A culture personified

in Punjab the spirit of Sikhism, which included — love, compassion and tolerance. My mother said there was something in the spirit of Punjab that was always cosmopolitan and tolerant, and not communal. Yes, truly.

For there is something so unique about my Sikh fellow Punjabis, who do not believe in idol worship, yet never ever mind accompanying their Hindu friends to temples — all in the spirit of complete reverence and devotion.

Biji had the same devotion and reverence for her village Sikh temple back then. To everyone in her village, she was Biji, a word used in Punjab to address your mother or grandmother or someone of a similar stature.

I doubt if anyone in the village even knew her last name. Most of her family was from a small village Jhokh Harihar in Ferozepur district and it wasn’t uncommon for them to observe ‘Akhand Path’ to celebrate social occasions in their homes. Their religion hardly mattered! Instead of religion, it is often culture that brings people closer.

So what has taken over Punjab of the 21st century? Perhaps, it’s now forgotten that the glue that kept it together was not religion. It was a culture that gave people this unique bonding of either being a Lakhshman Singh or a Gobind Rai.

In the words of Prof Mohan Singh “Punjab na Hindu na Sikh na Mussalman da, Punjab jeeonda guruaan de naa te. (Punjab is neither Hindu nor Sikh nor Muslim. On the name of the Gurus does Punjab live.”

AS A CONFUSED LITTLE GIRL, I ALWAYS BELIEVED, LIKE MANY OTHERS AT THE TIME, THAT HER RELIGION WAS PUNJABI WHICH WAS ACTUALLY A NAME FOR A CULTURE