Recently drove down from Delhi to Patiala (5 hrs) was not really expecting much beyond enjoying the company, the farms and fresh vegetables from the stay with a friend but Patiala surprised us.
The first noticeable thing as we crossed over from Haryana into Punjab was the signs and billboards — -Hindi disappeared totally replaced by Gurmukhi (Punjabi script) All advertisements, shop signs, roads names were in Gurmukhi and in English- not withstanding spelling mistakes such as “Dirty Designs Shop, No 4 Love (lower) Mall Road, Patiala.” There actually was a Décor shop called that!
The second was the presence of cultivated farmland on either side of the road. Of course as we neared the cities the farms got replaced by buildings and such — but the fields were missing totally while in Haryana.
The first surprise was the Sarthak Rang Manch of Punjabi University- the drama club which has been putting up plays for a week per year since the past 11 years. Om Puri, a renowned actor of the Indian cinema is one of the most famous prodigy of this club tho’ there are many in the Punjab movie and small screen circuit.
We saw two plays- powerful acting in both- one a mono drama where a lady portrayed the life and travails of a lesser known freedom fighter. A dry subject one would think- but this lady through her expressions, dialogue delivery, body language and small nuances not only held all of us spell bound and mesmerized but also taught us about the lady Gulab Kaur — an immigrant from Philippines who sailed the seas to partake in the Indian freedom struggle against all odds, leaving her husband and defying social norms for women at that time.
Punjabi plays usually carry a social message, or their crux forces the audience to think. The 2nd one was on marital discord and the audience was full of students (attending by own accord or coercion by their teachers?) So apt, with real life situations replicated beautifully- the heroin- a young girl performing for the first time on stage was brilliant- replicating hurt indignation when she felt wronged or smugly making snide comments on the husband with a smirk or feeling remorseful — all emotions conveyed realistically. One could imagine oneself in her shoes.
Norah Richards an Irish actress and theatre practitioner, (later called the Lady Gregory of the Punjab) came to Punjab when her husband was offered a job to teach at a university in Punjab. She worked with many young drama students scripting and performing plays enriching the culture of the area. After her husband’s demise she shifted to Andretta in Himachal Pradesh bought property and continued with the drama workshops till the day she passed away. Today her property there is held in trust by the University of Punjabi at Patiala. (where we saw the plays mentioned above)
The university had an interesting building in the middle of the campus for the School of Religions studies. The Guru Gobind Singh Bhawan had 5 doorways leading into a single central hall with the ceiling rising upwards to merge in a single columnar peak. Each doorway represented a different religion- Sikhism, Christianity, Hinduism (including Jainism, Buddhism), Islam. The concept being that while the paths may differ the final destination is the Same.
The Moti Palace of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh (grandfather of the previous CM Of Punjab Amarinder Singh) was a Fascinating Palace- What is today open to the public is probably the Backyard of the palace. It has a Huge central water body (now full of weeds) it has two three floor minarets on the side and an iron bridge in the centre connecting the two sides. The backside of the fort has numerous windows overlooking the pool. Folklore is that each of these windows belonged to the rooms of the 365 wives that Bhupinder Singh had. Tunnels and stairway are seen on the lower level of the pool and it is said that the maharanis used to come through these tunnels to bathe in the pool — of course the maharajah would view them from the minarets if he so wished.
FUN Fact: its well known that Capt. Amarinder Singh had a Pakistani lady Aroosa Alam living with him. When Capt. Sahib’s wife complained to her Mother in law about this the MIL retaliated — you are complaining about one- My MIL tolerated 364!
The outdoor pool has a path running all around it with cannons placed strategically , elaborate statues of Queen Victoria and Maharaj Bhupinder Singh in white and black stone, and numerous mango and jamun trees all around.
The inner rooms of the palace have rooms displaying the multiple medals and trophies won by the Maharaja, pictures, gold and silver utensils used for everyday meals, a sheesh mahal, weapons room etc., Till few years ago it was open to the general public — sadly no longer.
Today the front part of the mahal has been converted to the National Sports Institute and part of the palace and its lawns can be seen by visiting that. The fact that to reach the back or the front of the palace one has to take two distant angled to each other, separate roads demonstrates the vastness of space occupied by the palace and it stretches beyond as well.
Indians are innovative and this was apparent in the rural setup for making Gud (jaggery) we saw on roadside next to a sugar can farm.
Two huge turbine kind of things mounted on a high platform- run by a diesel motor- squeezed the juice out the canes, which collected in a shallow pool and from there via underground pipes into a huge vat in deep hole in the ground. There were three adjacent such vats. All the three were heated at boiling point through the fire below. The fire fed by dried sugarcane stalks fed into it by the side. The liquid is constantly stirred to remove the external dirt on the canes, the process is escalated by adding water in which Bhindi is rubbed and mashed so that it releases its लेस (the sticky substance found in Bhindi) Each subsequent vat is filled with cleaner juice and from the 3rd vat it is transferred to the cooling dish in a thin layer, using a large ladle. This thin layer is scraped through often allowing it to cool quickly and depending on whether gud or shakkar is to be made the mixture is cooled down and spread.
Perspective: To get 1 Kg of gud at least 10 kgs of sugar cane needs to be processed.
Food and shopping:
Sahni Dhaba at the Adalat Bazaar (so called as during the pre-independence era the King held court in a fort near where the market has today sprung up. The market used to be the path which the people seeking justice followed.)
Amongst us we had butter chicken, saag chicken, veg biryani, fish fry, butter naan and garlic naan- all delicious were rated high by us. The butter naan the BEST we’ve ever had- crisp and flaky yet soft to the core- an oxymoron for sure, nevertheless true. Patiala also rates them well apparently — all the while we were eating and also nearly an hour later when we crossed the place again, there was a crowd of delivery boys clamouring for their orders. In contrast all the other nearby places serving similar food were silent and nearly patron less.
Huge sized peanuts, roasted in warm sand were delicious.
Sheetal Dhaba on the Lower Mall Road was another great place for vegetarian food. This crisp Tandoori makkai ki roti with sarson ka saag and sweet lassi — with just the right amount of sweet ( not overly so as is usually the case)
Waiters were friendly, pleasant smilingly giving genuine advice (even to the point of saying this is too much for you to eat- order less) — at all the places we ate at.
Juttis and Phulkari- galore- all kinds and varieties- with a little bit of time and effort you can find a place which sells stuff somewhat out of the ordinary and run of the mill. Apparently the Tilla Jutti with its elaborate gold and silver embroidery is the hallmark which separates the Patiala jutti from others.
An Oxymoron of Patiala — there are many Sari shops — — one place had nearly 10 huge Saree stores with huge bill boards. Percent of ladies wearing sarees negligible ( did not see even one in the 2.5 days we were there) Our friend said that it is customary to gift saris at wedding times and everyone has at least a trunk full of them — which they do not wear- except maybe once in a blue moon.
Dukhnivaran Sahib Gurudwara is a prominent Gurudwara here with a large following. Folklore says that Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib meditated under a Banyan tree here and his presence freed a nearby villagers of all their illnesses. Built with minarets, towering golden domes, a huge sarovar and beautiful gardens it is a peaceful place.
The eye catching Patiala Railway Station with its unique architecture- Built by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh the station is perpendicular to the rail line rather than parallel (as is the norm) This was as the Maharaja hoped for the Ambala Ludhiana rail diverted via Patiala but it never happened.
The AC bus station– the first in the country (apparently) Unfortunately it is the chairs and desks who enjoy the cool drafts- hardly any people (travellers or service providers) are seen within. Maybe it is a different story during the hot summer months!
Interesting fact. There was a overgrown unkept forest-y area by the roadside close to the Thapar University of Technology (one of the best in the land apparently) which was used as a general dumping ground by all. Till a gazzetted officer with an environmental streak converted into an eco friendly environmental park with walkways, statues, flower beds and benches. today the erstwhile eyesore has converted to a favourite walking track and a place to relax. (something for the next visit…if it happens)
on that hopeful note — सत्सृअकाल दोस्तों |