As the saying goes, time flies by when you are having fun. Such was the experience my family and I had on our recent visit to Dubai and India. We left for Dubai in the first week of October and spent a few days there. Dubai is a beautiful city. It is very clean, well planned and a safe metropolis. Dubai is one of seven Emirates of the United Arab Emirates. The huge Dubai Mall consisting of 1200 plus stores is one of the major attractions of the city. Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world, and the Desert Safari seem to be some of the most popular tourist attractions. Most of Dubai’s workforce is from countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That makes it as a very multicultural and multilingual city.
After spending a few days in this desert city, we flew on to New Delhi. It took us about eight hours from New DelhiInternational Airport to reach my hometown of Pharwala in Jalandhar District. National Highway 1, popularly known as the G.T Road, is a three lane freeway on each side. That has made the travel from Delhi to all places north a very pleasant experience. A lot of impressive dhabas and havellis have sprung up like mushrooms all along this national thoroughfare. In addition to speeding up the traffic flow,it has also cut down on the accidents .The food at most of these eateries is quite delicious. Furthermore, it is a good way to break the journey and relax.
At the time of our arrival in the Punjab, the harvesting of paddy (rice) crop was just beginning. Within a few days it was in full swing. Unfortunately, a lot of farmers were burning the stubble (parali) to make way for planting wheat. That added immensely topollution even in the remote areas. There was a lot of concern about this practice .Hundreds of thousand tons of potential fuel are wasted in this process while adding to pollution and destroying the much needed nutrients in the soil.This raw material could be used to manufacture products like paper and card board. The provincial and federal governments are under a lot of pressure to do something about it and to help the farmers in this regard.
As we arrived in the Punjab, the manoeuvering for the upcoming provincial election was in high gear. For the next few weeks, it was like having a ring side seat to the unfolding of a very interesting political drama in the Punjab. Each of the three majorpolitical parties was making an earnest effort to woo the electorate for the provincial election scheduled for early 2017. A number of well- known political leaders were changing political parties like changing their clothes. If a party did not approve nomination of a sitting member or an aspirant to a political office he/she was quick to go over to the other party. Interestingly, every partyleadership has immense power to parachute or nominate a candidate wherever it wishes. This practice is rather rare here in Canada. However, this is very common in the Punjab. Every day there were headlines of people switching their affiliation/loyalty from one political party to the other because they didn’t get what they wanted.
The three main contenders to office in the Punjab at this time are the ruling Badal Akali Dal, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). There are couple of other fringe parties as well. However, they don’t seem to have much chance of winning any seats let alone forming a government. So the contest is between these three. Though the election writ is still far away, the campaign by these political parties is in full swing. There are huge posters and bill boards (hoardings)everywhere emphasizing each of the parties’ platform. The Punjab Assembly has a total of 117 seats with the Malwa region having the largest share at 65 seats. The remaining 42 seats are divided between Doaba at 23 and Majha at 19.Out of these, 33 seats are reserved for the Dalit community. The Akalis under Badals are emphasizing their development agenda whereas the Congress and AAP are pushing for change. At this time it hard to predict the results as each of the major contenders have both positives and negatives. Regardless, it is going to be one of the most interesting elections in this province’s history. Prime Minister Narinder Modi’s demonetisation on November 8 is going to have a major impact on the war chest of all of these political parties and their candidates.
Speaking of demonetization, it was a shock all around when Mr. Modi dropped the bombshell in the evening on November 8 invaliding 86% of India’s currency consisting of Rupees 500 and 1,000 notes.Modi’s objective for such a drastic move is three fold. He calls it a surgical strike on black money, corruption and terrorism. These are all noble objectives. Most of the people seem to support this move regardless of the inconvenience it has caused them. The long lines at banks and ATMs seem to be getting shorter every day. Also, consumers and businesses are finding creative ways to deal with this development in a more rational manner. Everyone is hoping that things will normalize in the next few weeks as new money becomes easily available.
As mentioned earlier, time flies by when you are having fun. So it was time to pack up and head back to Canada at the end of November. Amongst some of the pleasant memories of this trip, one thing stands out. In my conversations with the Punjabi media, politicians and ordinary people, I was very impressed with the positive image Canada and Canadians have in the Punjab. Most of them expressed their appreciation for the huge strides the Punjabis have made in Canada since their ancestors arrived in this land of opportunity about 125 years ago. That is something that all of us can be proud of.
Balwant Sanghera is a retired School Psychologist and Community Activist.
