Dhudike, (Moga) Nov 21, 2024 (Yes Punjab News)
One of Punjab’s legendary political and progressive villages, Dhudike, known for its Gadri Babas, will once again become the centre of Punjabi public sphere as the annual three-day “Puranmashi” mela takes off this Friday, dedicated to the memory of literary giant Jaswant Singh Kanwal, marking the 75th anniversary of his evocative masterpiece novel (Puranmashi), and featuring a long line up of veteran as well radical intellectual voices.
Set to open on November 22 with a tribute to Principal Sujan Singh and Bawa Balwant, apart from Kanwal’s ‘Puranmashi’, in the form of a series of lectures and Q&A interactions, the 6th Puranmashi Punjabi Jor Mela will also witness a valedictory address by Prof Salil Misra, distinguished historian specializing in modern Indian history who taught at various institutions, including Ambedkar University Delhi.
Prof Misra is widely known for his scholarly work focused on communal politics, freedom struggle, and issues of language and identity, and for his insightful analysis of India’s socio-political developments, particularly during the colonial and post-colonial periods.
Sahitya Akademi awardee and former editor of Punjabi Tribune, Dr Swarajbir, widely seen as the foremost Punjabi playwright and poet, award-winning writer Balwinder Grewal, author and psychiatrist Dr Anirudh Kala, academician and critic Dr Pushpinder Sayal are among a long list of luminaries who will be gracing the three-day festival.
“Unlike regular ‘festivals of literature’, the ‘Puranmashi’ Jor Mela is a festival of ideas focussed on Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat, but with a critical outlook.
Any such ideation and churning cannot happen if our concerns remain parochial geographically, ideologically or communally. Hence, ‘Puranmashi’ is a search, a debate and a quest for a glorious Punjab and a better world where the idea of Punjab could thrive,” said Dr Sumail Singh Sidhu, historian and prime mover behind the festival.
Well known educationist Prof Kuldip Puri, who will be delivering the inaugural address on Friday, said amid the rut of lit-fests and dour seminars, the event at Dhudike comes as a whiff of fresh air where one can watch stimulating debates and impassioned idea-churning without the pressures of kowtowing to established notions and figures.
Punjabi literary critic and National Secretary of Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA), Prof Sukhdev Singh Sirsa, economist Malkit Singh Gill, academic and scholar Shubhprem Brar will also be speaking at the festival. Academicians Harinder Kaur Sohal and Jaswinder Sharma, as well as authors Jaspal Mankhera, Jasvir Rana and Jatinder Haans will also be among the speakers.
Saturday, November 23, will feature a number of younger voices, alongwith veterans of public life, including Dr Kahan Singh Pannu, former Chairman of Punjab Pollution Control Board and former secretary of Agriculture, Medical Education, as well as Kanwaljit Khanna, public-spirited activist who has engaged with key resistance movements for decades now. Alongwith Pannu and Khanna, author, story writer and poet Gurmit Kadialvi and economist Baldev Singh Shergill will explore the construct of Punjab’s village since 1947.
The festival will come to a close on Sunday with Dr Swarajbir dwelling upon how the Punjabi generation of 1960s, born in the matrix of revolution, Che Guevera, cold war, flower children, Beatles, Naxalbari and Green Revolution, faced the challenges of politics, economics and society in a new world.
“Puranmashi Jor Mela is a search for ways to have meaningful conversations as opposed to the sullen set-in-a-mould university seminars and debates. It is time Punjab learnt that it used to converse, that it is the inheritor of the tradition of Shabad Guru, that it is wedded to the idea of ਕਿਛੁ ਸੁਣੀਐ ਕਿਛੁ ਕਹੀਐ. Unfortunately, robust intellectual conversations died alongside long-form informed journalism. It is time we revived both,” said Dr Sumail Singh Sidhu.
Principal Sarwan Singh, well known author, sports writer and academician will be also present at the Puranmashi Jor Mela. Interestingly, he is often lovingly and respectfully referred to as the principal of Dhudike University, a place from where Punjab imbibed Gadari voices, ideas and narratives for decades in the writings of Kanwal and exertions of an endless stream of Gadari babas. “The Puranmashi Jor Mela is actually the continuation of this tradition,” Dr Swarajbir said.
