Why is Manmohan Singh’s village better than mine?

[Solomon2]

Why is Manmohan Singh’s village better than mine?
June 25, 2012

Posted by Wajiha Noor

"Its heart aches for the children who walk along the unpaved streets and it despises the darkness that overcomes the village past sunset".

Reading the tale of a ‘modern village’ Gah, I was amazed at how each word painted a surreal picture of an ideal village. Was this village really in the same country and the same province as my village?

Gah happens to be the birth place of the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. As a friendly gesture, Musharraf’s government labelled Gah as a ‘modern village’ and what followed miraculously helped to improve the standards of living of the poor people there.

Commendably, Manmohan Singh stayed in touch with his roots played a pivotal role in supplying the village with solar energy. Thus, the people of Gah are heavily in his debt and greet him with open arms for his generosity.

The news article I recently read about Gah spoke of a village in Chakwal with a population of nearly 2,000 villagers. This village has undergone a surprising transformation due to the development funds being diverted to it by the former government.

A literacy rate of a 100% has been achieved here and children can now study in the schools located inside the village. The kachi (unpaved) streets are now paved and solar street lights have been put up which help to brighten the path for the villagers at night. Projects on sanitation and clean drinking water are also underway.

Unlike the rest of the villages in Pakistan – where people have to sleep outside battling the scorching heat – the residents of this modern village can now sleep inside the comfort of their own homes as they enjoy unrestrained electricity supplied by the solar panels installed on the roofs of their residence. Children no longer have to burn candles to study at night. Moreover, in the winter time, when the temperatures drop, a small mosque in the village has a water heater so that wuzu (ablution) can be performed by the villagers without any difficulty.

As I looked at some of the pictures of this ‘modern village‘, it reminded me very much of my village near Vehari.

My village is not as fortunate as Gah; no famous personality was born here and hence no benevolence is bestowed on its residents.

It is yet to be blessed with the basic necessities like natural gas. Those who cannot afford gas cylinders still burn fire wood for cooking and to keep their homes warm in the winters. Just like Gah, agriculture is the main source of livelihood here as well, however, when the farmers return home after toiling the fields all day, they are welcomed by the agonising power failures that occasionally last for hours. With no decent hospitals and schools in the village either, people are forced to travel to nearby cities for the fulfilment of their bare necessities. Even the main road connecting my village to the nearby city like Vehari, has been under construction for almost a decade now.

Overall, the development in this region remains sluggish and there is hardly any political will or active plans to procure the much needed improvements.

A picture in the news article mentioned above struck me was one showing the Banyan tree where Manmohan Singh might have played as a kid; it brought back old memories.

My village had a similar mighty banyan tree near the main chowk (roundabout) as well. The old tree covered the entire chowk and it once bustled with life. Children used to play around it all day ans many elderly people would sit at the chowk discussing day to day matters. Even now women – on their way back from the fields – can be found sitting under the shade trying to gather the latest gossip.

Both these trees must have witnessed several generations come and go. The kids that once played around it must have grown old by now and have probably started settling down with their own families. Some of the elders who once sat discussing matters under its shade must have parted from their beloved by now.

Unfortunately, the banyan tree in my village has seen almost everything but a change in my poor village.

It stands quietly in the moonlight wondering when there will be solar power that will brighten every street of the village it resides in. As its leaves stir in air, it gloomily looks at the poor labourer sleeping underneath its branches and it secretly envies the people of Gah who can sleep soundly in the comfort of their homes. Its heart aches for the children who walk along the unpaved streets and it despises the darkness that overcomes the village past sunset.

Whereas in the modern village, not so far away, another banyan tree stands proud as it once gave shelter to a boy, who later became a Prime Minister. It has the most telling stories to brag about of this saviour of its village.

All I can do now is wait eagerly for a saviour to be born in my village; a saviour who will one day change the fate of the people of my village too. Till then, I look hopelessly at the Bilawals of Larkana, Sharifs of Lahore and Gilanis of Multan to come to our help.

****

Ordinary Villager Jun 25, 2012 - 8:35PM
@Akbar: That is exactly the mindset I have seen in South Punjab. I have visited many places in South Punjab and their rich never invest a penny in infrastructure and then they blame the government and Punjabis for their shortcomings. Do you know that most of the projects in Upper Punjab are completed without government efforts.People here build schools and set up infrastructure from their own Pocket. My uncle set up One hospital for free. Ask some Wadaira or Peer of South Punjab to do something for you. You Wadairas and Peers are not your sincere. You are deprived by your Own thinking your People are selfish. Can you give me a single example where any RIch from South Punjab have set up university, School or Hospital for the Poor of South Punjab???. No you cannot but I can give you tons of examples in my region where ordinary people are working and I myself work for One School Project without any money. Baloch Tribes of South Punjab are good in Hating and Blaming and other than that they do nothing and are slaves of their own Ignorant mentality and nothing else.

*

Rajendra Kalkhande Jun 26, 2012 - 4:09PM
Nothing evokes as strong emotions as one’s love love for his birth place. almost 70% of us in south Asia come from villages. I am no Man Mohan Singh or not even remotely anywhere near as powerful or resourceful. I take very keen interest in the affairs of my village and have spent my life time earnings in building a cancer hospital. I am no Imran Khan that people will come and donate for this hospital. However, its very hard to operate such facilities in rural areas as no doctor wants to live and work there. How to make our rural areas attractive for educated people to work , should be the main focus for many of us. I love my village. and spend a great deal of time there.

 

[indiatester]

I will proudly quote my example. My village was devastated with floods about 4 years ago. I with my money bought 2 tons of rice, 500kg of dal, 1000 sarees and dhotis and reached my village within a week of the flood. Needless to say everyone was happy that I remembered my village etc. But the interesting fact is that I was not the first to reach my village. The local politicians had already distributed early and more. It was not just the MLA and the MP. Even folks who did not get elected sent help.

I don't think we can generalize but, even this one incident made me happy thinking that local rich people are not mere leaches, but help people in times of need.

 

[Cherokee]

It happens in India too . Lalu's village has its own railway station , Amethi is light years ahead of its counterparts and so on .

 

[ajtr]

'He Is Of This Soil'The Indian PM was born here. Gah has now even breached borders.

Gah's Fortune

Declared a model village. Rs 11 crore invested in development.
TERI allowed to start a solar energy system, now sends technicians regularly
TERI has provided 16 solar street lights
Provided basic lighting systems in 51 homes
A solar hot water system in the village mosque
Will now build four community chulhas
There's an unusual classroom in a village in Chakwal district in the heart of Pakistan's Punjab. On the walls hang pictures of three icons of the Pakistani state—the poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal, who composed Sare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara and then migrated to Pakistan; Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who advocated the creation of Pakistan (the Land of the Pure); and Abdul Qadir Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb. Three men who symbolise what Pakistan believes it should be. What it could be.

But there's another icon in this room—in the moth-eaten register of students enrolled in the primary school housed here about a decade before 1947. Student No. 187: Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister.

This is the village where Manmohan Singh was born, and where he lived till he was 10 years old. The village is called Gah; the school has been renamed Manmohan Singh Primary School. Today, this cluster of mud houses and brick structures stands testament to forces that can divide and small gestures that unite two neighbouring countries.

When Manmohan Singh, surprisingly, became prime minister of India, Gah celebrated. His good fortune was to also change the village's fate. The Punjab government there declared Gah a model village, and has invested Rs 11 crore for development.

But there's another project here inestimably more invaluable. The Pakistan government allowed an Indian agency to undertake a solar energy project here. This wasn't a CBM (confidence-building measure) that went through the usual diplomatic channels. Initiated by the Delhi-based TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute), it was cleared by Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri during a visit to India and given the nod by Manmohan Singh himself. Outlook was given exclusive rights to the story.

Since then, TERI has installed 16 solar street lights, provided basic lighting facilities in 51 homes and placed a solar hot water system in the village mosque, where water is required for wazu. Villagers have been trained to maintain these systems with the understanding that TERI technicians would travel to Gah when necessary. TERI's Hafeez-ur-Rahman travels from India and when the villagers meet him, they demand more street lamps. He promises to do his best. The Indians now have permission to build four community chulhas in the village.

The electrification project has done more than just improve a power system. It has reopened channels between a PM and the village of his birth. Gah sent him gifts and revived memories. For instance, TERI director-general R.K. Pachauri carried from here revadi (a delicacy in this belt) and slippers for the PM. Dr Singh was delighted and began a correspondence in Urdu with old residents. He asked about Pakhtbano, then the only girl in his school. On hearing she had passed away, he sent a condolence letter to her son. He wrote letters to two other old residents. All this sparked expectations that Manmohan would visit the village on a trip to Pakistan. Says Dr Pachauri, "People have so much stake in the process. Hawkish positions must be overcome. There's so much we can do for each other."

But Manmohan's trip to Pakistan hasn't materialised. The village is disappointed that the peace process has been somewhat derailed. More than anybody else, Mohammad Ali, a farmer and grain trader and a playmate of the child Manmohan. He had located six other schoolmates, and was dreaming of a grand home-coming for the Indian. Says the old man between puffs of Capstan cigarettes: "I would not have been so happy if he had become prime minister of Pakistan. I am happy that a Sikh is prime minister of India, such a large country."

The old residents dolefully talk about the Sikhs and Hindus who migrated to India. (Manmohan's family left some years before the 1947 bloodbath). Raja Ashiq Hussain is the village nazim (sarpanch). He says the Sikhs and Hindus constituted half of Gah's population. They were more prosperous than the Muslims who lived in mud houses. Everybody celebrated Diwali together; a common well existed for all communities. Then the hatemongers poured into the village, mobs of outsiders who issued threats and deadlines to Sikhs and Hindus to leave. Frightened families began a journey across the border, that invisible line which suddenly divided a people into two countries. Those who left early survived; others who began their journey during the madness of the Partition riots were slaughtered.

Still, not all relics testifying to the togetherness have been erased. There's a pucca house in the village centre, it's now a community centre. It has arches and carved wooden doors. On top of the entrance, there are words carved in Gurmukhi: 'Sat Sri Akal'. The house once belonged to a relative of Manmohan's. The villagers have proudly preserved this symbol of the departed.

Sadly, the Indian prime minister's childhood home has been torn down. Mohammad Ali takes us to a courtyard where it once stood. The view of the Punjab fields and hillocks is spectacular. There is an old wooden cart, now in disuse, at the centre of the yard, a forlorn moment. But memories of Manmohan Singh have endured—the Indian was a quiet child, good at studies; he played marbles. "Mitti idhar ki thi," says Haji Mehmood Ahmad, who has made several trips to India.

There have been strange visitors to Gah since Manmohan became PM. One Joginder Singh suddenly arrived on a day in 2004. He said he was from Ludhiana and distantly related to Manmohan. He wept and said he had dreamt of this for 50 years. He told the villagers not to point out his old home. He found the way himself. He stayed for some weeks before returning to India. Here every year, Joginder last came in April and now plans to bring his family.

Four Gah residents, including Mohammad Ali, also applied for visas to India four months ago. They want to visit another old resident now settled in Amritsar and also call on Manmohan Singh. Mohammad Ali has kept a gift for the PM's wife. It is a resham (silk) sari woven on old looms that have been in his family's possession for over a 100 years. Those looms, he says, stopped functioning many decades ago. He says such fine resham cannot be woven today.

 

[Paan Singh]

'He Is Of This Soil'The Indian PM was born here. Gah has now even breached borders.

Gah's Fortune

Declared a model village. Rs 11 crore invested in development.
TERI allowed to start a solar energy system, now sends technicians regularly
TERI has provided 16 solar street lights
Provided basic lighting systems in 51 homes
A solar hot water system in the village mosque
Will now build four community chulhas
There's an unusual classroom in a village in Chakwal district in the heart of Pakistan's Punjab. On the walls hang pictures of three icons of the Pakistani state—the poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal, who composed Sare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara and then migrated to Pakistan; Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who advocated the creation of Pakistan (the Land of the Pure); and Abdul Qadir Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb. Three men who symbolise what Pakistan believes it should be. What it could be.

But there's another icon in this room—in the moth-eaten register of students enrolled in the primary school housed here about a decade before 1947. Student No. 187: Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister.

This is the village where Manmohan Singh was born, and where he lived till he was 10 years old. The village is called Gah; the school has been renamed Manmohan Singh Primary School. Today, this cluster of mud houses and brick structures stands testament to forces that can divide and small gestures that unite two neighbouring countries.

When Manmohan Singh, surprisingly, became prime minister of India, Gah celebrated. His good fortune was to also change the village's fate. The Punjab government there declared Gah a model village, and has invested Rs 11 crore for development.

But there's another project here inestimably more invaluable. The Pakistan government allowed an Indian agency to undertake a solar energy project here. This wasn't a CBM (confidence-building measure) that went through the usual diplomatic channels. Initiated by the Delhi-based TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute), it was cleared by Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri during a visit to India and given the nod by Manmohan Singh himself. Outlook was given exclusive rights to the story.

Since then, TERI has installed 16 solar street lights, provided basic lighting facilities in 51 homes and placed a solar hot water system in the village mosque, where water is required for wazu. Villagers have been trained to maintain these systems with the understanding that TERI technicians would travel to Gah when necessary. TERI's Hafeez-ur-Rahman travels from India and when the villagers meet him, they demand more street lamps. He promises to do his best. The Indians now have permission to build four community chulhas in the village.

The electrification project has done more than just improve a power system. It has reopened channels between a PM and the village of his birth. Gah sent him gifts and revived memories. For instance, TERI director-general R.K. Pachauri carried from here revadi (a delicacy in this belt) and slippers for the PM. Dr Singh was delighted and began a correspondence in Urdu with old residents. He asked about Pakhtbano, then the only girl in his school. On hearing she had passed away, he sent a condolence letter to her son. He wrote letters to two other old residents. All this sparked expectations that Manmohan would visit the village on a trip to Pakistan. Says Dr Pachauri, "People have so much stake in the process. Hawkish positions must be overcome. There's so much we can do for each other."

But Manmohan's trip to Pakistan hasn't materialised. The village is disappointed that the peace process has been somewhat derailed. More than anybody else, Mohammad Ali, a farmer and grain trader and a playmate of the child Manmohan. He had located six other schoolmates, and was dreaming of a grand home-coming for the Indian. Says the old man between puffs of Capstan cigarettes: "I would not have been so happy if he had become prime minister of Pakistan. I am happy that a Sikh is prime minister of India, such a large country."

The old residents dolefully talk about the Sikhs and Hindus who migrated to India. (Manmohan's family left some years before the 1947 bloodbath). Raja Ashiq Hussain is the village nazim (sarpanch). He says the Sikhs and Hindus constituted half of Gah's population. They were more prosperous than the Muslims who lived in mud houses. Everybody celebrated Diwali together; a common well existed for all communities. Then the hatemongers poured into the village, mobs of outsiders who issued threats and deadlines to Sikhs and Hindus to leave. Frightened families began a journey across the border, that invisible line which suddenly divided a people into two countries. Those who left early survived; others who began their journey during the madness of the Partition riots were slaughtered.

Still, not all relics testifying to the togetherness have been erased. There's a pucca house in the village centre, it's now a community centre. It has arches and carved wooden doors. On top of the entrance, there are words carved in Gurmukhi: 'Sat Sri Akal'. The house once belonged to a relative of Manmohan's. The villagers have proudly preserved this symbol of the departed.

Sadly, the Indian prime minister's childhood home has been torn down. Mohammad Ali takes us to a courtyard where it once stood. The view of the Punjab fields and hillocks is spectacular. There is an old wooden cart, now in disuse, at the centre of the yard, a forlorn moment. But memories of Manmohan Singh have endured—the Indian was a quiet child, good at studies; he played marbles. "Mitti idhar ki thi," says Haji Mehmood Ahmad, who has made several trips to India.

There have been strange visitors to Gah since Manmohan became PM. One Joginder Singh suddenly arrived on a day in 2004. He said he was from Ludhiana and distantly related to Manmohan. He wept and said he had dreamt of this for 50 years. He told the villagers not to point out his old home. He found the way himself. He stayed for some weeks before returning to India. Here every year, Joginder last came in April and now plans to bring his family.

Four Gah residents, including Mohammad Ali, also applied for visas to India four months ago. They want to visit another old resident now settled in Amritsar and also call on Manmohan Singh. Mohammad Ali has kept a gift for the PM's wife. It is a resham (silk) sari woven on old looms that have been in his family's possession for over a 100 years. Those looms, he says, stopped functioning many decades ago. He says such fine resham cannot be woven today.

hey long time no c.....hahaaaha