PUNJAB CULTURE AND PRESENT SCENARIO

CULTURE AND CHANGE

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

PUNJABI CULTURE – THE RICHEST

There is nothing more appropriate than to quote first Nobel laureate of India, Rabindra Nath
Tagore, “Similar to Germany in Europe, Tigris – Euphrates valley in Western Asia, Chinese
plains in Eastern Asia, our Punjab is one of those tracts on the surface of the earth, where the
streams of history flowed with full vigour. Punjab is that beautiful piece of land on the skies
of which the first day of morn sprouted, in the forests of which sacred hymns echoed for the
first time, on the surface of which was born the first civilized man of India and on the bosom
of which the Indian culture originated.”
In fact, the Indus valley civilisation is believed to be older than even the culture of Vedic
period. While the Vedic Aryans were rural, the people of this valley possessed the amenities
of a developed city life.
The history of Punjab till the 10th century A.D reveals that not only it played significant role
in the life history of India but also acted as a confluence for many people and cultures of Asia
and South Eastern Europe.
To quote Sher Singh Gupta, “It became a cockpit and confluence in which there was an
unending amalgamation of communities and cultures resulting in a broad, pragmatic,
experimental and utilitarian outlook and a robust common sense. Throughout this period,
Punjab acted as the sentinel of India.
Punjab is no doubt can be considered as the hub of the epicentre of the culture and traditions
that are earthy and originally indigenous.
But the story is rather has a flip side too. The deterioration of the culture that we take pride in
is fast being shunned by the new generation and are standing at bay from getting enriched
with them.
As we are moving ahead in the 21st century, the western culture is taking its toll on the rich
and golden pure culture that has prevailed since the time immemorial. Looking at the
different constituents of our culture one by one, it will be evident that we are losing out the
things that are to be cherished by every Punjabi.

FOLK CULTURE – WHO IS INTERESTED?

• FOLK SONGS: Lok Geets are the body and soul of Punjab. They form the very base
of our Punjabi culture and there is one for every occasion. Punjabi people, true to their
 reputation of being jovial, sang songs that are particularly for some specific moments
of life. For the joyous flight of birds, of bustle of grown crops, of dark blossomed
nights, all had a specific one for them. They are ageless and none can boast of
authorship for any of them.
But the new generation of Punjabi people present a pathetic picture in reference to
these earthy songs. Sadly, they don’t hum these songs anymore, and it will not be
wrong to say that they may not even know what the song means and on what occasion
it is played on. A folk song is essentially a subjective expression of emotions, welling
up from the depths of the heart.
To add to the woes, even older people, who have lived and seen it all, are also not
taking keen interest to pass on the legacy to the new generations. They have always
been involved in thinking about the ideas of minting money and leading a luxurious
life. Moving to the foreign shores has a great role in enhancing this process.

• FOLK DANCES: These are also an outburst of emotions. As described by Sukhdev

Singh in ‘THIS BEAUTIFUL INDIA - PUNJAB’ said that “For Punjabis, folk dance
is the bodily culmination of inner happiness”. Dances like the Bhangra, Gidda, Teean,
Jhumar and Baagi are some of the dances that form the pillars of the Punjabi folk
dances.
But again, except Bhangra and Gidda, other dance forms are extinct in nature. Even
these two dances in there perfect form, are unknown to the young lads. They are now
mostly restricted to the dance competitions where the motive is not to propagate such
dance forms but to walk away with the prize and trophies.
If there were no incentives, these dance forms would have lost very existence to the
new kind of Punjabi dance that are mixed with the English, hip-hop culture.

FAIRS AND FESTIVALS – LOST IN TODAY’S WORLD.

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

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

PATRIOTISM – A DEEP ROOTED CULTURE LOST?

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

PATIENCE – A CULTURAL QUALITY EXTINCT!

This is one of the attributes of Punjabi people that have taken place in our lives as a
recent development. We are considered to be the warmest people and have a
reputation that is any day enviable. We are from the land where the religious head
displayed unbending patience and courage.
But counting on some recent incidents, this is a quality being lost by everyone.
Ill treatment meted out to people from lower strata of life, physically and verbally
doesn’t leave much to discuss about this aspect of our nature.
One thing that cropped up my mind was that why do we have to be two faced and
give large amount of money as daan in our religious places for the upliftment of our
fellow beings and then once we are out of them are found shooing away the same
people in a manner that is pathetic and disgracing ?
In this way we are not only fooling ourselves but also the very purpose of teachings of
our respected Gurus is defeated.
This practice need to be checked if we have to protect the ‘brotherhood’ culture that
our Gurus propagated, for a peaceful and happy co-existence.
WOMEN AND CULTURE – IS CHANGE NEEDED?
Punjabi women are considered to be one of the most beautiful, well dressed and most
cultured ones throughout India. They are also famous for courage and high level of
self esteem that they possess. Even non-Punjabi person wouldn’t be able to stop
himself from rooting for these Punjabi women.
The sad part is that the present trend is very much disturbing. These women have no
doubt moved on with the changing trends of the society and kept themselves abreast
with the developments but have lost the charm and innocence that was once envied by
the women from the other regions. Except a small percentage, the sense of culture and
traditions of our land have been rendered extinct by these western Punjabi women.
Even in their dressing can be seen every kind of distorting that will make them look at
par with the western world women, as if not following them will render them inferior
to them.
It is a harsh fact that the Punjabi attire is mostly thought as best suited for family
gatherings for these women and not on daily basis as they fear of being typecast as old
fashioned.
The role of parents here is very important. Arming them with all the weapons to fight
their way in this male - dominated and competitive society is important but they
should make sure that the cultural innocence is maintained and should not be
discarded as a worthless attribute. A point worth pondering upon!

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

SUBMITTED BY:

NEETISH HANDA

4TH YEAR
ARMY INSTITUTE OF LAW

WORD COUNT-1826