Gabbah Shareef Bhalwan
Member
- Messages
- 237
Part 5
.....
Garib Dass and his wife share their home with one son, his wife, and their two young children. His eldest son’s nuclear family lives in the adjacent apartments, and his other son’s family has their residence just down the lane. Nonetheless, Garib Dass’ own apartment serves as a central location where all three generations like to gather and sometimes spend the night. The ground floor includes a small sitting room (generally reserved for guests), a bedroom for the son and his wife (this room contains the television), and a kitchen with the usual kerosene hotplate. Attached outside the kitchen is a bathroom chamber. Outdoor stairs lead to the flat roof, atop which is another small room in which Garib Dass and his wife sleep on cots. A bathroom stall adjoins outside. Cooking over an open flame is done in a corner of the roof. With the completion of the new addition in 2005, the roof area was converted into an enclosed room, and upon its roof, two closet-sized rooms, for cooking and bathing, were built.
Like that of many artists, the sitting room of Garib Dass’ house is decorated with records of his achievements. On the shelves are countless trophies, awards, and mementos. The walls are covered with photographs and keepsakes. The photos include Garib Dass: on the set of Sat Sri Akal; in Canada in the 1980s; as he appeared on a 1992 government calendar; from a 1977 magazine cover, playing in “Kerala-style”; with guru, Ghuggi. There are several pictures of his son Des Raj, appearing with popular singers Hans Raj Hans and Babbu Mann.
Garib Dass belongs to the clan Vartia, which he describes as a “high” clan in the Bazigar community. He himself represents the fifth generation of his tribe, who are nowadays scattered across a belt that spans the northeastern side of Punjab from Ambala in the East through Chandigarh, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Nawashahar, and Hoshiarpur districts, and past Jammu in the West. They are a community especially proud of their hard work and civic awareness. Garib Dass considers himself fortunate to have helped raise a family in which “no one tells lies” and “no one is dishonest with money.”
The matriarch of the household is Labh Kaur, Garib Dass’ second wife. Her family was among a group of Bazigars who escaped from Pakistan in 1960. After that ordeal, her family ended up settling near Mukerian (Hoshiarpur district). When Labh Kaur was 18-19, an alliance was suggested to Garib Dass and the two married. The event, which occurred when Garib Dass was struggling, living in the jhuggis of Attawa, was a self-proclaimed blessing for his future that determined the entire hisab of his life. Labh Kaur is known by all for her kindness; as Garib Dass says, “everybody considers her a devi,” and her in-law children call her “Mom.” One can see in her the sort of curiosity and openness that characterizes the older Bazigar lifestyle. Among the craftwork Labh Kaur maintains from the old culture is the Bazigar women’s method of weaving baskets (changer) out of grass.
When Garib Dass' first son was born (to his first wife), he made sure not to make the same “mistake” that his own parents had. He took his son to a pandit and the son was given the name Darshan Lal. Darshan grew up with the difficult life of kacc housing and manual labor. Playing the dhol had not yet emerged as a viable career option for Garib Dass to pass on to his son. Darshan's marriage, in Attawa, was an event to be remembered. Garib Dass employed a young Gurdas Mann for the reception performance. The local community was thrilled by Mann’s performance. Invitee Sardar Bhag Singh was enamored by the singer, and afterwards invited him to star in his screenplay Mamla Garbar Hai. At the end of the night Garib Dass gave Gurdas Mann the customary payment, plus one rupee, for luck. Mann is reported to have returned all but the one rupee, saying that in the future if the ustad ever called him to perform he would always do so for only one rupee. Darshan and his wife, Jito, now live next door to Garib Dass in D.M.C., where he works as a vegetable seller.
Garib Dass’ youngest son, Balbir Singh, represents another possible life trajectory. He works in a glass business in Italy. After several years, he eventually got his work papers, and was finally able to bring his wife and children in 2006. The money he earns abroad helps to support the family back in India. Whereas the practice of working abroad and sending back remittances is very common among Punjabis, relatively very few Bazigars are in that position. Furthermore, due to the difficulties of this lifestyle, Balbir was not able to visit the family back in India for many years.
Jogindaro (Bhappi) is Garib Dass’ only daughter. She married into the Bazigar community of Ludhiana. Her big-hearted husband Sikandar (Raju) Khiva had impressed Garib Dass. Bhappi and Raju occupy one floor of a house that they share with Raju’s brothers in Jawaharnagar Camp, a ghetto of housing projects near the bus stand that was built on the site of a post-Partition refugee camp. The local Bazigar community, from the Panjab subsection, dates from the camp’s existence. Raju operates a meat shop, while his brothers are an electrical storeowner and a karate instructor. Raju’s relations in the neighborhood are folk artists of repute. In fact, his great maternal uncle was Bhana Ram. One of these relations is Sant Ram Khiva, who has been the ustad of singers Kuldeep Manak and Faqir Chand Patanga. Another is Tehal Singh Khiva, a well-known bhangra dance coach. Bhappi and Raju note, with minor disappointment, that their two boys, Govind (Ajay) and Gopal (Vijay), while enthusiastic fans of popular music, have not taken a strong interest in performing themselves. However, their daughter, the eldest of the children, has already married an educated husband, after having her own high academic achievements. These are what make the parents most proud.
Garib Dass’ third son is Des Raj (Billu). He is an internationally accomplished dholi who tours abroad regularly to accompany renowned singers like Hans Raj Hans and Babbu Mann. In Des Raj we can see an example of the third generation of dholis who, within the framework of institutionalized bhangra that was established by the 1980s, were able to choose dhol as a profitable career. Garib Dass began teaching Des Raj in 1986 shortly after returning from abroad at the World’s Fair. Eventually he brought Des Raj to Ustad Janak Raj of Ludhiana to become his student. With the ustad being outside of the Bazigar community sphere (i.e. a Jogi), one can notice a difference in the playing style of Des Raj and his father, including the use of differing rhythms. Des Raj is experienced in teaching bhangra and giddha, for college groups especially. For seven years running Des Raj had been called to Vancouver, Canada (by a Punjabi organization directed by Maninder Singh Gill) to perform in an annual program that takes place in large venues. His becoming the preferred dholi to invite is explained by his father on the grounds that other dholis of his peer group are “not good people”—they are always drinking or talking nonsense. Des Raj, on the contrary “does not drink or smoke, stays quiet, and does his duty.” This keeps him quite busy. In 2004, for instance, he had gone to New Zealand in July, and on his return, to Canada for six weeks. A month later, he then returned to Canada until January 2005. These jaunts abroad help the family financially, but one can sense the emotional strain on his wife and children when their husband and father is away for more than six months out of the year. The feeling is that the sacrifice is necessary, to advance the family. Des Raj believes that his children deserve all of the benefits that any other children in the society enjoy. He has seen certain models for a functional, healthy society in his travels abroad, and sometimes appears very frustrated by the current system and attitudes in India. It speaks to Garib Dass and Labh Kaur’s nurturing that Des Raj is literate and a 10th class graduate. Des Raj’s wife, Raj (Jito) is the tireless supporter of the family, without whom the household could not run. Garib Dass speaks with love and gratitude that his son was able to marry such a smart woman.
Garib Dass has seven grandchildren. Darshan’s daughter, Geeta, was married in 2005 to a boy from village Dhalania (near Sirhind). Darshan’s two sons, Sunny and Hanni, appear almost as twins, if they were not aged a few years apart; both bear distinctive Bazigar looks in which one can see the resemblance to film star Shah Rukh Khan. The elder, Sunny, goes by the official name “Sadhu Ram”—the name given by the pandit after reprimanding the parents! Both represent a generation who has grown up with dhol and bhangra all around them. Bombarded by media and taking the dholi profession for granted, these players from the fourth and latest generation of professionals ask few questions about the past. They use the public’s high demand for dholis to their advantage to earn money and acquire as many youthful comforts (scooters, fashionable clothes, audio-video systems) as possible. Since his mid-teens, Sunny has been playing dhol gigs professionally, when he began by accompanying his grandfather in performances. He has learned mostly from Garib Dass and his uncle, Des Raj, although his playing reflects more the style of the former. Sunny also has a passion for hitting the dhol in fast licks. As Sunny explains, after completing high school, he found he was earning enough money as a dholi to go directly into that profession. Nowadays Sunny plays with a regular band for ladies’ sangeet parties and other gigs. In addition, he has received the training from Garib Dass to prepare large-scale dance programs, like the one he did in the Chandigarh Parade Grounds (Sector 17) for Independence Day of 2004. In singing, Sunny (and the grandchildren generally) consider one of their gurus to be Jogindar Ghanot. He was a Bazigar cursed with a handicap and no family life, but blessed with the gift of singing. The Vartia family knew him only a few years before he passed away, but they were touched by his spiritual nature. They have gone several times to visit the shrine built after his death, and have begun to hold an annual memorial fair. During Sunny’s wedding, the family’s loudspeakers were heard blasting Ghanot’s cassette.
In general, one can say that a majority of the young men of this generation have at least some facility with the dhol. Thus Balbir’s son, Sandip, has also started to learn the ropes of accompanying on dhol. He is the athlete among the grandchildren, for instance playing on his school’s kabaddi team. His sister, Neha has a great enthusiasm for any music and dance. She and her friends break out into dance at the slightest snatch of a popular tune. Des Raj's two young sons are also budding dholis. I can remember that at a very young age Bicchu could already play several tals quite well. Even the youngest, Chichu, has begun training with small-sized sticks. Both go to a school outside Dadu Majra Colony, where they have become apt pupils.
to be continued....
.....
Garib Dass and his wife share their home with one son, his wife, and their two young children. His eldest son’s nuclear family lives in the adjacent apartments, and his other son’s family has their residence just down the lane. Nonetheless, Garib Dass’ own apartment serves as a central location where all three generations like to gather and sometimes spend the night. The ground floor includes a small sitting room (generally reserved for guests), a bedroom for the son and his wife (this room contains the television), and a kitchen with the usual kerosene hotplate. Attached outside the kitchen is a bathroom chamber. Outdoor stairs lead to the flat roof, atop which is another small room in which Garib Dass and his wife sleep on cots. A bathroom stall adjoins outside. Cooking over an open flame is done in a corner of the roof. With the completion of the new addition in 2005, the roof area was converted into an enclosed room, and upon its roof, two closet-sized rooms, for cooking and bathing, were built.
Like that of many artists, the sitting room of Garib Dass’ house is decorated with records of his achievements. On the shelves are countless trophies, awards, and mementos. The walls are covered with photographs and keepsakes. The photos include Garib Dass: on the set of Sat Sri Akal; in Canada in the 1980s; as he appeared on a 1992 government calendar; from a 1977 magazine cover, playing in “Kerala-style”; with guru, Ghuggi. There are several pictures of his son Des Raj, appearing with popular singers Hans Raj Hans and Babbu Mann.
Garib Dass belongs to the clan Vartia, which he describes as a “high” clan in the Bazigar community. He himself represents the fifth generation of his tribe, who are nowadays scattered across a belt that spans the northeastern side of Punjab from Ambala in the East through Chandigarh, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Nawashahar, and Hoshiarpur districts, and past Jammu in the West. They are a community especially proud of their hard work and civic awareness. Garib Dass considers himself fortunate to have helped raise a family in which “no one tells lies” and “no one is dishonest with money.”
The matriarch of the household is Labh Kaur, Garib Dass’ second wife. Her family was among a group of Bazigars who escaped from Pakistan in 1960. After that ordeal, her family ended up settling near Mukerian (Hoshiarpur district). When Labh Kaur was 18-19, an alliance was suggested to Garib Dass and the two married. The event, which occurred when Garib Dass was struggling, living in the jhuggis of Attawa, was a self-proclaimed blessing for his future that determined the entire hisab of his life. Labh Kaur is known by all for her kindness; as Garib Dass says, “everybody considers her a devi,” and her in-law children call her “Mom.” One can see in her the sort of curiosity and openness that characterizes the older Bazigar lifestyle. Among the craftwork Labh Kaur maintains from the old culture is the Bazigar women’s method of weaving baskets (changer) out of grass.
When Garib Dass' first son was born (to his first wife), he made sure not to make the same “mistake” that his own parents had. He took his son to a pandit and the son was given the name Darshan Lal. Darshan grew up with the difficult life of kacc housing and manual labor. Playing the dhol had not yet emerged as a viable career option for Garib Dass to pass on to his son. Darshan's marriage, in Attawa, was an event to be remembered. Garib Dass employed a young Gurdas Mann for the reception performance. The local community was thrilled by Mann’s performance. Invitee Sardar Bhag Singh was enamored by the singer, and afterwards invited him to star in his screenplay Mamla Garbar Hai. At the end of the night Garib Dass gave Gurdas Mann the customary payment, plus one rupee, for luck. Mann is reported to have returned all but the one rupee, saying that in the future if the ustad ever called him to perform he would always do so for only one rupee. Darshan and his wife, Jito, now live next door to Garib Dass in D.M.C., where he works as a vegetable seller.
Garib Dass’ youngest son, Balbir Singh, represents another possible life trajectory. He works in a glass business in Italy. After several years, he eventually got his work papers, and was finally able to bring his wife and children in 2006. The money he earns abroad helps to support the family back in India. Whereas the practice of working abroad and sending back remittances is very common among Punjabis, relatively very few Bazigars are in that position. Furthermore, due to the difficulties of this lifestyle, Balbir was not able to visit the family back in India for many years.
Jogindaro (Bhappi) is Garib Dass’ only daughter. She married into the Bazigar community of Ludhiana. Her big-hearted husband Sikandar (Raju) Khiva had impressed Garib Dass. Bhappi and Raju occupy one floor of a house that they share with Raju’s brothers in Jawaharnagar Camp, a ghetto of housing projects near the bus stand that was built on the site of a post-Partition refugee camp. The local Bazigar community, from the Panjab subsection, dates from the camp’s existence. Raju operates a meat shop, while his brothers are an electrical storeowner and a karate instructor. Raju’s relations in the neighborhood are folk artists of repute. In fact, his great maternal uncle was Bhana Ram. One of these relations is Sant Ram Khiva, who has been the ustad of singers Kuldeep Manak and Faqir Chand Patanga. Another is Tehal Singh Khiva, a well-known bhangra dance coach. Bhappi and Raju note, with minor disappointment, that their two boys, Govind (Ajay) and Gopal (Vijay), while enthusiastic fans of popular music, have not taken a strong interest in performing themselves. However, their daughter, the eldest of the children, has already married an educated husband, after having her own high academic achievements. These are what make the parents most proud.
Garib Dass’ third son is Des Raj (Billu). He is an internationally accomplished dholi who tours abroad regularly to accompany renowned singers like Hans Raj Hans and Babbu Mann. In Des Raj we can see an example of the third generation of dholis who, within the framework of institutionalized bhangra that was established by the 1980s, were able to choose dhol as a profitable career. Garib Dass began teaching Des Raj in 1986 shortly after returning from abroad at the World’s Fair. Eventually he brought Des Raj to Ustad Janak Raj of Ludhiana to become his student. With the ustad being outside of the Bazigar community sphere (i.e. a Jogi), one can notice a difference in the playing style of Des Raj and his father, including the use of differing rhythms. Des Raj is experienced in teaching bhangra and giddha, for college groups especially. For seven years running Des Raj had been called to Vancouver, Canada (by a Punjabi organization directed by Maninder Singh Gill) to perform in an annual program that takes place in large venues. His becoming the preferred dholi to invite is explained by his father on the grounds that other dholis of his peer group are “not good people”—they are always drinking or talking nonsense. Des Raj, on the contrary “does not drink or smoke, stays quiet, and does his duty.” This keeps him quite busy. In 2004, for instance, he had gone to New Zealand in July, and on his return, to Canada for six weeks. A month later, he then returned to Canada until January 2005. These jaunts abroad help the family financially, but one can sense the emotional strain on his wife and children when their husband and father is away for more than six months out of the year. The feeling is that the sacrifice is necessary, to advance the family. Des Raj believes that his children deserve all of the benefits that any other children in the society enjoy. He has seen certain models for a functional, healthy society in his travels abroad, and sometimes appears very frustrated by the current system and attitudes in India. It speaks to Garib Dass and Labh Kaur’s nurturing that Des Raj is literate and a 10th class graduate. Des Raj’s wife, Raj (Jito) is the tireless supporter of the family, without whom the household could not run. Garib Dass speaks with love and gratitude that his son was able to marry such a smart woman.
Garib Dass has seven grandchildren. Darshan’s daughter, Geeta, was married in 2005 to a boy from village Dhalania (near Sirhind). Darshan’s two sons, Sunny and Hanni, appear almost as twins, if they were not aged a few years apart; both bear distinctive Bazigar looks in which one can see the resemblance to film star Shah Rukh Khan. The elder, Sunny, goes by the official name “Sadhu Ram”—the name given by the pandit after reprimanding the parents! Both represent a generation who has grown up with dhol and bhangra all around them. Bombarded by media and taking the dholi profession for granted, these players from the fourth and latest generation of professionals ask few questions about the past. They use the public’s high demand for dholis to their advantage to earn money and acquire as many youthful comforts (scooters, fashionable clothes, audio-video systems) as possible. Since his mid-teens, Sunny has been playing dhol gigs professionally, when he began by accompanying his grandfather in performances. He has learned mostly from Garib Dass and his uncle, Des Raj, although his playing reflects more the style of the former. Sunny also has a passion for hitting the dhol in fast licks. As Sunny explains, after completing high school, he found he was earning enough money as a dholi to go directly into that profession. Nowadays Sunny plays with a regular band for ladies’ sangeet parties and other gigs. In addition, he has received the training from Garib Dass to prepare large-scale dance programs, like the one he did in the Chandigarh Parade Grounds (Sector 17) for Independence Day of 2004. In singing, Sunny (and the grandchildren generally) consider one of their gurus to be Jogindar Ghanot. He was a Bazigar cursed with a handicap and no family life, but blessed with the gift of singing. The Vartia family knew him only a few years before he passed away, but they were touched by his spiritual nature. They have gone several times to visit the shrine built after his death, and have begun to hold an annual memorial fair. During Sunny’s wedding, the family’s loudspeakers were heard blasting Ghanot’s cassette.
In general, one can say that a majority of the young men of this generation have at least some facility with the dhol. Thus Balbir’s son, Sandip, has also started to learn the ropes of accompanying on dhol. He is the athlete among the grandchildren, for instance playing on his school’s kabaddi team. His sister, Neha has a great enthusiasm for any music and dance. She and her friends break out into dance at the slightest snatch of a popular tune. Des Raj's two young sons are also budding dholis. I can remember that at a very young age Bicchu could already play several tals quite well. Even the youngest, Chichu, has begun training with small-sized sticks. Both go to a school outside Dadu Majra Colony, where they have become apt pupils.
to be continued....
