The dreams we had
Desh Bir
Around 1958 when I was in my Third standard at Kangoo, India had already been independent for 11 years and the democracy based on elections had completed six years of its existence. Naturally the entire atmosphere exuded a fervent nationalism.
The overall environment was surcharged with much enthusiasm. There was a spirited resolve to take the nation to better levels of strength through infrastructural consolidation. Efforts were afoot to open new vistas for the young generation through education which was an unfailing tool for social change. The newly independent India was making commendable leaps in the task of raising major Steel plants and hydropower projects in different states.
The last cover page of our notebooks would usually carry in print either the National Anthem or National Song or Iqbal’s “Sare Jahan se achha ye Hindustan hamara”. In short, like Wordsworth, without knowing anything about him at that stage, we also felt that it was a bliss to be alive in that dawn for India, but to be young was very heaven.
While Nehru Government was busy creating a new India at Bokaro, Bhilai and Rourkela as also through Bhakra, Hirakud and DVC projects, the common man expressed his elation by concentrically admiring his own region through folk songs along with the National Anthem and National Song.
Kangra, the idyllic region of Punjab, with the snowy Dauladhar range set in the background, had its own folk-songs of praise for its forests, streams, hills, handsome beaux and comely belles. It echoed a legitimate sense of pride in its geography, ethnic simplicity and ethereal beauty.
The songs most repeated were “Nee mera Kangra des piyara/ dugghi dugghi khaddan, shaili shaili dharan/ Chhail chhail gabhru , bankiyan naaran/ Nee mera ….” and “Thandi thandi hawa je jhuldi, jhulde cheelan de daalu…jeena Kangre da” The latter one eulogised the breezy air and the ever-swaying boughs of pine trees of Kangra which was likened to a state in its own right.
The Kangra region which had the distinction of sending the maximum number of youth to join India’s armed forces as also had earned the ignominy of supplying young boys, uniformly called ‘mundus’, to serve as domestic helps or helpers at halwai shops and dhabas in cities of Punjab was now opening up to a new sense of awareness about the role of education.
The frequently sung song at school gatherings voiced a mother’s longing to see her child acquire good education and carve a respectable niche for himself as an officer of the government.
The song went like this: Din chadhne jo aya Munnua /Uth schoole jo jana/ Horna de muunu parhi likhi patwari je bande/Mein ta munnu Tehsildar banana/ Horna de munnu parhi likhi sipahi je bande/ Mein ta munnu Thanedar banana….”
In English it would mean: The sun has already risen/ Get up my child and get ready for school/ While children of others, if educated, become patwaris, I shall like to see my child as a Tehsildar! While children of others after schooling become sepoys, I shall like to see my child as a Thanedar! That was my Kangra and those were its people. Simple and well meaning people with simple aspirations! That’s what made the living experience in Kangra a bliss!
(The author is a retired Principal. He is a regular contributor to Kashmir Vision)
