Harman,
Just gotta apologize to you brother. I bagged on you because your a pistons fan, but your a intelligent guy. Reading you posts about culture and religion, usually fills me with a sense of pride, excitement, a sense that somebody gets it, and passion. Keep up the good work, and once again, in my opinion, i think you get it.
Pooja,
I think what I am trying to say here is that, being punjabi consists more of living the life and not the heritage blood line. Not you, but people from Delhi, and Rajasthan etc.. I dont see them as punjabi, and they are not. This is for many reasons, because they dont live the life, they use historical physical boundries for assoication.
To understand the history and the culture of punjab, there are few things that you must visit
1) Doesnt matter if your sikh or hindu, Harimandir Sahib Ji (golden temple). You have to matha taikk there. There are small versions of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji in english, hindi, punjabi etc... Grab one of those, go early in the morning, sit by a window in Harimandir Sahib ji and just read. One minute of reading bani there is equivalent of heaven to me. Its reading about god in gods house, what more could you want. Harman knows what I mean. Then, walk by the bullet holes, and let it remind you about the ignorance that exists in the world.
2) Anadpur Sahib: This is beauty. It is the home of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. It sits on the foots of the Himalayas, and the sceneary there is insane. sikh of hindu, guru tegh bahadur ji died for the freedom of religion. He saved hindus from the mughals, and was beheaded for it. You go there, and its almost surreal. It is also the first place where his son, Guru Gobind Singh Ji performed Khande di phul and the panj pyare... amazing place
3) Maharaj Ranjit Singh Museum in Amrtisar: You want to see punjab's at its most successful, go there as see it. Amazing. This guy united the people, and respect and guinuely loved all the religions of punjab, and used each religions purity for the advancement of punjab. The successful of this empire, that people feared, and respect from all over the world.
4) Jallianwala Bagh: See the bullets. See the well where people jumped. See the entrance that was blocked. See what our people suffered through. Even though it is horrible and you see what we went through, you realize why Harman Singh's picture means so much. Why when people look at that picture, they see more that a person, but see perserverance, respect, diginity and essentiality of punjab. You see why Harman Singh's picture defines our struggle and our perserverence.
5) Other spots. SOOO many: Like Harman mentioned, places like Kalanur where the battles of the Mahabharat happened, a life lesson, the beauty of that tale. Places like Harman mentioned, the punjabi fort in Bathinda where Alexander the great had to step down because of the sheer power of the Punjabi people. Art and poetry where do I start?!?!?! Ummm, the Sheesh Mahal art gallery has a lot of amazing peices. Some of the first depecitions of Guru's. Pictures from Vedic India and the drawings of the people from the oldest civilization known to man.
If you want the superficiality of punjab, that teaches you nothing about the culture, the land and the history, than visit Haveli. go to model town in Jalandhar. Go to Sector 17 in chandigarh. But your not going to get anything by doing that.
The beauty of punjab is un-rivaled in this world. And the truth is that, you appreciate that, and you appreciate the history. One time and your in love forever.
Take Care,
Summinder Singh
