Punjab is one state that has always taken my fancy. I always wonder about the people living there, especially in the not so large cities. Their culture, their way of life, their food, their acceptance of strangers coming to settle in their neighbourhood. Punjab has always been in the limelight, be it due to their lively disposition, the fact that most of the earlier generation of actors/actresses in Bollywood have been Punjabis, the exposure given to Punjab and Punjabis in Bollywood films ..... How much of this is fact, how much is fiction and how much is hype? I am really curious to know and would love to hear about what a stranger coming to settle in Punjab can expect. Which would be the best place in Punjab to live? Are the people there welcoming of others or do they tend to view outsiders with suspicion?
Hi, @satchi, i'll let you know what i know.... They are normal people like alll indians..... They eat the same food that all indians do with some changes as suiting tastes as is in any part of india.... They are peaceloving and enterprenurial........... Quite diffrent from what is shown in movies....... I think as far as i know according to living conditions chandigarh is the best city in the state to live in.......... They are proud people like all others of their heritage...... Err... Gotta go...... Will come with more later......
Continued...... Well as far as welcoming anyone is concerned it depends...... Althought mostly people are welcoming as warmhearted but there can be variations depending upon how the interaction goes..... But mostly its ok...... One thing that is there is that som regions where people have relatives settled abroad there is a certain flashiness in people to show off their status and riches...... One thing that should make you happy is punjab is one of the largest producers of milk........ And butter is quite loved by people there...... Most dishes are incomplete without butter in it or some kind of milk product...... Like butter and lassi with saag butter and curd with aloo parantha or any other parantha....... Butter in dal makhni..... Thats it for now anything else you'll like to know... Take care chow
well satchi to be honest punjab is just like any other state of india! Every place has its pros and cons. I will post the answer along with the views of my dh who is non punjabi !:thumbsup The only difference i feel is punjabi's are little less orthodox as compared to south indians. I have lived in lots of places in punjab from big cities like chandigarh , ludhiana and amritsar to the interiors of punjab near pakistan border in a place called taran taran and faridkot and fazilka . life is different in smaller town than bigger cities. chandigarh is like any other cosmopolitan city, infact the first occupant of the city were retired army and other govt servants. so you see a mix of punjabi, haryana , UP , and himachal there.although punjabi's dominate I feel punjabi's can be very accommodating to new people. A lot of my dad's friends who were from different states have settled in punjab , one uncle is bengali and settled in ludhiana . he took premature retirement and started his business and even got his daughter's married here only. We have a medical college where lots of malayali and other south indian's work and i dont feel they dont like the place. infact many of my friends would say they would love to settle here and some also did! About the exposure in cinema and stereotyping punjabi's in hindi movies , well little is true and a little is fiction. yes they are large hearted and love to dance and have lavish wedding but we dont do balle balle at the drop of hat! yes weddings are more colourful and have lot of hungama !i feel they are more full of life and are not misers , even if they will have little money they will live a good life , not to be offensive but i have seen in many communities many people will have lot of money but will not spend a penny on themselves or their community. But please dont go by movies like yamla pagla dewana !! punjabi's dont behave like that!! well as per my dh , punajbi's are more modern, we dont have ceremonies like puberty ceremony or innumerable puja's . we dont give kgs of gold or even cash as dowry, yes lot of money is spent in weddings but still i feel dowry is less than south.my dh was accepted more lovingly by my relatives than i have been by his so he feels people are more friendly there. also one more incident which he fondly remembers, when he was coming to meet my family for the first time, he took a flight till chandigarh ,seated next to him was a old punjabi lady who started chatting with him and when they reached chandigarh , her husband had come to pick her up. he was a old sikh gentleman and she introduced dh to him and they not only gave him lift but also showed him the city and while talking when they came to know the purpose of visit, they were pleasantly surprised and happy and blessed my dh that he impresses my family and told him to call them for wedding! meeting them was a pleasant experience for dh as he felt confident that if punjabi people are like this he will surely make my family accept him as son in law :rotfl he loves the culture and food which is very different from south indian food. here i would differ from qubec , food is different. infact use of some spices is also different. no one will use kari patta which is a basic part of south indian cooking. As per him people are more patriotic , well i dont know how much true it is !! yes we do have lots of people going in army and winning gallantry awards but to me it seems like a way of life but yes army was a popular career choice and people do take pride in sending their son's in army but i think that is a trend in north india and even marathas . There is a email which became very famous and i am sure you also must have come across it, in it one guy mentions about his experience with a sikh man. The guy along with his three friends had gone for sight seeing and the taxi they hired had a sikh man as driver, all day long they cracked all the sardar jokes to irritate him , the old man did not say anything and just kept on smiling, finally when they came back and were giving day's fare they asked the old sikh man why he did not get angry , the old man said thats because i know you are young and ignorant and then took four coins and gave one each to the young guys and said , i am giving you this coin , if you ever find a sikh man begging give it to him . the guy said its been four years and he is still to come across a sikh who begs ! they will drive taxi, open dhabha but never beg . And i feel thats true , punjabi's are very hardworking and the community feeling and helping each other is too strong. If we go to any place in India or even in world , if you dont have a place to live you can find shelter in gurudwara and they give you food and even help you in every possible way.when my brother was studying abroad when he would go gurudwara they would pack food for him and give him forcefully as they knew he was living alone. But yes its sad to see modern generation going in drugs and all and the social evil of female foeticide. personally i feel casteism is less in punjab than south, here in south we went to one temple where priest asked caste before puja which i found was very offensive, and also i read a post here in IL about a specific place not giving payasam to non brahmins i was shocked !In punjab anyone can go in golden temple and will be served same food in langar and not only there any gurudwara will give same food to everyone! there are lot of people from UP and bihar who work in farms and factories, over the years they have become a part of punjab, their women wear salwar kameez and infact our maid who is from UP has been in punjab since last 15 years and her kids were born here and are even having punjabi names !! people from UP bihar get special permission to celebrate chat puja and other such puja's . we have durga puja celebrations in ludhiana and many leading hospitals have bengali and oriya doctors who have settled in ludhiana and jallandhar which boasts of good nursing homes where many NRI 's come.Even PGI cahndigarh has a lot of doctors from other states . Best place to live is chandigarh, i have lived in all over India and in almost all metros and still i feel there is no place like chandigarh! It is a planned city and has less pollution , traffic rules are followed, people are warm and not very traditional, with lots of hill stations nearby! My dh wants to settle in chandigarh or punjab only. But yes i would say people are people , and we have both good and bad people everywhere. you will meet friendly and not so friendly people in every state.
Hi Cutemonster, It was wonderful reading your detailed post. Thanks for giving us a birds-eye view of what Punjab and Punjabis are all about. Yes, the warmth of the Punjabis is indeed legendary. I have a couple of Punjabi friends from the time I was studying and they are now settled in Canada. So it is years since I met them, though we do occasionally keep in touch. I would love to visit Amritsar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh sometime. My memory of Jallandhar is from the time I was travelling to Jammu with my parents. The train reached the station pretty late in the evening - around 10 pm. Although we had already had our dinner, dad and I jumped out when we saw masala dosas being sold on the platform and helped ourselves to those too. :-D
Hi cutemonster, liked your post alot and totally agree with you ...most of the punjabis are like that only with all the qualities you've mentioned......always loving and helpful....I agree with your dh's point of view too. same reply from my side too..... I remember one of my friend [punjabi] telling me that whenever..... her son and his friends feel like having punjabi food..... they go to Gurudwara and enjoy... [he is studying in U.K.] sorry to say...I miss the warmth here ...
Hi cutemonster, I am south indian but I always have crush on punjabis...first is their patriotism that should be there in each and everyone of indians. I saw they volunteer themself on social service. Yes it is true caste is the main problem in India whether North or South but punjabis as you have mentioned not much into it. That's good point. I hate this casteism due to that divide and rule system arises - these politicians will wait for these kind to break the unity. I am an open minded person even though brought up in brahmin family but I was not liking traditions and these blind beliefs. I always admire humanity, mankind and I try to follow little bit. Since I din't get any punjabi guy to marry so compromised for malayali who are also similar to punjabis not much casteism - Hindu festival Onum celebrated by all religions in kerala. Literacy rate is more. Equal importance to boy and girl. To be honest even though I am kannadiga my most admired states of India are - Punjab, Kerala, Bengal
Great post excellent written. I think you are in Love with Punjab and Haryana, keep writting, great doing. Hotel in Chandigarh
