Welcome to Punjab-I

Hello and Sat sri akaal to all,Today i am taking you on a sair of Punjab(as i am a Punjabi.You can ask anything about Punjab from me).
First of all,the word Punjab constitutes of two words Punj + Aab,in punjabi punj means five and aab means water.In punjab undivided,(as in Indo-pak dision,major part of punjab has gone in hand of pakistan) there were total five rivers so it was called land of five rivers means Punjab.These are Satluj,Jhelum,Ravi,Chenab(better known in love story of sohni mahiwall),Beas.These rivers still flows between India and pakistan.
Language spoken here is Punjabi in major areas.Hindi is spoken as substitute language in some areas.We ahve 18 districts with agriculture as major livelihood in rural areas.
Punjabis(residents of punjab as usually called) are warm hearted and ready to help people but be aware of frauds(if you are stranger to this state) as both good and bad prevails every where.
Major cities are Chandigarh(Capital city) also known as city beautiful,Amritsar,Jalandhar,Ludhiana(Manchester of Punjab),Ferozpur,Sangrur,Phagwara(most of these cities are on NH-1 or G.T road as popularly known),Patiala.Now,i will guide you through these cities,which place to travel,what to see,what's it's famous for.From tommorrow,i will start a seperate thread for every city for your help.Get ready to travel to exotic places and good food.Pack your bags guys,we are going to have great fun!

Hi Navpreet,


Thanx for starting this wonderful thread about Punjab.

I love the Punjabi accent..I had a couple of friends from the state during school days.

Do start the sair with Amritsar..I love to visit Golden Temple once. Due to time constraint I could not make the trip when I went to Delhi last yr. I have read and heard from friends about the langar there. I m sure u can give a better picture of ways there.

bye

Navpreet,

Sat Sri Akal!

I will be happy to join you in this journey of Punjab.

Would like to know about the street food of cities in Punjab. If possible please post some pictures of landmarks too.

Hi Navpreet,

Sat Sri Akaal

Thanks for starting this thread.

I have never been to Punjab but would love to visit the Golden temple and Chandigarh once.

In winter i love makki di roti sarso di saag. yummyyyyyyyyy

Bye

Hi Navpreet

I would love to go on a trip of Punjab with you. As I was born & bred in the UK, I don't have a lot of knowledge of the Punjab but would love to go and take a look at all the wonderful places I have heard of.

Thank you

Hello Navpreet,

Satsriya-kaal ji. I am a Punjabi but have never had the opportunity to visit the Punjab. Always lived out here in the West (UK). It is very interesting for me to read about Punjab and some day I would really like to visit my home town of Amritsar, see the Golden Temple and generally enjoy the Punjabi atmosphere. Keep writing more about this wonderful part of India. There is one other place I so much desire to visit but have not yet had the possibility and that is Vaishno Devi. May be some day my dreams will come true. I watch the TV serial Desh Mei Nikla Hoga Chand just because it is based in the Punjab. I am rather emotional about being Punjabi!!

Take care and all the best

Hello Navpreet,
Sat sri akaal!
Count me in. I would love to join you all in this journey to Punjab.

Sindhu

Dear Navpreet,

Sat sri Akal...count me in in this tour of yours.

A few years back we did take a trip to chandigarh, shimla, kullu-manali, kufri, Dharamshala....but it was less of Punjab. Hope to cover more of Punjab in our next trip to the north.

Roopa.

My warm hello to all,
Sorry for delay in posting.My computer got virus and still not functioning well.Please don't mind if i take few more days for posting.Thanks for joining me in this journey.I promise it will be great fun.And,saraswathi,i will surely start with Amritsar.See you soon.

And,yesterday we had celebrated a festival(punjabis might be knowing about it) it was Lohri.this festival is celebrated on 13th of january every year.This is considered as last day of winters as winter season declines after this festival.
It is celebrated to enjoy birth of a boy or new marriage in family.I know you might be thinking it's unfair to celebrate it for boy's birth but now-a-days we are trying to change this norm and i am sure it will change.

HOW IT IS CELEBRATED :

Fire is burnt(as it is done in Holi festival by baniyas) and everybody gathers around it to pray for health and to destroy lazyness.Then,songs(not filmy but folk,originated in punjab and are basically comments on each others) are sung by paternal and maternal side of child and both sides try to win over others.Then,peanuts,Gachak(made of jaguaryand nuts,til and jaguary)is distributed.everybody enjoy eating peanut sitting around fire and singing throughout night and it ends with dance.Very colourful and glittering.





Ready for the party:This is our traditional wear.salwar-kameez and sometimes lacha(it's punjabi name for ghagra)



Photo of gachak(also called chikki)








Lohri Dance