ਹੀਰ ਆਖਦੀ ਜੋਗੀਆ ਝੂਠ ਆਖੇਂ,
ਕੌਣ ਰੁੱਠੜੇ ਯਾਰ ਮਿਲਾਂਵਦਾ ਈ ।
When Waris Shah wrote these lines three centuries ago, times were different. He didn’t have access to phones, FaceTime, What’s App or internet.
For purposes of our group, I would like to substitute the word ਰੁਠੜੇ with ਵਿਛੜੇ!
For more than four decades, most of us had not been in contact in person. It was difficult to visualize how this reunion meeting would go after so long. Some of us might have been wondering how to react when
we meet our friends from 50 years ago.
For better or worse, we were in Amritsar once again!
For that one magical weekend, we were not Dadus and Dadis. We were not nanis and nanus. We were not physicians or surgeons. We were not specialists or primary care doctors. We were not private practitioners,
academicians or salaried doctors. We were not administrators or in business. We were not in the entertainment business either. We were not retired or actively working. We were not living in India or abroad.
We were there in an Amritsar hotel near the airport in a largely vacant area “far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife”.
We were not Sikhs or Hindus or Jains! Think about this. Four of the 10 people who went to the Sri Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara across the border were Jains! And the gentleman who put the information for the visa
process on our website for that visit, is a devout Hindu himself.
Where in this strife torn world fractured on religious lines would you find this kind of love and unity?
We were not followers of any political ideology.
We were not senior citizens anymore.
For once, we were just teenage boys and girls- hugging each other and giggling with each other! Our spouses looked at us amazed at how we got transformed into youth again.
The love, respect and understanding we experienced was unbelievable!
Yes, excitement was in the air for sure!
True to my always inquisitive self, I looked up the dictionary definition of ‘Ishq’.
It is defined as “lust less love”.
Going by that definition, if this reunion was not a form of ‘Ishq’, what was it!
On hearing about this reunion, Waris Shah must be turning in his grave and itching to write another saga of ‘Ishq’!
As the famous Punjabi litterateur, Amrita Pritam would say (though not in the same context):
ਅੱਜ ਆਖਾਂ ਵਾਰਸ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਨੂੰ ਕਿਤੋਂ ਕਬਰਾਂ ਵਿਚੋਂ ਬੋਲ !
ਤੇ ਅੱਜ ਕਿਤਾਬੇ-ਇਸ਼ਕ ਦਾ ਕੋਈ ਅਗਲਾ ਵਰਕਾ ਫੋਲ !
-Baldev
