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Guru Ravidass Gurpurab and Bootan Mandi
On the Gurpurab day, there was a tradition of hosting a Kavi
Darbar (poetry recital) session in the evening. It used to be a
good tradition. I vividly remember the kavi darbars in the late
1960s in which famous and renowned poets like Vidhata Singh
Teer, Hazara Singh Mustak, Kartar Singh Balagan, Charan Singh
Safri, Gurdass Ram Alam, Pritam Ramdasspuri, Chanan Lal Manik,
Bhagmal Pagal among many others regaled the audiences year after
year with their poetic renditions along with their singer
counterparts like, inter alia, Piara Singh Panchi, Lal Chand
Kamla, Narinder Biba, Mohan Bangar. In those years, these
celebrations were conducted with spiritual dedication and
sobriety. It was my honour to be one of the organizers of these
functions as General Secretary of the then Guru Ravidass Welfare
Society. Later, if I say so, with the further economic
prosperity of the Seths, who came to the helm to manage such
functions of Bootan Mandi, money got a higher
As I said, the growing clout and prosperity in and around Bootan
Mandi and also its resultant awakening and empowerment, the
character of these celebrations also saw a drastic change in
content and style. The writers and singers vied among themselves
to come out with new songs and albums every year invoking the
name of Bootan Mandi in their songs and performances. I heard
live last year at Bootan Mandi, Sufi singers Nooran
Sister, who also have their roots (grand daughters of famous
Bibi Nooran of Bootan Mandi) in Bootan Mandi, their rendition
“Bootan Mandi Aake Lag Janda Dil Bhagto”. The legendry Kanth
Kaler praising the spectacular illumination and fun and frolic
at Bootan Mandi sang “Bootan Mandi Aajo Jihne Wekhna Nazara Eh.” K.S.
Makhan performed at Bootan Mandi with élan “ Vich
Bootan Mandi De Aj Laggiyan Ronkan Bhari “ and “Sajawat Karke
Kar Gaye Jhandi lishka Mare Bootan Mandi.” Another son of the
soil, Master Saleem, who will also perform today at Bootan
Mandi, sang some years before “Aawo Sangte Aj Nachiye Te Gaayiye
Aapan; Bootan Mandi Janam Dihada Khushiyan Naal Manayiye Aapan.”
He might come up with some other number invoking Bootan Mandi to
please the devoted audience. Yet another young Bootan Mandian
Sonu Sunil wrote and sang “Bootan Mandi Dhol Wajda; Dhol Wajda
Te Naal Nagade.” Babbu Jalandharia has come out with his latest
number “Bootan Mandi Mela Lageya; Painde Bhangre Te Lagde Jai
Kaare Bootan Mandi Mela Lageya.” The majestic Satguru Ravidass
Dham along with the entire area of Bootan Mandi and around has
been fully illuminated today that is why it has been sung by
Shashi Shahid “Jagmag-Jagmag Kardi Sadi Bootan Mandi.” There may
be many more such compositions and songs on the celebrations of
the Gurpurab of Guru Ravidassji at Bootan Mandi which have
missed my attention.
It is a matter of satisfaction and pride for Bootan Mandians
like me on one hand and food for introspection and thought, on
the other, as to how should the elated position of Bootan Mandi
be protected and maintained. It worries me sometimes as what I
see and witness, of late, is not very much encouraging. The
people at the helm, it seems, have no vision. They are engaged
in their narrow agendas and directionless pursuits. The
community is on the upswing in general but the coveted status of
Bootan Mandi, it seems, is on the path of erosion. It is a
matter of concern. Bootan Mandi produced stalwarts like Seth
Kishan Dass, who was an MLA before partition, Seth Khushi Ram
who was the Vice President of Jalandhar Municipal Committee in
the 1970s, Piara Ram Dhanowalia (though he belonged to Dhanowal
village near Jalandhar yet he belonged to Bootan Mandi for his
political career and business), Minister in the Punjab
governments in the late 1960, Surinder Mahey, a self made man,
rose to the coveted position of the Mayor of Jalandhar in mid
2010. Avinash Chander, a seasoned politician, is the Chief
Parliamentary Secretary in the Government of Punjab for a long
time. In the services and other careers, my fellow Bootan
Mandians have done fairly well. Sushil Sheemar, ITS is the
Director in the Ministry of Communications and IT, His wife,
Jaswinder (Lovely) Sheemar is an Additional Sessions Judge,
Babita Kler, PCS, wife of Steven Kler, leading businessman and
his sister Anupam Kler, PCS are senior bureaucrats in Punjab.
Yet another daughter of Bootan Mandi, Sunita, physically
challenged vivacious young lady, is a senior Judge. Two young
Bootan Mandian brothers, Sunil Kler and Pawan Kler have recently
made it to the PCS. There are doctors and Engineers and other
professionals like Jagdish Mahey, a senior Banker who belong to
Bootan Mandi. I myself, a humble Bootan Mandian, ended up as an
Ambassador in the IFS. Many families of Bootan Mandi did well in
their leather business including that of Seth Satpal Mall who is
the current President of Guru Ravidass Educational and
Charitable Trust for many years. With the changing ground
realities it is advisable, in my personal view, to hand over the
reins to the upcoming and younger generation. Let us try our
best to retain, maintain and enhance the glory of our Bootan
Mandi, an unofficial capital of dalit community in the years to
come as visualized and eulogized by the writers and singers. I
think it will be a befitting tribute to the greatest Guru
Ravidassji while celebrating his Gurpurab at Bootan Mandi.
With this, I conclude and pay my hearty greetings to all the
followers of Guru Ravidassji on his Gurpurab. On the glory of
majestic Satguru Ravidass Dham, I quote Allma Iqbal:
दुनिया के तीर्थों से ऊंचा हो अपना तीर्थ ;
दामाने आसमां से इस का कलश मिला दें !
सुबह उठके गाएं मंतर वह मीठे मीठे;
सारे पुजारिओं को मय पीत की पिला दें ! |
Today,
February 22, is Guru Ravidassji’s Gurpurab. It is celebrated all
over India and abroad wherever the followers of the great guru
reside. As usual, this year also the Gurpurab is being
celebrated and observed with pomp and show and desired solemnity
at Bootan Mandi, a locality in Jalandhar where my roots are.
Bootan Mandi is decked like a bride. Each and every house and
building in and around Bootan Mandi is illuminated like Diwali.
The glory of Satguru Ravidass Dham, as expected, gets all the
more enhanced with the resultant gaiety. The entire Bootan Mandi
becomes a splendid venue of a huge mela for three days. There
was a mammoth Shobha Yartra (procession) in this regard on
February 20, a regular feature of the celebrations. A sea of
humanity, spontaneously, comes out with flags, bands, dhols,
tableaus, dance and music, langars; make shift stages to welcome
the Yatra which creates a spectacle of huge a mela covering the
entire city of Jalandhar. Sometimes it tends to become a scene
of traffic chaos but by and large people know this before hand
and happily accept it as it comes as it has become an important
date in the life of the city for almost 80
years. I was told that Shobha Yatra (earlier known as Jaloos)
was taken out for the first time in 1937 under the leadership of
Seth Kishan Dass and Seth Sunder Dass. It starts from Bootan
Mandi with the huge drum (Tamak) on the lead