The huge NRI presence at each wedding has completely changed the dynamics. There is a lot more glamour and showmanship . The marriage palaces take on the appearance of a carnival with food and drinks galore.
By Balwant Sanghera
This year, the cooler weather seems to linger on. Usually, February brings out sunshine and warmth. However, so far the weather has been nothing but. It gets pretty cold especially in the morning and evening. Nevertheless, the cooler weather hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm for and at the weddings. As a matter of fact , the wedding season has been in full swing for some time.
The weddings in Punjab have undergone a major transformation. It is a totally different wedding related culture now. The modern day weddings in the Punjab have become more complex, tedious and expensive. The marriage palaces are everywhere. The huge NRI presence at each wedding has completely changed the dynamics. There is a lot more glamour and showmanship . The marriage palaces take on the appearance of a carnival with food and drinks galore.
The country/rural landscape has also changed a lot. Despite all of these changes the village life continues to have its own charm. Consequently, I try to spend as much time in my ancestral village Pharwala as possible. For anything that is not available in the village, Nurmahal is only ten minutes drive away and Jalandhar is less than 45 minutes drive. The great benefit of the rural life is its closeness to nature. I thoroughly enjoy looking at flush green acres upon acres of wheat fields. Incidentally the experts predict that the unusually cooler weather will result in better yield of wheat this year. If everything goes well this may be a record year for wheat production.
Two things really stand out when one is talking to authorities or ordinary people. First, it is the curse of drugs and liquor. A lot of young people are wasting their lives addicted to them. It is an extremely worrisome situation for everyone. The efforts to entice the youth away from drugs by encouraging them to participate in sports is partially successful. However , still a lot more must be done to save the Punjabi youth from this curse. The second problem is the craze amongst young people to go abroad. In this process they are easy prey for manipulation by travel agents. The worldwide recession and the government crackdown on fraudulent travel agents is improving the situation. However, still a lot more needs to done in this area as well. It needs an on-going education and awareness campaign.
Despite all of these problems , the progress being made in India is visible all around. Punjab too has a great potential for improvement. Efforts to have more trade and exchanges between India and Canada as well as BC and Punjab are bound to bear fruit. It will be a great opportunity for all of us to learn from each other.
LINK Columnist Balwant Sanghera, a local activist a former teacher and Order of BC winner, is currently on a visit to Punjab and will be filing reports whenever he has time from his busy travel schedule.
