Dear Friends,
I am so glad Sukant Deepak and I met up and spoke about Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines. If you remember, Sukant had earlier interviewed me while I was in the middle of my journeys – in March 2016. I am so glad the interview and book build on the same lines idea/representation vs reality of Panjab.
Thank you Sunil Menon and Outlook India for carrying our conversation without cuts.
Please read here …
Tags: India Today, Outlook, Panjab, Sukant Deepal
Dear Friends,
I am so glad Parul from Indian Express did the first interview with me, the author of Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines.
‘I came to Punjab a quarter-century after militancy had ended, a half-century after the new state was formed, almost three quarters of a century after independence and the Partition, a century after the Gurdwara Reform Movement, birth of SGPC and Akali Dal, a century and a half after the Singh Sabha was created (and Arya Samaj and the Ahmediya movement), and a century and three quarters after the British annexed Punjab. My question was only one: has peace returned? I realised no. Peace has not returned. Peace has never returned. The current Punjab I witnessed is frothing over with disquiet.’
Tags: Indian Express, Panjab, Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines, Parul
Dear Friends,
I am glad to share with you a Facebook review of my recent book by much loved and respected Amita Paul.
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Friend Amandeep Sandhu’s Book Panjab: Journeys through Fault Lines has finally come out after years of hard work, focused travel, and painstaking research.
It is a treasure trove of information and insights on Punjab, its history and its current situation, not only for the outsider but for the insider as well, and most of all for those who are a bit of both or not quite sure which one they are or how much of each they are.
Who first called Panjab, Panjab? Who are the Jutts? What is the Anandpur Saheb Resolution? How and when did the idea of Khalistan evolve and where does it stand now? What is the real situation on the ground about drug addiction in Punjab? What happened to agriculture in Punjab after the Green Revolution peaked? What is the so called river waters dispute of Punjab with Haryana Delhi and Rajasthan all about? Why are Sikhs called a martial race? Did Sikhism really manage to eradicate caste from Punjab? Where does Punjab stand today? What is the way forward for Punjab?
Amandeep Sandhu does not shy away from any of these questions and many others like these, and though he does not claim to give the final answer on anything, he does take you on a journey or a set of journeys where you may be clearer about what you think the answer might be.
If you are curious about such issues and if you would like to know more about them, do read this book.
Amandeep’s voice is gentle, compassionate, truthful and trustworthy. You may not agree with all he says – I myself differ on many issues – and he could well be mistaken in some of his views but you can rest assured that he would never lie. This is a very honest book.
Panjab : Journeys through Fault Lines
Published by Westland Publishers, Chennai, is available on Amazon as well as in all leading bookstores
I would love to hear from you your reactions once you have read it. I thoroughly recommend it
Tags: Amita Paul, Panjab, Westland
Here is my short review of Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s excellent multi-generational epic on Panjab: The Radiance of a Thousand Suns.
Please read more here …
Tags: epic, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, Multi-generation, Panjab, The Radiance of a Thousand Suns
Thank you Punjab To for picking my morning post on how sadly the Shekhar Gupta run The Print and even other Indian media channels seek to discredit duly elected members of the Canadian Parliament upon their visit to India.
Sadly, much of media reports complex situations – especially when it comes to Panjab, Sikhs, Khalistan – in a black and white manner. With an overdrive of Indian nationalism. It hasn’t helped anyone and even after a quarter century of guns going silent Panjab remains trapped in this question of Khalistan. My fear is an old one – the half-baked truths lead to rhetoric, jingoism, suspicion, antagonism which keep Panjab entangled and hamper our search for ways to heal.
Please read here …
Tags: Amarjeet Sohi, Canada, Harjit Sajjan, Justin Turdeau, Khlaistan, Panjab
Friends, more than a year back, an artist came home to discuss Panjab. Especially the years of militancy. He was studying in the Netherlands and was conceptualising a project related to his early memories of the reign of terror (1978-1993). We spoke a lot including about how his uncle was picked up by militants for ransom and how a dear friend of mine’s sister is named after his aunt. Since then he has remained in touch. Just that we could not meet. Even when I was in Europe this year or when he was in Delhi a few weeks back and had performed at JNU.
Yesterday, Vinutha Mallya, now a journalist from Pune contacted me to discuss those years. She said it was for a piece they were writing on the work of a young artist. I asked if the artist was Abhishek Thapar. She said yes and I was happy to support him.
‘My Home is at the Intersection’ opens at TIFA Working Studios, Sadhu Vaswani Circle, Pune on December 22 – 23, 7 pm. CALL: 9623444433.
Pune friends, please attend, please spread the word.
The piece is below. I find it heartening that a new generation is taking interest in Panjab and pushing it beyond what has been our defence and safety net for decades: mitti pa, sannu ki – bury it, what is it to me?
It is not that Panjab does not want to tell its stories, it is that Panjab’s stories are too overwhelming to be told. Every effort counts. Must say it is the same with the world at large. It really has to be nudged to listen. Panjab remains a shadow area tied up in the larger perception that these are just Balle Balle happy go lucky people.
Please read here …
Tags: Abhishek Thapar, militancy, Panjab, Refugee, Rural Exodus
Friends, this Tuesday I was humbled to speak at the annual Prof. R Narendra Prasad memorial lecture at the School of Letters, MG University, Kottayam, Kerala. Thank you Saji Mathew for the invitation. In keeping with Prasad Sir’s lifetime work in theatre and films, I named my talk: Panjab – a tragic hero on the stage of Indian nationalism.
The talk was covered in local newspapers.
Tags: Kottayam, M G University, Narendra Prasad, Panjab, School of Letters
