My Mother-tongue: Shahpuri Punjabi

Before our independence in 1947, the undivided Punjab was at least eight times larger than the present day Indian state of that name. A large chunk went to Pakistan, and what was left was divided into three states, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In 1911, the state was so noteworthy that when Gurudev Tagore wrote an immortal song, he began the description of India with the words, “Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha…”

 Punjabi language had dozens of dialects. The language spoken in the land of my birth is known as Shahpuri. The term derives from Shapur which is a city on the eastern bank of river Jhelum, opposite Khushab. For a long time, this was a very important town, but when Sargodha was developed, Shahpur lost its political significance. However, the dialect continues to retain its name. Some of the other prominent Shahpuri speaking towns are Khushab, Layalpur (now known as Faisalabad), Sahiwal, Lalian and Mianwali. For those who belong to that part of the country, I am giving below a map of that area.

 

 

Shahpuri speaking areas

The complete picture of the various dialects of Punjabi is given below for ready reference:

 

Major dialects of Punjabi on both sides of the border

 

The Radcliffe Committee

We, in the Punjab had lived together for several centuries. Our religious beliefs were different, but the language united us. Most of the social customs were very similar. All the Muslims were converts from the local inhabitants, since we know for sure that none of them is an immigrant from Arabia or even Afghanistan. And they lived in complete harmony. In our village, Farooka, the most prominent leader was Mian Allah Yar Kalyar, and he was respected by everyone. The land was ruled by the Mughals for at least two centuries, and then it came under Maharaja Ranjit Singh for three decades, before the British established their empire. These political changes made very little difference to the lives of our ancestors. We spoke the same language and observed  analogous social customs. The economy was agrarian, and most men worked on the fields. Women bore children and managed the households. ‘Purda’ (veils) was observed by all females, irrespective of faith.

The communal riots which began in around 1931 in the towns came as a shock. And when we learnt of the ‘partition’ most people did not believe that it would result in transfer of population and violence of that magnitude. What happened in 1947 was incredible and  preposterous. The change of that enormous magnitude was the result of the deed of just one man, assisted by a few nameless members of the ‘boundary commission’. His name was Sir C Radcliffe. History records the story as follows:

“Sir Cyril Radcliffe arrived in India on 8th July 1947 and was given five weeks to work on the border. Upon meeting with Mountbatten, Radcliffe traveled to Lahore and Kolkata to meet his Boundary Commission members, who were primarily Jawaharlal Nehru representing the Congress and Muhammad Ali Jinnah representing the Muslim League. Both parties were keen that the boundary be finalised by 15th August 1947, in time for the British to leave India. As requested by both Nehru and Jinnah, Radcliffe completed the boundary line a few days before Independence, but due to some political reasons the Radcilffe Line was only formally revealed on 17th August 1947, two days after Independence”

The line which they drew on the western side of the map in those five weeks is shown below:

 

 

The Radcliffe Line

The Radcliffe Line on the Ground

The Indo-Pak border became sensitive soon after the partition. It was therefore fenced all along from the Punjab to the coastline, where the line ends. A picture of the fencing is given below:

 Fencing on the Indo-Pak Border

A picture of the Radcliffe line as seen from a satellite. This is one of the few man-made boundaries visible from the space due to the floodlights

The Aftershock

We were unceremoniously thrown out of our houses. Amongst the many things we left behind was the ‘Shahpuri’ dialect. Since we got scattered all over India, the dialect was used only when we spoke to the members of our own family. And slowly, just as the seed takes to the soil, our language changed. I was a little over six years old then, but those words and their diction are still embedded in my psyche. Today, seven decades after the event, whenever I hear the Shahpuri dialect, my soul yearns to hear the tongue.

I have retained contacts with some friends on the other side of the border. Most of the educated men of our village have migrated to towns like Lahore and Rawalpindi, but the great majority of the rural folks are where they were. Recently, someone sent me a video clip of a rustic Shahpuri ‘muzera’ (landless farmhand). The two-minute interview he has given to a TV channel left me stunned and aghast. I want you to see it for yourself. The link is given below. Please click on it and listen to the words carefully: ​

 

 

 

 

My Analyses of the Social Consequences of this Outlook

I was dumbfounded when I heard what the man has said. He has no idea of what he seems to be doing. His wife and even the children believe that the head of the family is doing the right thing. Producing a brood of children appears to be a noble deed. Whether they receive education and other creature comforts is of no consequence. When I compare this with what I see in our villages, I am struck by the difference in the attitude. Even the poorest of the poor want to see their children educated, and the family planning concept has percolated to the very bottom of the social spectrum.

When we parted company in 1947, we were an integrated culture, but after seven decades, we are two entirely different people, with very little in common. A look at more such videos on the Internet convinced me that Mohammad Yusuf of this clip is not alone. There are several families with large numbers of kids. The plural marriages permitted in Islam make it easy for men to raise large families.   After Independence, the Muslim Clergy took over and caused all this to happen. The political power went into the hands of the generals, and a strong military force has been on top of their agenda.

The Figures Speak for Themselves

In an idle reverie, I studied and analysed the population growth since independence and also the projected figures. The result revealed that our friend in this video clip represents the entire community. Our neighbours are headed for a prodigious population growth. You will notice that the rate of growth of population in Pakistan is the highest. Bangladesh has slowed down after parting ways with Pakistan, in 1971.

 

The Tailpiece

Seven decades ago, we lived together as one happy family. We were engaged in the similar economic pursuits and spoke the same language. The social customs were very similar, though we worshipped in a different places. To a large extent, our thinking was analogous. Then came Sir Cyril Radcliffe. In less than five weeks, he drew a line which drove a wedge between us. We did not realize it at that time, but over the years, we have drifted so far apart, that there is very little in common, now. Our goals are not the same.

As of now, the only thing which is certain is that if the current events are any indication, our neighbour will always be able to spare enough young men for the ‘Jehadi Army’. If a man has so many children that he does not even know their names, the family will not even get to know, if a son away to an unknown destination. And, indeed, the head hunters will always be able to find sufficient young men to be trained as ‘suicide bombers’ !

A Footnote on Sir Cyril Radcliffe

Radcliffe was given the chairmanship of the two boundary committees set up with the passing of the Indian Independence Act. He was faced with the daunting task of drawing the borders for the new nations of Pakistan and India in a way that would leave as many Hindus and Sikhs in India and Muslims in Pakistan as possible. Radcliffe submitted his partition map on 9 August 1947. The new boundaries were formally announced on 14 August 1947—the day of Pakistan’s independence and the day before India became independent.

Radcliffe’s efforts saw some 14 million people—roughly seven million from each side—fled across the border when they discovered the new boundaries left them in the “wrong” country. Some 500,000 people died in the violence that ensued after independence, and millions more were injured. After seeing the mayhem occurring on both sides of the boundary that was created by him, Radcliffe refused his salary of 40,000 rupees (then 3,000 pounds). He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1948.

*

Post Script

I was about to publish this post, when it occurred to me that at the macro level, the thinking at the apex level across the Radcliffe Line follows the same pattern. Mohammad Yusuf  wants a hundred children because he feels insecure. He believes that his brood of sons and daughters will protect him, if the law and order breaks down. The same psyche is manifest at the government level. Pakistan is several times smaller than India. As per the latest statistics, the GDP of India is nearly nine times greater than that of Pakistan. However, they insist on maintaining a military which is disproportionate with their physical size. The expenditure on acquiring and maintaining the aircraft, missiles and tanks comes out of the budget which should logically go towards education and welfare of the people. As someone mentioned, “After Independence, both India and Pakistan turned towards the USA for assistance. India asked for help in raising IITs on the pattern of the MIT, and Pakistan sought fighter jets and tanks. The Americans faithfully complied with both the requests!”