly, the pensioners of the government of Punjab. To decode the puzzle, PEPSU was the abbreviation of the newly carved out state - Patiala and the East Punjab States Union - in the wake of the independence of India. The ‘native’ - Princely - states which merged into the Pepsu included the four ruled by (Jatt) Sikh Rajas - Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Faridkot - while the rulers of Kapurthala were the descendants of the formidable warrior, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1718-1783). The Malerkotla Nawabs, Sherwani Afghans, traced their descent to Sheikh Sadruddin (1449-1508) who had received a gift of 68 villages to the south of the fast developing commercial and strategic city of Ludhiana, from Bahlol Lodhi, ruler of Delhi. Kapurthala State (with majority of population being Muslims) had two enclaves in Jalandhar district. The outlying districts of Narnaul, Dadri and Bawal lay in southern districts of East Punjab. There were islands of Patiala in the present Himachal Pradesh. The two non-salute States, Kalsia and Nalagarh, administratively affiliated with Patiala, were also incorporated into the new Union. The covenant of merger was signed on May 5, 1948 by rulers of all the eight states.

The PEPSU was formally inaugurated on July 15, 1948 by swearing in only the Rajparmukh, Maharaja Yadavendra Singh of Patiala, because the two newly emerged political groupings, Prajamandal turned Congress and the Akali Dal had failed to form a ministry. The confusion and disorder caused by terrible communal riots leading to departure / influx of Muslims/Hindus reigned supreme. The administrative culture of newly born state of Pepsu - with an area of 10,099 sq miles / 26,146 sq Km, population of 34,24,060 and annual revenue of 5 crores - was historically steeped in repressive feudal traditions. The people had been suffering from the ‘double slavery’, under idiosyncratic and pervert rulers who were themselves under the slavish subservience of the British. The caretaker government with Sardar Gyan Singh Rarewala, a high official of Patiala State and close relation of the Maharaja, as the Premier was installed under a stop-gap arrangement in August 1948. I have a vague but disturbing memory of bloody popular upsurge in Malerkotla against police repression in the wake of murder by angry mob on June 14, 1948 of Thanedar Kuldip Singh who had raped a girl when she was in his custody. This wave of lawlessness and dacoities led to the dismissal of Rarewala ministry and imposition of President’s rule.

The sharply communal overtones became pronounced rather early in the politics of Pepsu with the Akali Dal encouraged to entertain the notion that the Pepsu was the promised niche in India with the Sikh majority which must reflect their aspirations. The Congress, comprising of old Prajamandalites, did not have Sikh leaders of stature in its ranks. The Congress won 26 seats in the Assembly of 60 in the General Elections in January 1952 and Rarewala maneuvered to be CM again in April with the support of independents. The Rarewala Ministry was dismissed in March 1953 invoking for the first time provision of the failure of the Constitutional Machinery. The mid-term poll returned Congress with Majority with Col. Raghbir Singh forming ministry in March 1954. He died in Jan,’55 and was succeeded by Brish Bhan who remained in office till the reorganization of states when Pepsu was consigned to history with its merger into the new Punjab created on November 1,1956.

Having spent my early life, first in a small village at 6km from Malerkotla and then the family shifting to nearby town of Ahmedgarh, I have the most vivid memories of the regime of Pepsu - the five letters, as if, got engraved into my consciousness long before I learnt the English alphabet! The family records now confirm that my father, then 27, a scholar of classical Vedantic studies and rigorously trained to be an Ayurved practitioner - Vaidya - had embraced the order of Khalsa on July 26, 1947 with the Amritpaan ceremony costing Rs 7 and four annas.

His words, quoting Maharaja Patiala’s speech in Hindustani during public meeting in Ahmedgarh soon after, still ring in my ears - translated loosely in English, Maharaja had said, "Now India and Pakistan have become two different and independent countries … those Muslims who would opt to live in India would be provided full security of life and property … Nawab Sahib and his forefathers have enjoyed fraternal relations with us … due arrangements will be made for those who want to migrate to Pakistan … ". The Maharaja, however, warned that the Muslims staying back in India must be completely loyal to India without any secret love for Pakistan. He also criticized the Sikh leaders who raised the alarm of, ’Panth in danger’ saying, ’danger could only be to their pockets – to make fast bucks’ adding that Guru’s Panth would always march forward.

The question of my elementary school came up in 1949. I was going to be the first ever child to be sent for formal schooling in the long line of family of traditional scholars who were all taught at home. The District Board (soon to be called Goverment) Primary School in village Sohian, at a distance of about four km, but falling in the Angrezi Ilaqa was preferred over the lower middle school, Bhogiwal, about three kilometres away, located closer to Malerkotla. The widely prevailing impression was that the teaching was more systematic and effective in the schools of British territory in comparison to the Riyasati - princely state - schools. The school had two Kutcha rooms with a mud boundary wall but the classes were mostly held under the near by trees.

Pandit Lachhman Dass of nearby village Ram Pur, the senior of the two teachers, had been posted there for more than 17 years and was well known in the neighboring villages. The name of other teacher was Partap Singh, a Sikh with white beard, who also belonged to close by village, Rorian (near Malaud) - how did we children come to know that he was of Naee-barber- caste? The caste enumerators in 2011 can draw some conclusions for our Mahan Bharat! A palatial white building with tall trees around was visible from the school. We came to know that it belonged the Sardar –feudal landlord-of Sohian, called Kaka Ji who had been inducted as DSP in the Punjab Police; knew years later that his full name was Narinder Singh Phulka. On way to school amidst the fields, I remember how flocks of colorful deer and beautiful cows, called ‘Ram Gaooan’ used to roam about freely-those were the days!

It was 7th of May 1951. Leaving village in the morning, my grandfather and I waited for hours at Kup Bus stand to catch a bus for Ahmedgarh; a few buses that passed by did not stop, being too full. So we decided to walk under the hot sun to the Kup railway station at a distance of 3km.It was my first railway journey that I remember. Within a week, I joined the MGMN High School in the third class and Pepsu, Punjab, Bharat; Sansar started getting unfolded before me in my studies. My first visit to Malerkotla was as late as in Feb 1957 when I had to appear in a special middle school scholarship examination. After the last paper, I stayed back to listen to Congress President UN Dhebar. Giyani Zail Singh, dressed in black Sherwani, introduced in his eloquently impressive Punjabi the frail looking Gandhian leader, Uchhang Rao Navalshanka Dhebhar!

Ahmedgarh, though comparatively closer to Ludhiana and linked more to it for trade and other activities, has remained tied to the district of Sangrur and inter alia with the old Pepsu, I have strongly mixed emotions of love and hate with my Pepsu identity. The two years of studies, during ’59-61, in Government College, Malerkotla and the two years as a college lecturer in Bathinda in ’67-69 provided me with a wealth of contrasting experiences with my studies in DAV College, Jalandhar for graduation and Post Graduation in Government College, Ludhiana. To me, Pepsu seemed personification of feudal depravities and, rampant corruption, in its myriad hues. The peon of the Principal and the clerks in Malerkotla college; the clerical staff and even lecturers and Principals in Bathinda, I am very sorry to say, remind me of the most viciously corrupt and intriguing persons in contrast to many inspiring and most helpful functionaries I came across as student/lecturer in Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

When the Pepsu was merged into the Punjab, many like me, had hoped and prayed that values and work culture of Punjab will have a salutary influence on the Riyasati - Pepsu people. But, alas! the wheel seems to have turned the other way round: The ‘Pepsu–ization’ of Punjab seems to be full and complete; the theory of economics, ’bad money drives out good money’ rings loudly true in my beloved present Punjab. The ‘cash and carry job Super Bazaar’ going by in the name of Public Service Commission, Patiala run by some Super Sidhu should make an easy entry into the Guinness Book!

For many years, I had a mysteriously eerie feeling of journeying into ‘darkness’ when travelling towards Malerkotla and going towards ‘light’ when heading towards Ludhiana! It is now more a disturbingly depressing sense in undertaking journey in both directions - signs of slipping towards senility, sagacity or mere nostalgic non-sense … other should know better!!