After so many countries in my bag, this was Punjab for the very first time. Punjab reiterates Rang De Basanti,DDLj,Bhagat singh, Sukhdev and Golden Temple/ Operation Blue star among many.
It was my cycling friend and a new adorned throne of fatherhood Arminder Pal Singh Thind’s Invitation to his Village to celebrate Lohri that allured us to catch a Train to Malowal a satellite village near Amritsar, Punjab.
A mesmerizing train ride thru green fields on either side pretty much most of the time got us to our destination.
Malowal a small village in the outskirts of Amritsar was our home for the next two and a half days.
Punjab, a state where most of the youth aspire to immigrate out of the country without even going through the efforts of graduating and here is my friend Amrinder and his brother Ishvinder both computer engineers, firmly hooked to their village soil got me thinking all night. Unable to keep quiet I had to spill the question out next morning. The answer was simple ,they are the Pades(pareeze) of the village.Pade is the local term for the ones who are the most educated in the village and are the role models. In fact my friend’s family is a role model for this village and the villages around. Arminder’s father gave away farming for his love for teaching and is known as masterji who retired as an Arts and Crafts teacher from the neighboring village school called Jamowal after 28 years of service and Auntie as we would call his mother, is still a teacher at the village school, and the forefathers after moving from Pakistan opened a co-educational middle school in the village which is now buzzing with students.
Day 1 –A walk through the village. Soon we come across a small school equipped with all modern facilities like broadband,mid day meal cooking kitchen, computer room and a modest science lab and a huge play ground, instantly reminded me of my high school days.
The lush green fields surrounding the village were just too alluring and pulled me in. My inquisitive mind had many questions and I pretty much got answers to most of them.
Majority of the inhabitants of the village are farmers and would harvest three crops a year, Peas,wheat and paddy. With some extra effort some even get a fourth crop and an average farmer reaps about 42,000INR per Quila( I guess it’s one acre) per crop as profit.
The farming lands were distributed to immigrants’ way back in 1947 in proportion to the lands they left behind in Pakistan when moved to India in the ratio of 1:3
How the day passed just wandering around the village and in the wheat fields was simply amazing
A quiet village in the morning turned into a monstrous party ground that night of Lohri.Punjabis sure do know how to enjoy life.
Lohri is a festival in Punjab where family and friends gather in the evening light a bon fire and take blessings from elders and is traditionally associated with harvest of Rabi crop and end of winter season.
Its always a difficult morning to get up after a typical Punjabi Party. Auntie back behind the wood fire making us Paranthas for breakfast to be served with Ghee(Indian Butter).It’s a tradition at my friends house to make breakfast which consists predominantly chapatti/stuffed Parantha on wood fire.
Its day 2 in Punjab and its time to get to the city and later on to the Pakistan Border-
Golden temple- a Sikh temple with the dome adorned with 100 Kilos of gold in a pool of 100 meter by 200 meter water body just stood tall in the humble old city of Amritsar. Its one of busiest temple of North where more than 100,000 people visit a day and has free meal service running all day and night long.
This is the place which had witnessed violent battle between Indian Military and Sikh Gorillas in early 1980’s resulting into assignation of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.I was taken a little aback by seeing the names and portraits of the assassins Beant Singh and Satwant Singh in golden letters as martyrs of Sikh religion.
My next destination was a kilometre away the Jalian wala Bagh where the massacre on the 13th April 1919 left almost 1000 dead and made Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore detest his knighthood. The Statue of Udham Singh Stood very tall nearby and my heart again miss couple of beats seeing the bullet marks on the walls of the garden and passing through that small passage to enter the Jalian wala bagh and thinking of all those souls who perished that day to Dyer’s atrocious bullets.
My next destination Attari –Wagah Border, yes that’s right the The India Pakistan Border in common mans language.
My friend’s Brother Law a BSF officer had arranged for VIP stands.40 Kms away the roads of the largest democracy in the world ends and there lies Wagah Border.
The Lowering of Flag ceremony and retreat of soldiers on either side of the fences attracting huge spectators is just an excuse, it’s actually to witness the soaring temperatures of parading soldiers and wearing that false smile and mumbling those four letter words while shaking hands is the crowd puller on either sides than anything else. We the spectators were asked not to speak against /swear our neighbouring country as our emotions ran high as the Jawans paraded more and more aggressively on either side of the gates. I have to admit here that our Indian BSF soldiers were more smartly clad than their counterparts on the other side of the fence who meagrely looked like Darwans of a Restuarent.And yes not to forget we had lady soldiers parading shoulder to shoulder with the men and our friends definitely lacked that in every possible way.
After some customary photo shoots and inaudible swearing looking towards the neighbour’s gate it was time to hit back to the city for some shopping and food.
The women folk went bonkers shopping in the walled city of Amritsar very close to the Golden Temple.
Punjabi Phulkari is the stuff to buy if one is looking for something authentic Punjabi hand embroidered handloom also are the Punjabi juttis(leather shoes) and the traditional sweet for Lohri season is called Khajoor which is basically deep fired wheat dough mixed loads of dry fruits and local stuff.
I am in Amritsar and haven’t had Amritsari fish or chicken roast oh that’s not possible .Our next destination World famous Makkhan Dhaba .Marinated deep fried Singhada fish aka Catfish in English and Magur in Bangla is traditionally Amritsar culinary delight which just melts in your mouth and the Tandoori chicken tasted the best i have had so far.
Its late and it’s time to go back home for dinner. Auntie as usual had cooked Sarsoon ka saag and makke ki roti ( mustard leaves cooked in butter and Indian bread made with corn flower and smeared with butter) on wood fire was out of the world.
My last night in Punjab ,just after a delectable authentic Punjabi cuisine it started to pour and poured like hell all through the night.
Before we could wake up the next morning auntie was again ready with her customary Breakfast for us yes for the very last time my favourite stuffed potato parantha( Indian bread) on wood fire. It was time for Auntie to leave for school after feeding us and it was time to say good bye to her.
After some customary group pictures it was our time to leave for Railway station to catch our train way back home.
An amazing holiday to the Princely state of Punjab came to an end thanks to my friend ‘s hospitality and invitation which made this trip special and different than others which will now live in my memories and heart for ever.
