Creativity stands tall on rooftops

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 22

Tarsem Singh of Upplan village went to Hong Kong 70 years ago. He travelled by a ship and once while discussing his past with his sons, he decided to construct a ship on their house’s rooftop. Since 1995, this ship has become a part of the family history and people identify their house by it.

When Gurdev Singh from the same village got a lion mounted on the water tank few years back, it invited a lot of criticism from villagers. Actually, he had also got his statue made to sit on the lion. This enraged villagers as they argued that only ‘Devi Mata’ could sit on the lion. In haste, Gurdev’s statue was removed, but lion remains perched on the water tank.

For some it might be hilarious, but for those who have them, they have emotional values attached to these. We are talking about creative water tanks of Punjab which can range from aeroplanes, army tanks and muscle men to lotus, eagle and football. Creativity stands tall on almost all rooftops in rural Punjab.

With the advent of science and technology, even though rural Punjab has changed a lot, the passion to have ‘designer water tanks’ over rooftops still holds high in the heart of our ‘desi Punjabis’ . As soon as you touch the outskirts of the city through any side, huge, colourful and designer water tanks could be seen showcasing the ‘mood’ as well as ‘passion’ of its owner.

Where a father whose son is in army would prefer to have an army tank-shaped water reservoir on his roof, a body-builder would prefer the shape of a muscle man. The NRIs, it is known, prefer the shapes of aeroplanes and ships. “These water tanks represent the mood of the house owner and his taste. I installed a football-shaped water tank over my house as I wanted to be a football player, but could not become one,” said ex-Sarpanch Kuldeep Singh of Babeli village. He said it was not so that you can only install a water tank according to your achievements. People have also installed water tanks of things which they could not achieve in life.

Beant Singh from nearby Dhugga village constructed a pair of bulls over his house’s rooftops in the memory of his two bulls Heera and Shera. “They died long ago due to long illness. When we renovated the house, we constructed a water tank in their memory,” said Singh.

Similarly, Kuldeep Singh of Talhan village installed a ‘Pehalwan’ over his rooftop. “This symbolises my achievements in athletics. Also, I want to push the youth of my village towards the habit of exercising daily,” said Singh. Such is the passion of these designer water tanks that people do not mind spending a mammoth amount from their pockets to build these ‘exclusive’ pieces of creativity over their rooftops. After all it’s a matter of prestige and passion for Punjabis.