The Punjab: A Glimpse
"Balle balle ! O, balle balle!" Mr Mathew had taken his student on a trip to Amritsar."children, you must have recognise this famous folk dance of Punjab," sad Mr Mathew, pointing at the Bhangra dancer in front of Punjab pavilion.
"Yes sir,! We saw this folk dance during the republic Day celebration this year", reply the children. This is full of energy. It show the great zest for life of the Punjabis," sad Mr Mathew. "Punjabi's are very self respecting and hardworking people. You will never find them begging in the streets. They are also very brave and never show their back in a battlefield."
According to the history of Punjab, the Punjabi is have faced all the foreign invasions boldly. During the struggle for India's freedom, Punjab gave the country great heroes. The included petrol such as Lala Lajpat Rai ,Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, udham Singh, kartar Singh sarabha and many others. We call Lala Lajpat Rai Shere -e-Punjab and Bhagat Singh shaheed-e-azam. All these braces of Punjab sacrifice their leaves for their country. Lala Lajpat Rai died as the result of the brutal lathi charge while he was leading a procession against the British in 1928. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and rajguru were hanged for raising their voice against the British cruelties. Bhagat Singh was just 23 years old then.
"children, look at the portraits of all the freedom fighter in the pavilion ."
"sir, what is this building that has mark all over its walls?, Asked Chintu
Mr Mathew told Chintu," this is the famous Jallianwala Bagh of Amritsar and these are bullet marks. On 13 April 1919, a crowd of around 20000 peoples had gathered for a public meeting here. They included man, women and childrens. The British general O'dwyer come there with his armed Soldiers. He blocked all the exits points. Then he ordered his men to start firing without giving any warning to the people gathered there. About thousand people were killed and more than 1500 were wounded."
Mr Mathew, told his students about the partition of India in 1947. He said, "the people of Punjab suffered due to partition of the country on the eve of independence in 1947. There was a tribal bloodshed. Thousands of people had to leave their homes and live in refuse camps. However, the punjabi's worked hard and started life afresh. They played a great role in rebuilding the state. They made Punjab the granary of India with their hard work and agriculture skills. They brought about a green revolution in the country.soon, India become a developing country and it is mainly due to hard work of the Punjabis."
"Sir, wasn't Punjab for the divided when the state of Haryana was carved out of it.?"
Ask Raju.
"you a right, Raju. In 1966, the state of Punjab was recognise on the basis of Punjabi and Hindi languages. Sum of the hilly areas of Punjab like Lahaul spiti, the valley of Kullu and Manali, kangara, Dalhousie and Shimla were integrated vidhi Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh was made the joint capital of both Punjab and Haryana. It was declared a union territory," said
Mr Mathew.
TO BE CONTINUED...
NEXT PART..