Monsoon Days

Zahra 69,

That was a good post, probably with a pipe bomb well concealed under the salwar, and am I to believe that pakistan has progressed so much that madrassa are also trainig females.

Nazar and others,

Allow me to add my two antagonistic shillings:

In UK, every Punjabi speaks Punjabi, irrespective of your origin. Yes, Urdu is considered more sophisticated because well…er, it is more sophisticated. Of the seven or so dialects, Pakistani Punjabi is sweeter and pleasant whilst East Punjabi versions are friendlier, carry a bit more `pataka` with them and some you will not understand at all.

Just because someone may not say Kidhan or `ahun wahun` at every turn of the corner or act as the proverbial Punjabi tw@t (a jolly justice seeker - a friendly farmer - a naïve nutter with soil between his toes and always carrying a tumbhi or a chimta - as has been portrayed sometimes to please the lower class masses) doesn’t diminish their pride for their home town.

And what the hell is this pride stuff anyway? We have a lot of the fake imposed version of this stuff going around here also. Ah-ha-hachoo. Bless me.

As for the lack of Gurmukhi, for God`s sake, let`s learn one alphabet before we start going into variations. I think you know the illiteracy statistics in Pakistan. In a country where 2.something % of GNP goes onto education is a country where you should spend every single penny wisely. No offence to Gurmukhi but unless oil, weapons and microchips are replaced by the bangra/pangra the world will recognise English, not Gurmukhi.

Yes, Sikhs make the most noise about Punjab. Give them credit. And yes, to a cultural commoner like myself, Sikhs will put Punjab on the map - no one else. That is without a shadow of a doubt. In all honesty, I don’t think the average UK Indian (minus Punjabis) even knows that Punjab is not entirely an Indian product. Since my Punjabi is better than all of those in my circle, it`s interesting to hear someone say, `but you’re not Punjabi?` Romair`s right, Indians don’t know much about Pakistan. At times, it`s out of a grudge due to what they`ve been fed by their elder. Other times, Pakistanis don`t advertise themselves.

Regarding the `noise` made by the Sikhs, it may be due to:
1) Genuine pride in their soil.

2) Fear of losing power. Majority of present day Punjab is inside Pakistan. Despite its agricultural importance to India and the green boom it gave in the 60s, Indian Punjab has been broken down bit by bit. A Sikh friend of mine once mentioned the imposition of Hindi over Punjabi as the primary provincial language. There was resistance.

3) Punjab is Holy Land for the Sikhs. Punjabi is their Arabic. Amritsar and Harminder Sahib are their Mecca and Kaaba. Their prophets/ professors were Punjabis. You only need to see the desire Pakistanis have to link themselves to the Arabs to see why Sikhs want to be Punjabi. Try telling a jatt or a tarkhan that his ancestry was from Sri Lanka or from Timbuktu. `Oi teri pan di-` will be his first four words.

(Someone help me out here. Harpreet? Am I wrong, am I right?)

But I can see the point you make. Sadly, for the newer generations of Punjabis, I think our understanding of this place is limited to a tumbi on steroids going, `tang dang tang dang`. Many young Punjabis talk bad Punjabi - feel proud of it for some reason - accentuate the `p` on pangra or a `t` on a tol (as in tuole) and jump about like monkeys on a hot plate pronating wrists as if screwing imaginary light bulbs in imaginary sockets. How many of us know about it`s history? It`s art?

A Sikh mate, despite his fierce pride, doesn’t know Gurmukhi, cannot read the language and has never read Guru Granth Sahib. He knows the songs though. He`s not the only one. I know didly squat about Punjab`s history and its art and literature. The real difference between myself and my eastern friend is that he is `proud` and (unless Punjabiat becomes functional and of use to me) I don’t really care. Complex has nothing to do with it.

Umer M.

ally #67 first my congratulations on being from Hoshiarpur. People from Hoshiarpur are the nicest, friendliest people on earth, my grandmother used to assure me. By sheer coincidence, she and all my other people, were all from Hoshiarpur. My wife`s people are all from Jullunder, which is close enough I guess. I feel very sad that so many of our beloved countrymen are not similarly blessed to be from Hoshiarpur. I spent seven years in Lahore as a student, and those were really good, carefree times. I look forward to being in Lahore later this year for a couple of days, and will carefully observe the traffic: it has been improving in recent years I admit (largely due to improved roads), although Lahore drivers still seem to drive as if the family honor is ruined unless they chase a couple of pedestrians off the streets and unless they cut across the guy in front. I agree that trucks, regardless of number plates, are the terror of the pakistan highways. But, if you observe carefully, you will I think agree that pakistan truck DRIVERS are in fact often very well mannered - they will actually slow down to let you pass, even blinking the right hand signal which is their way of letting you know that the road ahead is clear for you to pass. Its these guys in their shiny new toyotas and hondas that i have problems with.

Ally, sameerJB, Sobia, Tehmed32

About the Punjabi`s Inferioriority complex

We need to thank the ex-patriate Sikh Punjabi bands in UK which put Punjabi on the world scene. And the new generation, with no baggage from the past, accepted it.

The Sikhs were always proud of Punjabi language and Punjabism. Only the Pakistani Punjabis felt apologetic and culturally lowly.

But now, I feel, there is an overall pride and owning of the Punjabi language and Punjabism. Personally, I feel cheated by the Pakistan state that I was never taught Punjabi in school, have not formally read the Punjabi literature and so on. I love Punjabi poetry and Mushairas but there are so few of them. Then we are missing out all the literature from East Punjab since that is in Gurmukhi script. Any solutions?

It has been a long long time to even remember Monsoon, but browsing through this piece certainly makes one feel that the Monsoon Season still exists...

Chowk Staff:

While you are up to making changes in the attire of your website and adding the three lines under each article and before the interAct window, it`s important that you realize that many times the offending remarks and crude statements are not necessarily uttered by morons and maniacs, but are chanted by the so called scientist cum perverts. Post 61 is an ideal example. So, please make sure that you create a corner for the perverts in order to satiate their desire to indulge in such language and its pertinent scientific process flows.
After all, the perverts should be able to have their corner to read, write and think per their true mettle!

Thanks.

roohi/dost mittar: Speaking of rain songs, I forget to mention my favorite one. I used to sing it daily in the shower, when the .com boom was going on. Sometimes I sang it even when I was not in the shower. Unfortunately, I didn`t realize what I was singing for would actually happen: Woh kaghiz ki kashti - Woh barish ka pani

daulat bhi gayee, aur shuhrat bhi gayee....abb siraf jawani rah gayee hay (I think).

The demise of the raindance, not to mention the demise of ZKCDMCD dialogue will spell the end of the Indian movie industry. Previously, even if the movie was terrible, at least two out of the Rs. 5 spent on renting it, could be justified by the two above-mentioned scenes.

Madhubala is before my time. I have only seen one or two of her movies. She is more from Dost-mittar` days. My timeframe starts from the Zeenat Aman/Rekha days and goes to the Karishma Kapoor days. I guess I could stretch it to her younger sister`s days.

On a sidenote, is it true that Karishma Kapoor was Jinnah`s great grandson`s girlfriend at one time.

A good Pakistani rain song: Aye abr-e-karam tu itna baras - itna baras kay woh ja na sakay (I believe Wahid Murad)

Tahmed,

when you fly to Lahore, you do pass over mountains, i have been to ISB (most bore jigga in Pak) and actually prefer to see the mountains from the air on my descent to Lahore, talk about crazy drivers, have u ever seen some of the crazy drivers driving buses from ISB to Murree and the North with AJK number plates, they`re worse than any Lhauri... so there... and the saying is `jayney Lhaur ni dekhya oh jammiya ni`... Though i love Lhaur to bits i am not Lhauri, my mums side are, with roots in Hoshiarpur, dad side are Lyallpuri or Faisalabadi with roots in Jullander, so i am Punjabi thru and thru, aggeyo pichchiyo har passey 100% Punjabi ;-)

a trip down memory lane.....nice article....but never have i come across the term ``garamchamak`` ...... do u mean `bijli`?

ally #62 Much as i love lahore, I dont recall being able to see any mountains from that town (other than mountains of food in restaurants, but that`s different). To see mountains, you lahore people have to come to islamabad, sorry to say (although admittedly you can see mountains on the way from Lahore as well). But that`s OK...after all, stretching facts a bit when it comes to boasting about the delights of Lahore is in the true spirit of any Lhauri...as in ``jaes naiN lhaur naiN waykheah aus naiN kuj naiN waykheah``.

And while I am at it, I think lahore drivers seem to have been trained by the devil. If you see a car with Lahore number plates anywhere in islamabad, you pull over to the side and come to a complete halt until it has passed you by (even then you are not guaranteed protection from the lhaur driver). I am glad they have put the fear of God in the lahore drivers a bit now by putting cops with motorbikes at every intersection.

temporal #60 zia wali cassette suni nahiN, yaadaasht maiN darj zaroor kar lee hai. Zia Moheeuddin ko aik zamanaiN main government college lahore maiN sunna thha - oos zamanaiN maiN taaza taaza janaab Zia sahib walayat say waapas tashreef laiy thhey, is liya angraezee siraf maiN hee boltay thhay. Ham log Hamlet kay bol, jokay Zia sahib naiN fur fur aur rohb daar angrezi maiN ham logoN kay sar kay ooper say goozaray, soon kay ghabbraa gai. Chand log to Zia sahib ki Shakespeare soon kar behaush ho gaye!!

Meray khayal maiN saaray Pakistan maiN aik zamaanaiN maiN siraf aik Laeeq Ahmed sahib hotay thhey jo Urdu zabaan kay parkachay uraay bagaer Urdu boltay thhay. TV pay aaya kartay thhay.

Sobia #58 So you are half panjabi half UP. Hamidm is half panjabi half pathan. Do you see a pattern here? This is a panjabi conspiracy to convert everyone into a panjabi.
Soon there wont be any sindhi, baluchi, pathan or upiite left in Pakistan. No one will be able to point out our flaws, since everyone will have a mom or a pop who is panjabi. Ha! Ha!

Sobia,

As much as i love all of Pakistan and its cultures, KHI and KHI valley included, KHI domestic connections are horrible, plus speaking Urdu/Hindi can give me lock jaw and i am happy to leave the KHI valley with their pretty, sari clad, pan chewing/spitting (eeeeuch) women in the concrete jungle that is KHI with all their no go areas for the green, lush, spacious fields of Punjab any day...

If you land in KHI all you see in one side is the sea, look down and you see a sprawling, arrid, dried looking city, when you land in Lhaur you can see the mountains of Kashmir in the distance and below neatly shaped green fields, the immigration officer smiles at you when you speak Punjabi to her, and when i breathe the polluted air of Lhaur and hear Naseebo Lal blaring from bus and truck speakers and Punjabi being spoken all around me, i know i am home ;-) and can relax... hai hai, jee odaas hogaya...

#59 by tahmed32: gar tu bura na maaney...

I guess Dost Mittar #50 provided you with an example of ``Our Highness, the Ham`` vs. ``Your Lowness, the Tum``.


…huzoor humaiN yaqeen hay kay aap agar talim yafta nahin tO t’lim yafta tou zaroor hain;)…

…dost-mittar nay aik filmi naghma quote kya tha (Hum tum ik kamray main bund ho jaiN aur chabi kho ja’aye)…aap filmi zabaan aur saheri, a’dub ya shrufaa ki ghareloo bol chaal maiN far’q tou zaroor kartay hoNgay?…

…digression: ghaliban nawway kay awael maiN kisi nay humaiN aik naujawan pakistani gawayyay ka aik naghma sunaya jis kay shroo kay bol thay…`oos na kaha…maiN nay farmaya…lahol-e-wala...!

…waisay humaiN is ka aitraaf hay kay aaj kay daur main urdu, angraiz, punjabi…zabaan koi bhee zaire-e-istimal ho…yaar-log oos ki sehat aur istimal per zaur kam daitay haiN…likhnay maiN bhee zabaan ki chashni aur lut’f ka maza aisa lagta hay kay ab srif mushtaque ahmed yusufi... aur bolnay main punjab kay zia mohyuddin tak mehdood hogaya hay…aap nay `zia kay saath ik shaam` wali cassettes suni haiN? wah wah kya tallaff`ooz kya adaigi hay...

rgds

t

...no comparison with NY to Islamabad direct flight stopping over at Frankfurt.....least Lahori and Karachi paindoos, least children running around the isles, prettiest airhostesses and highest number of doctors engineers and professionals in any flight to Pakistan......the foreign embassies staff from Latin America, mountaineers, some chinese for connecting flight on to Beijing.......taking off from JFK heading north along the east coast passing within visible distance of Boston, Nova Scotia, New Foundland and to Iceland, all to the left side...passing over Scotland over to Germany and landing at Frankfurt.........taking off from Frankfurt, flying over Austria, Poland, Lithuania and over Russia.......flying over Uzbekistan, Kazakhistan and on to most scenic aerial view in the world......flying at lower altitude over Hindu Kush in Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and diving south to ISLAMABAD.....bypassing all the holylands....welcome to the Islamic republic of most concealed pelvises....the lowest probability of precisely guessing the torso-legs meeting point.......welcome to the world of shalwar-kameez.....

Is it Kiraanchee or Karachi? Isskool or School? Isstation or Station?

ally: hahah @ direct london - lahore flight! :D

As a fellow punjabi (mixed breed actually, mom from khi, dad from punjab), I couldn`t agree with u more about the inferiority complex most Punjabis have about their language (I`m not including hamid sahab in this, just speaking generally). Punjabis don`t teach their children the language, don`t speak to them in Punjabi and if they hear anyone else doing so, it`s ``crude`` and ``paindu``. How sad that a language so beautiful is treated in such a way.