Current Events
Honouring Our Roots
AMANINDER PAL SHARMA
Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab
Tuli Mohammad may seem like a strange name for a village street, especially in this part of the world. However, for those who know about this small hamlet called Panjoli in Fatehgarh Sahib district also know the story of Tuli Mohammad, who decide not to migrate with his family to Pakistan at the time of the Partition, despite the bloodshed and the two-way exodus.
Mohammad, who lived on to cross the age of 95 and was actively involved in village activities till the end, however, is not the only village elder to have got the honour. Contrary to the culture of naming structures and streets after religious and political icons, Panjoli village names its streets to show respect to prominent village elders, who lived in these lanes for decades.
So far seven streets in Panjoli have been named after village elders at various points of time in the past few years. Except Tuli Mohammad, rest of the streets have been named after Sikh elders. What's more, none amongst these late elders died before attaining the age of 95 years and actively worked for the welfare of and harmony in the village.
"It was a first-of-its-kind experiment. Otherwise, the prevailing culture is to name streets after popular figures. But our idea was that names of prominent village elders should be immortalized. So we decided to dedicate all streets in the village interior to these elders," said Karnail Singh, who floated and implemented this idea while serving as village sarpanch.
Thekedar Mangal Singh, Nambardar Bhagwan Singh, Baba Rakha Singh, Tuli Mohammad, Baba Kartar Singh, Baba Kehar Singh, and Baba Balwant Singh have so far been honoured by the local community through renaming of the streets.
"Now the plan is to install grilled gates at entrance and exit points of all these streets like what we see in the some colonies of Punjab cities. This will help in maintaining security. Those gates will be dedicated to the four martyred sons of Guru Gobind Singh," Karnail Singh added.
Another distinct feature of this village is that every public structure or building in this village is named after Sikh icons. There are at least a dozen more buildings and roads which are thus named.
The village has roads dedicated to Sikh heroes Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Baba Deep Singh and Baba Baz Singh, the village has a park named after Bhai Sangat Singh, a devoted Sikh of The Tenth Master. The village also has a road dedicated to the great Singh Sabha Movement leader and Sikh scholar, Bhai Ditt Singh.
[Courtesy: Times of India. Edited for sikhchic.com]
February 16, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Harsaran Singh (Indonesia), February 17, 2015, 9:44 AM.
I am a person of very limited knowledge but I can say without doubt that Sikhism is perhaps the only religion in the world whose holy book has verses from worthy souls from other faiths. People in Indonesia are surprised to know that Guru Granth Sahib has references to the Qur'an. Therefore it is welcome to know that in Punjab due respect is given to elders irrespective of their caste or creed. These are the tenets of our religion.