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Sorry State of Punjabi In Delhi
 Delhi saw a
moment of cultural transition in 1947, as Partition forced out
several refugees in from Punjab that effectively made Delhi a
primarily Punjabi-speaking Delhi.
Today, Punjabi
is Delhi’s second language (it edged out Urdu marginally in terms of
the number of speakers in the city in the 2001 Census), yet its
imminent decay is something it shares with Urdu.
Though it is
still widely spoken and can be heard in conversations, public and
private, its decline in the written form is alarming.
Today, Punjabi
has all but vanished from public view — from billboards, signboards,
posters and, even, graffiti which is why the Centre for Punjabi
Literature and Art on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg holds a surprise.
Instead of a
crumbling building, the Centre is an impressive whitewashed
structure, with manicured lawns and a welcoming character. Inside,
the library is a cosy and elegant with wooden bookshelves filled
with titles from every genre. But it has hardly any readers.
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The
Centre for Punjabi Literature and Art is an impressive whitewashed
structure, with manicured lawns and a welcoming character. Inside,
the library is a cosy and elegant. But it has hardly any readers.
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In the two hours
not a single visitor came in. As librarian Trilok Chand Kaur
informs, the library has all of 75 members.
“Every week, six
to seven people visit the library. Most are Delhi University
students pursuing a degree in Punjabi,” says Kaur.
The visitors
register for this month shows just two names. This state of Punjabi
saddens Pyara Singh, the 85-year-old secretary of the Centre. Singh
recalls the heady days of the 1940’s, when he first arrived in the
city.
“We formed the
Punjabi Sahitya Sabha in Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, which founded the
idea for this institution. In the classrooms, Punjabi used to be
taught all day, without any charge,” he says.
With quiet
passion, Singh writes the Punjabi alphabet.
“It’s a fairly
easy language to learn, yet no one is interested. I can teach it to
anyone within a week,” he says.
What accounts
for the steady decline of Punjabi as a written language? Its lack of
economic status is also accompanied by the paucity of institutions
supporting it. Apart from a few schools run by minority trusts, such
as the Harkrishan Public School, options for learning Punjabi at the
school level do not exist. In this sense, it is probably worse off
than Urdu, which still has a greater transference due to its wide
network of madrasas.
The Punjabi
Centre for Literature and Art, along with some branches of the
Sahitya Akademi, are the last bastions holding up the vast
literature of a rich and the varied language.
Every second
Saturday, Singh, with a few other enthusiasts, organises a workshop
at the Centre’s auditorium where poetry and prose pieces in Punjabi
are read. The greater challenge for them would be to breathe life
again into the written word of this language that, at least
verbally, is still rambunctious and alive.
18
November 2009
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