Friends, the Sarbat Khalsa has been convened near Amritsar on November 10. It is being variously sanctioned by Sikh organisations and opposed by others, including political forces which have a say in matters of the community including the SGPC, Akal Takht, and so on.
In this scenario Daljit Ami writes about a core issue that impacts the community’s response. Translated by me.
Here is Daljit Ami’s recent column on the Sikh protest in Punjab and how it is shaped, where it is headed. Translated by me.
We need more and more voices to articulate the two independent protests in Punjab: farmer-worker Unions and the intra-community Sikh struggle against the hegemony of the SGPC. Both are against the same Akali government.
It means a lot in this country that the non-violent character of a protest stays intact as the Punjab farmer-worker ‘rail roko’ enters Day 7 when talks with the government failed last evening. Overall the protest is more than a month long. This is a ground up movement and all political parties stand discredited. How far will the government push the protestors?
My ground report from Day 4 detailing the issues.
Here is the translation of Daljit Ami’s column on the Dera Sachha Sauda Head being given general pardon by the high priests of the Sikh faith. It talks about the current reality of Punjab and traces how vote-bank politics has dictated the decision.
Friends, here is my piece on the partition of India and Pakistan in which I look at what happened to the Sikh psyche since then and suggest a radical retelling of our stories because though the trauma still haunts us …
‘… All we have for one generation are wisps of memory and for the next, family stories buried in silences. It is the third generation now which is trying to engage with Partition. Our generation has heard these stories in whispers and created many online projects where we are turning family histories into oral histories. Yet, pick up any newspaper, recollect the history of riots and genocides in independent India, and we will realise that we are still caught up in the same mess of communalism that created Partition.’
The piece appears in the recent issue of Muse India excellently curated by Charanjeet Kaur. Thank you! Thank you Asiimwe Deborah GKashugi, Ajay Bhardwaj, Prof Alok Bhalla for allowing me to use your quotes. Please read …
Friends, here is my translation of Daljit Ami’s column on how the politics of Punjab is now informed and even controlled by voices outside Punjab. How these moves reduce the issue to sloganeering and not much else.
Please read …
Friends, my comment piece on the ban on the film ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’ in today’s Hindustan Times.
The issue with the movie is that: ‘In Sikhism, we do not give a physical representation to the Gurus.’ Yet, for more than a hundred years Sikhs have been turning towards image and idol worship – ‘but prasti’. I do not understand these calls for bans every few months. The bans are becoming a joke while the need is for reconciliation over the events and ideologies of the past decades and reform in the religion.
‘If the Sikh clergy now resists ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’, because it depicts the Guru in a human form, it would do well to consider how blasphemous the Sikh community has been with the images and icons of the Gurus.’
Please read …
For a long time now Prof. Rajesh Sharma of Punjabi University has remained supportive of my efforts to write about Punjab. When Roll of Honour was translated into Punjabi Gwah de Fana hon to Pehlan he invited the translator Daljit Ami and me to a joint reading at the university. Since the VC Jaspal Singh had already heard me speak at the university in February this year, he kindly consented to grace the occasion. The Guru Granth Sahib studies department lend us their beautiful horseshoe shaped well lit and airy hall.
The reading was a jugalbandi between Daljit and me. Each of us read out same sections of the book to give students a flavour of how the text feels in the two languages. We also commented on our work and on how we worked together. Prof Jaspal Singh was moved enough to present his experience of the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi of which he had been a victim.
Here is Rajesh Sharma’s account of the presentation in which he appreciates the novelty of our approach and raises further questions on the phenomenon of translations. I am humbled. Please read …
For many years now Punjab has both attracted and perturbed me. As a novelist writing in English on Punjab I have wondered why does Punjab remain lukewarm to my attempts at writing about it. It has taken a long time for me to recognize and grapple with the language divide which exists in Punjab.
Punjab remains lukewarm to the attempts of the English media to narrate its multiple realities. So, while the translation of ‘Roll of Honour’ was much reported about recently in all major English newspapers, assi Punjabi tan udo hi bolange jado kitab Punjabi wich aaugi. (We Punjabis will respond only when the book comes in Punjabi). That has been the unheard comment I have discerned. For that and to connect with the land we decided to translate the book into Punjabi.
Just before leaving Chandigarh on November 6th, to my satisfaction, I saw a four column coverage of ‘Gwah de Fana hon to Pehlan’ in the Punjabi Tribune. With foto and all ji. In picture are the Vice Chancellor Punjabi University Jaspal Singh, Head of English Department Rajeh Sharma, head of Guru Granth Sahib studies.
Please read …
Let the dialogue begin!
The Punjabi translation of ‘Roll of Honour’ by Daljit Ami is now available online. It is reaching book shops across Punjab by the weekend and other e-commerce sites by early next week.
The Punjabi title is spelt as ‘Gwah De Fanah Hon Ton Pahilan’. The publisher is Lokgeet Prakashan/Unistar Books.
Please buy. Please gift. Please bless!
Link here …