Bathinda a small town with big joys

When I first went to live and work in Bathinda, I did not know a word of Punjabi. As I would speak in only in Hindi, I would invariably be asked, "Tussi Cantt te ji?" (Are you from the Cantt?)

Whenever I would ask for directions, people would often say, "Naal hi hai" (it’s nearby). It was only once when our office boy Bunty gestured that I understood that ‘Naal’ meant near. Slowly, I picked up more words.

The turning point came when I went to Talwandi Sabo with a colleague where a dharna was in progress. A tractor mela was also being held nearby. I spoke to locals using a mix of Hindi and rustic Punjabi. Though that we did not know each other’s language but surprisingly we understood each other well.

The city also made me aware of Punjabis’ love for ‘Kaneda’. In Dhobi Bazaar, there were two shops which sold only suitcases. The board outside proclaimed, "Itthe Canada jaan layi attachiyan mildi hain" (Here you can buy suitcases for Canada).

On returning to Chandigarh, I miss these rustic vibes. There are other things, too, that I miss.  Whether it is Pizzanno’s pastries or Bhatinda’s famous Julie, a special sweet available at Amantran Sweets, Bathinda’s skyline, conspicuous by the thermal power plant’s chimneys, which we would call, ‘hathi ke paon’, or the three old cinema halls, Alamkar, Harchand and Sukhraj opposite our office, two of which have been demolished since. These charms may have been of a small town but the joys they offered were big.

Sandeep Sinha, Chandigarh