Prelude PUNJAB-2 Once Upon A Time Not Far From Here… Indus Valley

PUNJAB  

Once Upon A Time Not Far From Here….

Daarji and Bebe have had a great buzz of activity since early morning today at 1 Link Road, with their little guests having the free run and a walk around the farm with Daarji.

However, it was getting to be past mid-day and as usual, Daarji has dozed off on his recliner, waiting for kids to come back for story-time.

Now Bebe, where is Bebe? 

She is with the kids listening intently to their banter, her head tilted to one side as she steps out into the garden. “It seems to have rained somewhere”, said Bebe taking a deep breath, and with a sweep of her arms adds, “What a beautiful day”. 

“Look”, she continued nodding towards the far end, “there’s Daarji”!

Now she could not hold back the excited kids any longer. As soon as the kids saw Daarji, they ran towards him excitedly echoing over and over again…”Daarji! Daarji”!

“Daarji is sleeping Bebe Ji”, whispered Baani as she came closer.

Bunty chuckled in merriment and tugged Bebe’s sleeve, “Look! Bebe Ji, look! He is snoring”. Saying this he bent over Daarji and peered closely, and softly called him ''Daarji’.

“Can we wake him up, Bebe Ji”? Queried Happy, rather tentatively.

 The sounds of loud whispers, giggles and barking of enthused dogs roused Daarji from his afternoon siesta.  He opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by the kids and the happy faces peering down at him.

“Ohh! Ho! I must have dozed off”, laughed Daarji quite self-consciously.

“Hmmm! Daarji that is spot-on. But then you do look rested, it seems you managed to catch your 40 winks…Thaudi ta Khuggi poori ho gayee”, jested Bebe amiably with him.

“Daarji please tell us stories”, pleaded Bunty.

“Stories please”, entreated the kids in unison.

Daarji took a few moments to recover, cleared his throat, stretched back languorously and gently slipped into his grand-fatherly mode.

Greater  Punjab

 'Yes, yes, of course, my dear,” he gave in with a smile.  “Come sit, I am going to be your storyteller and stories I tell, will be enthralling, true tales steeped in the history of our people and land”.

“Let me begin from this very land we sit on”, continued Daarji with undertones of pride, Punjab”.

“Punjab, do you know, was big at one time. Very big’, he said spreading his arms wide. “And let us call that the –‘The Greater Punjab' “.

The Greater Punjab was once made up of massive spreads of land, from eastern Pakistan to north-western India. You could easily say, from the mountain ranges of Afghanistan to the plains of Ganges and up north taking up parts of Jammu Kashmir all the way to Tibet.

“Punjab is the land of our ancestors,” he added with just a slight tinge of pride.

“Punjab means the land of five rivers”, cut in Bebe as she walked by.

 ‘Ahho! Bebe, Thank you. Come sit with us”, Daarji glanced at Bebe affectionately for a moment and then went back to his attentive young listeners.

“Yes, now where were we“?

“Punjab” reminded the kids almost in unison.

 "Punjab" is made up of two Persian words "Panj" and "Aab", Panj means -Five and Aab means water”, boomed Daarji. “But what most of us do not know is that at the height of its glory, it was known as Sapta Sindhu, the land of… the seven rivers”.

‘Daarji, I think we could tell them a little about the Indus Valley civilisation as well,’ said Bebe.

 “Hmmm! That is a very good idea, then we begin at the very beginning,” said Daarji.

“Would you like that, children”?

The children nodded eagerly in anticipation.

“Before we begin, let me ask you an interesting question”, probed Daarji, with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Who is a man? Where did he come from”?

Then he turned towards Happy to ask. “Happy, can you tell me who your forefathers are”?

Bewilderment was written large on Happy’s face, for he had failed to notice the twinkle in Daarji’s eyes and in all seriousness replied, “Daarji, you know my grandfather Sardar Bikram Singh, he lives in this village”.

Enjoying his little joke, Daarji stretched back in his chair and replied, “True, my child. But way back, tens of thousands of years back, our forefather was an Ape…a Chimp”. 

The children laughed joyously, and incessantly teased… Happy, your Grandfather was a monkey “!

“Just a moment kids”, said Daarji, as he put up his hand to stop the banter, “All our ancestors, yours and mine were apes, my dear. And then these Apes continued to progress step by step in many stages over many an era to become a man-kind as we see today. 

That is called evolution. This man was smart he could think….thus civilizations like Indus valley were born’.

   

                                       

‘So children, like always, all good stories begin with, ‘Once upon a time’ far far away, but in this case, it is not too far away from where we sit, but it certainly….  was a long - long ago'.

“Indus Valley, it was the cradle of one of the first great civilisations of this world”.Along with  Indus Valley, there were two other ancient river valley civilizations, that of  Egypt and Mesopotamia that were prospering and developing. 

"Which rivers did they come to upon? 

Check and let me know ". laughingly Daarji set the assignment.

"Indus Valley came up……..Around…..mmm …let me think 3000-3300 BC”.
I explained that on the Timeline. 

 But then we also see that sometime around in the second millennium of BC, we saw the decline of this great civilisation. 

"That means that people of Indus Valley lived almost 5500 years ago… and what a way they lived”. Said Daarji thoughtfully, as he explained to the children every detail, creating vivid pictures with words, for them to imagine.

'Men and women dressed in colourful robes. They spun cotton…and could weave magic in their fabric

Women wore jewellery of gold and precious stones. It seems to be that they even wore make-up'.

"What kind of fashion design they had Daarji". Simran the curious teen inquired.

 Come to think of it, my dear Simran, they did live a fashionable lifestyle… or so it appears”! Smiled Daarji endearingly as he warmed up.

'Music….oooo yes! Music and dance were part of their lifestyle'. 

“Did I tell you about ‘The Great Bath”?

Well, we can see in pictures only what's left of a large swimming pool. The pool had steps leading down at both ends. And what more there were a row of rooms….perhaps they were the changing rooms”.

'Now, was it a community bath'? He asked.

“Or, was it a spa”?

“Or, perhaps they had Pool Parties like we have in summers ”! Daarji laughed out loud as he thought of that idea.

“What is that, that you kids say these days, ‘Life-rocks’'.
 Ha! Ha! It seems it did so for the people of Indus Valley”.

'Well! Life rocked even for the kids in those days".

“They had TOYS”!

“Toys to play with, small carts, whistles shaped like birds and even toy monkeys which could slide down a string”.

“Now, if this surprised you”. Said Daarji, building up the expectation.

”Just wait, you will be really amazed to see their houses. They lived in homes with several rooms, rooms with windows and doors. Their homes had courtyards for ventilation and stairs with railings “.

.

“Their towns were really well planned. Parallel streets and proper drains”.

“Each town had a granary. Crops were grown, and the harvest stored centrally, for all in the town to enjoy”.

“Now let me ask you this…What does all this suggest”?

He questioned his rapt young listeners and then answered himself…

“They were not only astute, Architects Engineers and Town-planners” enlightened Daarji gently.

"It seems they were good administrators and very good farmers. 

They grew barley, peas, melons, wheat, and dates and more”.

“They kept herds of sheep, pigs, and water buffalo. And something called ‘Zebus’, a  kind of humped cattle”.

“And what more….they caught fish in the rivers with fishing hooks”!
Just think they had the tradecraft to style the hooks.

“Hmm, and what more !!  They were very artistic and creative ."
"There had to be a potter’s wheel as well”, for you just had to see the pottery they made"! 
A wide array of pots in sizes and design with magnificent coloured glazes”.
Still vibrant today.

Picking up the book on Indus Valley he said. “These people were smart on land and they were smart sailors on the sea as well. They traded with faraway countries”.

 "This was a prosperous set of people and flourishing community ". 
And ….Do not forget this was almost 5500 years ago”.

“But then”. Daarji stopped for an ominous pause and then he continued,” Suddenly! Suddenly, for reasons not known, the Indus Valley civilisation vanished”.

“All that remained was the valley the river and the playful dolphins of the Indus River”.

“ 

"And this land, that later came to be called Punjab was forgotten for hundreds of year”, explained Daarji, unhurriedly stretching his old bones.

This was a snap-shot lesson in the world history for the children, and they sat expectantly agog for more, but then, Bebe noticed that Daarji had had a long day and looked visibly tired.

“Chalo bacheyo”, suggested Bebe firmly. “How about a break now and we keep ‘The Story of Punjab ‘and ‘Coming of Nanak’ for another day.

Nevertheless, it is never easy to fob off children, and Baani took a Pinky promise for another day.