aaj aur kal

English translation at the end of Urdu article

Today and the Past

Our present day will always be different from yesteryears. It is natural habit of individuals to reminisce on the past, but also to sometimes live in the past. Especially those people whose past has gone through tough times such as poverty, unemployment and lack of education, and for a purpose, as a last option, to leave their homeland, to leave their village or town which for many people is the most beautiful place. Even if that place could only give them a chance to to earn a living to put food on the table.

All of us, that now live abroad, we love our homeland more than where we presently reside. This very thing is a mystery for our current young generation because when in Pakistan, they see the small villages and alleys and small houses and they fail to understand.

That is why I thought I would like to take you all, not only on a journey with myself, but to also invite the next generation, so together we can show them that years ago, what it was like in our homeland. What our lives were like and the type of culture we had. It is not only an ongoing legacy but also the generations of grass roots of our forefathers that are still alive today!

Our region of pothwar, the culture and the beauty of the pothwari region is made complete with the pothwari dialect. The dialect and the culture have a special place in the state of Punjab. The dialect itself has been known as one of the sweetest languages in pothwar.

In the 1940’s before the partition of Pakistan and India, along with Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus richly populated the whole area. In day to day dealings and in business, the Sikhs and Hindus had the “upper hand”, as they would favour each other over the Muslims. Muslims were thought to be lesser class of individual and as such were looked down upon by both other communities. Due to poverty in those days the Sikhs and the Hindus took advantage when possible by putting Muslims in huge debt, debt they would never be able to pay of even if they worked for the rest of their natural life.

After the partition in 1947 of Pakistan and India, the Sikhs and the Hindus fled to the new born state, in doing so, they left all their land and houses. Naturally the remaining Muslims took control of the land and properties and became very wealthy, literally overnight, anyway, as they did, life went on. . . .

Society in those days led a simple life of agriculture. The men would sow the fields using cattle. According to our elders, because it would be very hot during the summer months in the daytime, some would farm the fields during the night, as it was cooler. While the women of the household would make what we call butter today using a simple mechanism with a clay pot and a wooden type mixer. This method would be employed to derive makhan( butter ), which would be eaten together with bread like chapatti made in a large clay oven or bread like chapatti made from corn flour.

Flour was ground using a stone mill, which had to be operated by hand and was very tiring. Because in the early days we had no such thing as a milling machine and flour had to be ground by hand everyday by hand. I once questioned one of my elders why the flour needed could not be prepared in one go. She said to prepare for one day it took hours, so to prepare for a whole month was impossible. Anyway flour was not the only thing prepared in the home, lentils and herbs were also ground in the stone mill.

It was also considered a necessity to make homemade pickle, as it would make a good side dish for salty lassi, which is milk or yogurt based drink. It would actually be more fitting to say that the pickle was the main dish.

Women, instead of using gas cylinders would use firewood and sticks for fuel for the clay oven. In some places this method is still in use today but more and more people are moving to gas cylinders. Instead of a fridge water used to be cooled in a large clay pot and was pure, cooler and sweeter. Instead of TV, families would spend the evening talking about the day’s events.

In 1960 and 1970, after mangla dam was being built, many people from Dadyal, Kashmir and surrounding areas, because their land was taken by the introduction of the dam, they packed up and emigrated to Britain, Europe & Middle east.

The rest of pothwar fell close with Kashmir and because there was a tight cultural bond they both deemed it necessary to travel abroad, in search of a better life, and emigrated to Britain, Europe & Middle East, and as such to experience life in other countries.

We sometimes wish, to somehow turn back the hands of time and return to our childhood days. In today’s society, we benefit from all the basic desires of life and that which our forefather wished for us. We have ultimately achieved what we wanted, but amidst these dreams, one underlying principle that conquers out hearts, is that whenever we remember our motherland, we want to quickly pack everything and run for home! But we fail to remember that the hands of time only travel forward not backward.

No matter how beautiful the present moment is from the past, our childhood moments seem to be the most memorable, and conquer life's little book as being the best chapter.

Ibn Nisha has caught this beautifully in his poem . . . below

The days in which I was a little boy A festival, I find myself in wondering

My heart was spoilt at each and everything An empty pocket I had, could not buy anything

I returned, a thousand wishes lost The days in which I was a little boy

My worry less days have left me behind Another festival, I find myself in wondering

Today, I could purchase each and every shop! Today, I could purchase the whole universe !

Yet, my heart lacks the wishes I desire for But, where do I but search for the little boy ?

Mohammad Naseer Raja

Slough & Choha Khalsa