The fading trend of bhathiwalian

JBS Nanda

JBS Nanda

Once the charming place of any small village in Punjab, the delightful sight of bhathiwalian in Punjab is rarely seen now. Many options are now available to people to visit in the evenings. In olden days, everywhere in Punjab, people were eager to go to such places to satisfy their appetite. Owing to the abrupt change of lifestyle of the people of the state, the food items available in such bhathis are no more a craze. The sight of a bhathi, both big and small, provides us with a view of Punjabi culture to some extent. People would visit this place to get fresh hot grams and maize processed in the bhathi. They would also get products sweetened with gur. Sometimes, it would seem like a small gathering was being organised at the bhathi.

The image of a bhathi finds place in Punjabi poetry. Poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi, the poet of agony and separation, created poetic cry with the imagery of words chosen from a bhathi — Bhathi waliye chambe diye daliye

peerhan da paraga bhun de tainu deyan hanjhuan da bhara

peerhan da paraga bhun de.

The imagery of words associated with bhathi has been passionately used by Sufi poets to express their feelings — je jaane tis thora thora maan karien, je jaane soh nidhanh thora maan krien.

‘La ja challiyan bhuna lavie danny oh mitra door diya’ — a popular local song talks of bhathi.

Women would find no other or better place to exhibit their new suits and jewellery to their friends. Such bhathis would also provide a fine opportunity for chatting with one another. There is a lot of difference between Net chatting now, and the chatting then, by woman in such a public place, where decency in language was always maintained.

People become nostalgic about losing the aroma, the essence of such places that are vanishing. After the Partition when our family settled in Ludhiana there were many bhathis around our areas. One such was ‘Banso de bhathi’, which people cherished to visit in the evenings to enjoy fresh warm food. Children these days are not even aware about the existence of these bhathis. Once my granddaughters came visiting us during vacation, and enquired about bhathis. They were eager to see one for themselves. We tried our best to find a bhathi nearby, but in vain. Eventually, a friend of mine belonging to a cultural group sent me a photograph of a bhathi which I showed to my grandchildren to satisfy their curiosity.

It is sad that we have kept this rich heritage limited to photographs, cultural shows and exhibitions.