Panjab, once at the cross-roads of culture, became a border state in 1947, moving permanently to the periphery of the Indian map and margin of imagination. The tag of being a border state has overshadowed everything else. The culture of Panjab, once defined by its rich tradition of music, poetry, theatre, and literature, has over the years been drowned out by a narrative that doesn’t reflect the complexities on the ground. In popular imagination Panjab exists between extremes, either hollowed out by drugs with ‘Udta Punjab’, the ‘Chamkila’ of lawlessness, guns and violence, or as ‘Dunki’, desperate to leave. Post-Independence, Panjab was further truncated, a dark decade of militancy kept the State on the edge and then came 1984–Operation Blue Star, the brutal army action inside the Harmandir Sahib, the assassination of the Prime Minister followed by the massacres of Sikhs, they all left behind scars that are yet to heal. These stories still exist on the margins of mainstream history.
‘Agla Varka’ is an attempt to change the conversation around Panjab. Set-up by Majha House and The Kuldip Nayar Trust, it is an exciting cultural platform aimed at reimagining Panjab, to create a new narrative where the community can tell their stories that reflect ground realities. It hopes to take across India the stories of Panjab that celebrate the richness of poetry, of pluralism, of ‘Punjabiyat’ and how this rich past continues to shape the present.
