Art and lit fest: Scholars reimagine an inclusive Punjab
The discussion was titled ‘Kark Kaleje Maahi’ (a sore in my heart), an expression which has been used in the Bani of Guru Nanak. Invoking the Sufi saint Bulleh Shah, who had famously exclaimed “Bura haal Punjab da,” eminent raagi and researcher Bhai Baldeep called for harmony and empathy. Similarly, poet and scholar Manmohan Singh also urged the audience to rise above the fault lines of the past to build a cohesive society, inclusive of mind and machine.
Having learnt much from the traumas of the past — the Partition, reorganisation of the state, militancy, the military breach of the Golden Temple and the 1984 riots, the second day of the MS Randhawa Memorial Art and Literature Festival was witness to an interesting dialogue on rebuilding a harmonious Punjab, inclusive of all communities on Sunday.
The discussion was titled ‘Kark Kaleje Maahi’ (a sore in my heart), an expression which has been used in the Bani of Guru Nanak. Invoking the Sufi saint Bulleh Shah, who had famously exclaimed “Bura haal Punjab da,” eminent raagi and researcher Bhai Baldeep called for harmony and empathy. Similarly, poet and scholar Manmohan Singh also urged the audience to rise above the fault lines of the past to build a cohesive society, inclusive of mind and machine.
Manjinder Singh, who heads the School of Punjabi Studies at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, pointed out that the hegemony of the landed community had led to belittling of all others. “One should take pride in being Punjabi, rather than focusing on caste differences in both life and literature,” he said. Scholar Sumel Sidhu, on the other hand, spoke of the oppression of the farmers because of the imposition of the urban Arya Samaj model.
Renowned poet Surjit Patar advocated for rising above the errors of the past, and starting afresh to create a homogeneous Punjab. Prof Avtar Singh, former head, department of Punjabi, Ramgarhia College, Phagwara, brought the discussion to a poetic climax by reciting a poem of Dhani Ram Chatrik in praise of Punjab.
A fresh dialogue was opened by writer, Vinayak Dutt, who has authored ‘Punjab: From the Perspective of a Punjabi Hindu’, he stressed on the need to build a new Punjab in the wake of the mass exodus of the youth to western countries. The discussion was anchored by Panjab University professor Yograj Angrish.