Lehal Library

6 The Punjab and the Binh of Sikhism The spring is traditionally ushered in on Basanl Pancami, which falls early in the month of February. It is the Punjab's blossom time, when, in the words of Guru Nanak, 'all is seemly; the woodlands are in flower and loud with the humming of bumble bees. ' 3 The countryside is an expanse of mustard yellow, broken by solid squares of green sugarcane with its fluffy pampas plumes. If the winter monsoon has been good, a crop ofwheat, barley, gram, oilseeds, and tobacco will coverthe land with lush abundance. Peasants supplement the rain by canal water, or, where there are no canals, by Persian wheels turned by bullocks or camels. Around the wells grow vegetables: carrots, radishes, cabbages, and cauliflower. Branches of Jujube trees sag under the weight of their berries. In springtime, the sounds that pervade the countryside are the creaking of Persian wheels, the call of partridges, and the monotonous kooh, kooh, of flour mills. 4 The sugarcane is cut, its juke squeezed out, boiled in large cauldrons, and solidified into dark brown cakes. The canary yellow of the mustard is replaced by newly sown cotton and lhe golden-brown of ripening wheat-and we know that spring has given way to summer. Trees shed their leaves and after a short period of barrenness come into blossom. While the margosa is still strewing the earth with its brittle ochre leaves, the silk cotton, the coral and the flame of the forest burst into flowers of brignt crimson, red, and orange. Even the thorny acacia, the commonest tree of the Punjab, is covered with tiny pale pom-po1ns. Persian wheels and the partridges are silent: instead there is the screaming of the koils in the mango groves and the crying of barbets. The wheat is rut and winnowed in the warm breeze. In the words of Guru Nanak: 'The sun scorches ... the earth burns like an oven. The waters give up thejr vapours, yet it bums and scorches relentlessly.' The temperature rises to a fever heat. 3 The descriptions of the seasons in this chapter are taken from Guru Nanak's Baro Maha (The Twelve Monrhs). See Appendix 5. 4 The blasts are produced by an empty pitcher placed on the mouth of the exhausl pipe of the diesel engine.