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Wrong delivery of passports irks
residents
Documentary on BSF ready for release
Poetry flows from this SSP’s pen
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Childless couples attend camp
Europeans turn to India for cheaper
EECP treatment
‘Sikhs face discrimination in
European countries’
Australian wool and sheep industry sets
up task force
Isher School gets new director
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An ode to Punjabi
culture
Bhai Vir Singh’s
house on Lawrence Road is a living monument of the great writer. But how
many of us know about it, or have visited it to feel the legendary grace
of the man?
The tastefully decorated residence of Bhai Vir Singh, generally hailed as the father of the modern Punjabi literature, is perhaps the most beautiful house (of the state) dating back to the British time. The house provides a nice green space in the concrete commercial jungle of the posh Lawrence Road. While the houses of many Punjabi writers and poets, including Bawa Balwant belonging to Amritsar, have either disappeared or are in dilapidated condition, the residence of Bhai Vir Singh remains intact and all belongings of the celebrity Punjabi writer have been preserved in the original shape. The picturesque residence, surrounded by lush green spacious gardens and orchard, which should have been pilgrimage centre for the Punjabi writers, is visited by few, as most of the residents of the city are not even aware about the rich heritage of Punjabi literature housed there. Interestingly, the Lawrence Road where his house is situated was named after Bhai Vir Singh about a decade ago. The palatial house, spread over five acres, has preserved almost all belongings of the great Punjabi writer even 48 years after his death. The old and unique hand pump installed by Bhai Vir Singh himself is another landmark of the house. Bhai Vir Singh himself installed the old idol of Lord Buddha in a beautiful corner of the house. Bhai Vir Singh was very versatile. He was poet, novelist and critic. He found spiritual lessons in the objects of Nature. A kikar tree is a symbol of the spiritual seeker, who must face the barbs and arrows of the worldly people. The poet’s choice of plants in his house tells us a great deal about him as a person. The sprawling house, with rare plants and herbs, shows the rich taste and high thinking of Bhai Vir Singh and his love for Nature. A casual visitor gets astounded to find big trees, including chikoo, cheel, neem, walnut, mango, litchi, kachnar, jack fruit, rosary, frangipani, kaadi patta, simbal, berry jujube, plum, banana and dheon in the house. Four bouquets taken from the garden of Bhai Vir Singh’s house are taken to the Golden Temple every morning by 85-year-old Bibi Amrit Kaur who lives in the house. Though the ancestral house of Bhai Vir Singh in Katra Gaarbha Singh in the walled city has disappeared, this new house bought from a Christian priest of a missionary school in 1925 stands as a monument of the British era. He moved into this house in 1930. Sardar Ujwal Singh and Teja Singh were instrumental in converting the house into a memorial after his death in 1957. His younger brother, Dr Balbir Singh, whom he treated like his own son, set up a trust where the entire collection of the royalty of his works has been kept aside to continue his dream to nurture Punjabi literature. Unlike the residence of Bhai Vir Singh, the half-timbered house where William Shakespeare was born in 1564, continues to be the most cherished historic place and is a frequently visited tourist place. Descendants of the dramatist lived there until the nineteenth century, and it has been a place of pilgrimage for over 250 years. The stunning house of Bhai Vir Singh could also be opened to public on this pattern. The rare furnishings and personal collections of Bhai Vir Singh feature exceptional furnishings and domestic items. It would not be wrong to say that aspects of his multifarious personality are on display here. The old furniture with unique carving, including a cot and a writing table, has been well preserved in the house. The exhibition in the gallery of the house deals with artifacts. This impressive house gets the visitor close to the room where the homeopathy medicines used by Bhai Vir Singh are preserved. Not to be missed are old tub and kitchen gadgets, including a wooden juicer. The hilly hut type room (seems replica of Hemkunt Sahib) constructed especially for the holy Guru Granth Sahib shows his unflinching faith in the Almighty. The secluded study room has preserved the rare manuscripts. The illuminated life-size pictures of Bhai Vir Singh in different rooms are, however, new additions which add to the beauty of the house. The renowned journalist and former member of Rajya Sabha, Mr Kuldip Nayyar, had given funds for the library in the complex which is likely to be completed shortly. Bhai Vir Singh took active interest in the affairs of the Singh Sabha Movement. He was a poet, scholar and major figure in the Sikh renaissance and in the movement for the revival and renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. Hemkunt Sahib connection
Bhai Vir Singh was instrumental in locating the site of Gurdwara Hemkunt
Sahib. In the late nineteenth century, Sikhs began to search for Hemkunt
— a place high in the Himalayan mountains and mentioned in the
autobiographical Bachitra Natak of Guru Gobind Singh. The title of this
work roughly translates as the “wonderful drama”. Pandit Tara
Singh Narotam, a nineteenth century Nirmala scholar, was the first Sikh
to trace the geographical location of Hemkunt. He wrote of Hemkunt as
one among the 508 Sikh shrines he described in Sri Gur Tirath Sangrah
(first published in 1884). Later, Bhai Vir Singh was instrumental in
developing Hemkunt after it had been, in a sense, re-discovered by
another Sikh in search of the Guru’s tap asthan. Sohan Singh was a
retired granthi from the Indian army who was working in a gurdwara (Sikh
temple) in Tehri Garhwal. In 1932, he read the description of Hemkunt in
Bhai Vir Singh’s Sri Kalgidhar Chamatkar (1929). Bhai Vir Singh’s
description was so compelling that on reading it Sant Sohan Singh
resolved to search for the place where Guru Gobind Singh had
meditated. With the inspiration of Bhai Vir Singh, the first jatha
(group of pilgrims) was formed and sponsored by the Chief Khalsa Diwan,
Amritsar, in 1952. In 1958, the responsibility for Hemkunt Sahib shifted
to the Chief Khalsa Diwan branch in Kanpur.
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Born on December 5, 1872, in Amritsar, Bhai Vir Singh was the oldest of Dr Charan Singh’s three sons. The family traces its ancestry back to Diwan Kaura Mall, who rose to the position of vice-governor of Multan, under Nawab Mir Mu’ln ul-Mulk, with the title of Maharaja Bahadur. Baba Kahn Singh (1788-1878) was perhaps the first in the family to be regularly sworn a Sikh. Regarded as the Bhai Gurdas of the twentieth century, his most important works are Guru Nanak Chamatkar, Kalgidhar Chamatkar, Baba Nodh Singh and Meray Saeeyan Jeeo. The government and Panjab University recognised Bhai Vir Singh’s creative talent. The Government of India gave him the honour of Padam Shri. H. Chattopadhaya called him the “sixth river in the land of the five rivers”. The officials of East Punjab University conferred a degree of “Doctor of Oriental Learning” on him. The year 1898 saw the publication of Bhai Vir Singh’s novel Sundari, a landmark in the modern Punjabi literature. Some critics went so far as to call it the first novel of the Punjabi language. He also wrote three excellent biographies: Sri Kalgidhar Chamatkar (1925), Sri Guru Nanak Chamatkar (1928), and Asht Gur Chamatkar (1951). Considered to be the harbinger of the modern Punjabi literature, Bhai Vir Singh wrote prose, novels, poems, plays and historical research. He also edited and published Prachin Panth Prakash and Janamsakhi, the life-story of Guru Nanak Dev.
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Wrong delivery of passports irks
residents
Reports of allegedly glaring “negligence” by
Passport Office, Jalandhar, have filtered in. Passport — a potentially
sensitive document — is being delivered at wrong addresses.
Mr
Narinder Singh Narula (58), a resident of Green Avenue here, has
received the passport of one Narinder Singh (19), a youth from Malpur
Arkan, Nawanshahr. Another boy, Harinder Singh from Balaschander
village, Rajasansi, has received the passport of one Harinder Singh
Narula. Mr Narula alleged that many passports were being dispatched by
the Passport Office, Jalandhar, at wrong addresses. He said the passport
could easily be ‘misused’ if it came into wrong hands and the matter
was serious. Most of these wrongly-delivered passports have been duly
attested by Neelam Datta, Superintendent, Passport Office, Jalandhar.
“This kind of negligence creates problems for residents. A series of
passports being delivered at wrong addresses is something that needs to
be looked into. In my case, Ms Rajinder Kaur, mother of Narinder Singh,
refused to give me back my passport when she learnt that I had received
someone else’s passport from Nawanshahr. She took the plea that she
had to retain my passport as a proof to file a complaint with the
passport authorities,” says Mr Narula. Meanwhile, many allege that
passport authorities have been particularly negligent in the dispatch of
passports. In an earlier case, an owner of a marriage palace here had
delivered at the right address the passport of a resident on purely
humanitarian grounds, when he found the passport in the marriage palace
where a function had taken place a night before. He was shocked to find
that the passport had not been delivered to the person concerned for the
past nine months by the Passport Office in Jalandhar. This meant that
the passport was either stolen or delivered to someone else who had
attended the function the day before and it (passport) had fallen
accidentally at the marriage palace venue. Mr Amarjit Singh, Chief
Passport Officer, when contacted, admitted that wrong deliveries could
have taken place and that the matter was serious.
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Documentary on BSF ready for release
A private company manufacturing fibre base wall textures, insulations, water proofing and construction chemical has prepared a documentary on the Border Security Force (BSF) titled Sarhad Ke Rakshak — The Guardians in Green.
The 45-minute-long documentary highlights the activities of the force — from imparting training to its personnel to guarding the country from intruders. It would be released shortly. The project is the brainchild of Mr Akhil Bansal, Director, Coral Industries. He said CDs of the documentary would be made available in market. He said he had initiated this task on account of patriotic feelings and had not claimed any commercial or publicity for this. Therefore, he said, copyrights of the documentary had been given to the BSF. The earned revenue would go to the welfare funds of the force. Grandson of a freedom fighter, Mr Bansal said the major highlights of the film were retreat ceremonies at Wagah and Hussainiwala borders, training of the BSF personnel and guarding of the border at tough terrains by the BSF personnel and other facts that remained unknown to people.
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Poetry flows from this SSP’s pen
Singer Anuradha Paudwal has written of the book, “I found the
compositions endearing. You have written from your heart.” The book,
with its 63 compositions, conveys positive thinking. Particularly
striking is a short poem titled Honsley that reads Raastey kathin hain,
par honsley buland hain, fuul bhut zyada hain, kaantey to chand hain.
(Ways are tough, but the spirit is buoyant, flowers are many, thorns are
but just a few). The book was recently released by Punjab Chief
Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, at Patiala. Last year, Dr Jain’s Who
cares on police administration was released at All-India Police Science
Congress by Chief Minister. His writings have highlighted rising crime
and continuing menace of drug addiction in society. As SSP Bathinda,
his drive against drugs in 2001 led him to pen Ray of hope — an
educative book on drugs, including early warning symptoms, check by
teachers and parents, ways to wean addicts away from addictions, and
using sports, physical activity as tools to keep youngsters away from
drugs. His innovative ways to use modern technology to broadcast the
message of “freedom from drugs” through free distribution of audio
cassette Jana chad dey thekhey has been lauded. “These were initial
motivators. We want to do a bit more — to make a difference,” he
says.
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Replicas of fresco paintings of Golden
Temple go high-tech
The replicas of fresco (naqqashi) paintings, which once
adorned the walls of the Golden Temple and Akal Takht, have been
preserved by a family here using modern digitalised technology.
Four
generations of this family (the Danish family) have been associated with
the preservation of the fresco paintings of Sri Harmandar Sahib and
various other gurdwaras. Satpal Danish’s grandfather Bhai Gian Singh
belonged to the line of naqqashes started by Bhai Kehar Singh. Gian
Singh was an expert in fresco-painting. He introduced a number of
innovations in the fresco painting through 32 years of continuous
practical study during his stint at the Golden Temple. Gian Singh was
responsible for a portion of the naqqashi and Turki work near the Harki
Pauri near Sri Harmandar Sahib. He used to be called in by the SGPC as a
consultant whenever any fresco in the temple complex had either to be
refurbished or commissioned. He was endowed with special talent to work
on delicate subjects. His son G.S. Sohan Singh got his training from a
well-known artist Hari Singh who was then working with the famous
Elphinston Theatrical Company of Kolkata. They both came back to
Amritsar in the year 1931-32 when the company wound up its
operations. Sohan Singh’s name came into limelight in the art world
when he designed the first multi-coloured portrait of a Sikh warrior
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. He tackled multifarious subjects in the field
of art, apart from working on techniques connected with the Sikh School
of Painting founded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He won dozens of gold and
silver medals, cash prizes as well as commendation certificates in many
art exhibitions held from time to time throughout the country. He also
remained a life member of the governing body of the Indian Academy of
Fine Arts. Sohan Singh’s sons Surinder Singh and Satpal have kept
their family’s traditional work alive by preserving the fresco
painting using digital cameras and modern computerised printing
machines. Bhai Gian Singh’s great-grandsons, Harpreet Pal Singh and
Hardeep Singh, too, are following the footsteps of their ancestors. They
have been preserving Sohan Singh’s art work and showcasing it on
website. Satpal Danish said that today’s artists had neither the
experience nor the creativity necessary for paintings like the naqqashes.
“A naqqash’s work is one of labour and love,” he said. The
centuries-old intricate fresco paintings on the walls of the Akal Takht
had been reduced to rubble during the militancy in Punjab. Whatever
naqqashi work survived the Operation Bluestar in June 1984 was
completely done away with by militant youths in January 1986. The
exquisite naqqashi work that included paintings of Hindu gods and scenes
from Hindu mythology, including the portrayal of Krishna and Sudama,
will never be created.
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Childless couples attend camp
The astrological medical camp, jointly organised by the eminent
astrologer Sanjay Gulati of the International Vedic and Research Centre,
New Delhi, and famous local ayurvedic doctor Suresh Chauhan of Ayushkam
Clinic, was attended by many childless couples.
Mr Sanjay Gulati and Dr
Chauhan studied horoscopes of more than 40 such couples and tried to
provide them counselling along with the treatment. Mr Gulati, while
talking to Amritsar Plus, claimed that in more than 85 per cent cases of
infertility, the couples were able to conceive. He said it was possible
to provide treatment to such couples. Mr Gulati added that he had been
able to predict, during this joint research with Dr Chauhan, the
conception time and also the exact time of birth. ‘Sometimes, the
configuration of planets creates hurdles in conception,” he claimed.
Narrating what he claimed to be a true incident, he said that a
patient who had suffered five miscarriages had been ‘advised
properly’ during the sixth conception. Consequently, not only the
mother had remained healthy, but also she had delivered a healthy child.
Dr Chauhan said he was working on the concept of child programming
through ayurvedic and astrological treatment. He said with the help of
horoscopes, they could easily predict the ‘timings’ and with proper
counselling they could modify the behavioural patterns of mother and
child. Dr Chauhan added that besides the infertility cases, they had
received patients suffering from diabetes, heart ailments and other
diseases. This camp, organised for the first time here, had favoured the
use of astrology with medical ayurveda to provide treatment to patients.
He said they had received information on various diseases from patients
and would be able to build a data bank for future research. He said more
such camps would be organised during the year for the benefit of people.
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Europeans turn to India for cheaper
EECP treatment
The holy city is emerging as a super speciality centre
in the medical field. After patients from adjoining Pakistan who
underwent heart surgery at the local Escort Hospital, patients from
European countries have started thronging the city for treatment.
Mr
Patrick Brigham, a 60-year-old Englishman, has come all the way from
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, to Randhawa Hospital for enhanced
external counter pulsation (EECP) treatment, which will open up his
blocked arteries so that he does not have to undergo bypass
surgery. Talking to Amritsar Plus, Mr Brigham said that after going
through various initial tests, doctors in Bulgaria had advised him to
undergo bypass surgery. He had searched in vain for the EECP facility in
various hospitals in that country. He, in any case, had not wanted to
undergo bypass surgery. Mr Brigham said that he then went to England
for the EECP, but the waiting list there was very long. It was not easy
for any person to get the EECP treatment immediately. Moreover, he was
not eligible for the treatment, as he had spent more that five years
outside his home country. He said that cases like him were being treated
only in acute emergency. He then surfed on the Internet and came to
know that there were 900 hospitals in the United States providing the
EECP. He said that it was during the surfing on the Internet that he
came to know of the hospital, which was providing the EECP facility with
a comprehensive package at a cheaper rate.
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‘Sikhs face discrimination in
European countries’
Despite the long association of Sikhs with the Europeans
and the British, in particular, an average Briton views Sikhs as Muslims
and refers to gurdwaras as ‘mosques’. This was stated by Mr Nirpal
Singh Shergill, a Punjabi journalist known internationally, in his
recently published Vaisakhi International Souvenir 2005, which
highlights the discrimination being faced by the Sikhs in European and
American countries.
Talking to this correspondent here last week, Mr
Shergill said that over the years a popular image of wearers of turban
as followers of Ayatollah Khomeini and supporters of Osama Bin Laden had
been created in the Western countries. He said the turbaned Sikhs were
being confused with these images and they were suffering abuse and
discrimination as a result of this. He informed that to draw the
attention of the world leaders towards this problem, he had dispatched
the copies of the souvenir to them. The leaders included heads of States
where Sikhs were residing in good numbers and General Secretary of UNO,
Mr Kofi Annan. Mr Shergill felt that the French Government’s ban on
wearing the turban would encourage other European nations to pass such
legislations. He said few French people knew that turbaned Sikhs, along
with so many other allied soldiers, had sacrificed their lives to
liberate France from the yoke of Nazi oppression during World War II.
He reflected that it was high time that the Sikhs launched a publicity
campaign to educate the Europeans as well as the Americans that the
Sikhs were distinct from Muslims.
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Australian wool and sheep industry sets
up task force
The Australian wool and sheep industry has set up a
task force to counter, what it says is, the propaganda launched by the
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), an animal rights group.
Mr David Coombes, a full-time member of the task force, while making a
detailed presentation to the media said that misinformation was being
fed to the media and also handed out to the public about the
“unethical standard” adopted by the Marino Wool breeders in
Australia. Mr Coombes said Australian wool industry had set up a task
force to educate people and also to promote high standards of animal
welfare by the Australian sheep breeders. He alleged that the Peta was
needlessly meddling into the affairs of wool producers by sending out
totally incorrect information. About Mulesing, a skinning process
performed on the sheep for getting good quality wool, Mr Coombes said
the Australian wool industry had a good reputation for its animal
husbandry and animal welfare practices and it produced one of the finest
qualities of apparel wool. He claimed that the industry had created
special funds and was investing in research and development projects to
seek an effective alternative to meet its commitment of phasing out the
current procedure by 2010. He, however, added that till then in the
absence of effective treatment, the Marino sheep had to be protected
from the ravages of breech fly strike. He said the wool growers were
using innovative range of management practices. Countering the
criticism of the Peta, Mr Coombes claimed that Australia had established
an animal welfare strategy and a national animal welfare code for
livestock export trade. He said the task force was prepared to take on
the challenge posed by the Peta and assured the wool consumers
throughout the world that their interest would be protected at all costs
and that no one would be allowed to harm the wool producers of
Australia.
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Isher School gets new director
Mr Gurmukh Singh, former District Education Officer, has
been nominated as director of Baba Isher Singh (Nanaksar) Senior
Secondary School, Amritsar, by the Baba Isher Singh (N) Education Trust,
Ludhiana.
A postgraduate in Economics, Political Science and Punjabi,
with an additional qualification of M.Ed, he was selected headmaster and
principal directly by the Punjab Public Service Commission. He served as
the District Education officer at Amritsar, Kapurthala and Jalandhar.
Mr Gurmukh Singh’s favourite quotes are, “Keep your face to the
sunshine and you will never face the shadow. It is better to light a
lamp than to curse the darkness.”
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Police department may seem to be least creatively
inspiring, but creativity is seldom barred by profession. This seems to
be the case with SSP Batala, Dr Jatinder Jain, who has penned Udaan, a
book of Hindi poems. The endeavour is a saga of common man in poetic
verse.