Wednesday, April 16, 2008

VISAKHI

My friend Gurinder Singh sent me a Happy New Year wish in January (understandable) on my Facebook Funwall. I did not check it (the lazy bum that I admittedly am) till the 13th of April. It was perhaps Willed by Him that I had to check it on the Asli New Year. Anyways, I responded as soon as I saw it. He responded with a Happy Visakhi and at the same time poured his heart out with a poetic rendition of his feelings. I somehow could not stop myself from responding with what I feel about Visakhi. The words in maroon color are his, the rest a development of the thread he handed over unwittingly to me.


Kaisree chunni lai ke..
kaisree ladoo kha ke
kaisree jalebi nu ghuma ke
gurudware ja ke
ja phir dhani ram chatrik ga ke
dhol nu dga la ke
... aundi hundi si Visakhi...
par hun nahi..


Haan,
kankaan de son rang nu mehkaundi,
wattan banneya tey meildi aondi,
mere pind de mele wich dhoorh udaondi
...aondi hundi si visakhi
Par hun Nahi...

Hun ta har saal subsidiyan da marya kirsaan
visakhi nu
laazmi aondey meenh
tey gadeyan nal bhijji
apni laachari nu
sir utey madasey wangoo banhda
akhbar di mehz tasveer banya nazar aonda aey

kankaa’n di rakhi keon karni,
visakhi hun kinh manaoni

haan oh rangan, sugandhaan wali
...aondi hundi si visakhi,
Par hun nahi...

13 comments:

Raza Rumi said...

Thanks for this excellent post
lovely thoughts and heartfelt lines
:)
SSA and Salam

Sidhusaaheb said...

Superb poetry! :)

BTW, I have been looking for the full text of Dhani Ram Chatrik's 'Mele Vich Jatt' online, but am yet to find it anywhere.

Anonymous said...

wow are you depressed. Growing up in the states in the 70's, we never knew/or heard of it. Now that i'm older and its 2008, I really enjoy this holiday. My boys participate in the vasiaki play at khalsa school. So I guess its how you look at it. Just a different view.

Mampi said...

Raza, thanks for visiting.

Sidhusaaheb, glad you liked the lines, I m conveying your thoughts to Gurinder as well. And I am trying to look for that poem MELE VICH JATT in the good old books. I promise to send it to you within a week.

Anonymous, thanks for visiting. Yes a different view is always welcome because that is why we make our thoughts public, so we can have a discussion over them. I am not depressed. Because I have not lost hope. Worried-yes because coming from a Jatt family, I feel deeply for the plight that the farmers in Punjab (and elsewhere in India) are in. I grew up in a village and hence saw their dukh-sukh from a very close quarter. Of course I dont consider myself an authority on this. I would suggest that you google Farmer Suicides in India and you would know what I mean.
If you take it as a holiday, yes, it is not different from any other holiday. However, Visakhi to me means a lot more than a mere holiday. To me (and probably many others) it is a cultural phenomenon. Yes, when you look at it in a detached way, it is okay. For example, the whole of north India is having fun with the unusually cool weather these days. April is otherwise a hot month in Punjab. But this cool weather in April means someone's kanak has suffered a lot of gadeymari (hailstorm) and rain. And it hurts to see golden wheat gloriously ready to be harvested now dead due to circumstances out of one's control.
But again, I guess its how we look at it.
Keep visiting.

Rajindarjit said...

Sentiments put in the poem sent by Gurinder is appreciable.

And other part added by you is feeling came out of your core of heart feeling the agony of circumstances, farmers are facing, due to various reasons.

Any how posting is excellent, and the response to the blog is self explanatory.

Thought is different and put in a novel manner.

Keep it up!
God Bless U

Dhindsa

Roop Rai said...

Anonymous, unfortunately, growing up in states in that Era, you probably also didn't hear a lot of other things such as the real political reasons behind terrorism in Punjab etc etc. It breaks my heart to see young kids being encouraged to fight for khalistan in UK, Canada, US ... dunno about other countries cuz i haven't visited. ANYWAYYY...

great poetry, M!!! best wishes to you and family! :)

Roop Rai said...

tusi tagged ho. :)))

Gurinderjit Singh (Guri@Khalsa.com) said...

Thanks everyone for supplementing your novel thoughts around a simple tukbandi which came out of my inability to see Vaisakhi in the same spirit.
Jalebi used to be a benchmark to define the level of complexity (khachrapan) a person has (Sidha Jalebi Warga). However as we are getting more educated/wise I see Jalebi can't be used for that purpose.
If I don't call my mom for many weeks, she doesn't get angry with me. I my friend doesn't help me I try to rationalize and still give him the same smile. Cosmetically we look better human beings with hundreds of layers in our mind. Each layer has numerous in-built algorthims of human analysis. Unlike before when we either used to be 100% happy or 100% upset, now we know how to "manage" the ups and downs of human emotions without damaging our relations... At the end of the day we have more friends on paper, we look like a well knit society ... however when someone needs us we know how to 'manage' expectations without hurting our interests...
Please excuse my wild thought.. I am writing a poem related this and will post it for your kind analysis.
Gurinder.
Montreal

ਸਾਥੀ said...

ਮਨਪ੍ਰੀਤ
ਗੁਰਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਕਵਿਤਾ ਵਿਚ ਜੋ 'ਆਉਂਦੀ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਸੀ ਵੈਸਾਖੀ' ਦੀ ਯਾਦ ਹੈ, ਉਦਾਸੀ ਹੈ।
ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਕਵਿਤਾ ਵਿਚ ਦਰਦ ਹੈ, ਕਿਸਾਨ ਦੀ ਲਾਚਾਰੀ ਦਾ ਚਿੱਤਰ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਸਿਰਫ ਅਖਬਾਰ ਦੀ ਖਬਰ ਬਣਕੇ ਰਹਿ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ।
ਬਹੁਤ ਖੁਬਸੂਰਤ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਹੈ।
ਧੰਨਵਾਦ
ਅਮਰਜੀਤ ਸਾਥੀ

Anonymous said...

hello di.you r amazing humanbeing.i love you nd respect you for your simlicity.your thoughts are so cear and touching that i m really touched,moved and inspired .
keep it up.
tkcr.

Anonymous said...

nice thoughts about loosing the old traditions which are our great "virsa". ur lines reminded me of that times when we used to go see the vaisakhi mela. yes it is sad , but ur making people aware of it through ur writings like this . keep it up.

Anonymous said...

thanks for posting such a nice pome by gurinder singh (aundi hudi si viskhi pur hun nahi) it is filled with emotion and deep feeling. this pome has reminded me vasakhi and when we used to visit our pind vasakhi mela we had alot of fun but not anymore alot has changed i would like the old times to come back grate pome
keep it up
sukhwinder

Roop Rai said...

You DID IT!! I AM SO PROUD OF U!! :))))