By Jaideep Sarin, IANS
Chandigarh : Santa Singh, the butt of many Punjabi jokes, and Santa Claus may not be long lost brothers from Punjab and Finland, but in the land of butter chicken and bhangra-pop, the two seem to coexist during Christmas time.
Be it the carol singers with a full orchestra and a fully-dressed Santa Claus loaded with gifts at the lobby of the 5-star Park Plaza hotel in Punjab’s industrial hub of Ludhiana or the scores of shops in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Chandigarh selling Christmas ware – ranging from the plastic to real Christmas trees to Santa Claus dresses – Christmas seems like any other traditional festival in Punjab now.
Though our own ‘desi’ Santa Singh – a comical character who along with Banta Singh is part of scores of Punjabi jokes globally – may not have much to do with Christmas, Punjabis in cities and towns across the state are not oblivious to the festivities. That Punjab has a substantial NRI population settled mostly in Western countries like Britain, the United States, Canada and Europe and who come home in hordes during winter months, may also have a connection to the increasing Christmas festivities in the state.
“Children really enjoy the carol singing and get pretty excited when Santa Claus gives them gifts. We have been getting our son Aamer and other kids to see this at Park Plaza hotel. It’s a good thing that such things are happening now in Punjab,” said Sandeep Brar and his wife Adarsh.
Park Plaza, in fact, was the first hotel in Punjab that started the festivities with carol singing in 2001 for almost a week before Christmas. That the hotel belongs to Punjab Congress legislator Jasbir Singh Khangura, who gave up his British citizenship last year to contest assembly elections in Punjab this year, may have something to do with the Western touch.
Regular markets, the new fashionable malls and hotels dotting bigger cities like Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar are awash with Christmas colours. Santa Claus at some of these malls not only shares gifts with children but can be seen doing an occasional jig to bhangra-pop numbers.
The wholesale party-ware market in Chandigarh’s Sector 20 is nothing less than a big Christmas set in itself.
Scores of Christmas trees – from plastic ones made in India and from China to real ones, bunting, Santa Claus dresses, lights and everything else that can be associated with the festival – can be found here. Boxes of Santa Claus dresses and bunting can be seen lying all over the corridors and even the pavement.
“This is peak season for sale of Christmas related stuff. You will find everything. Though much of the stuff comes from China and also costs less, Indian-made things are also available here,” said shopkeeper Raj Kumar.
Though a minority in Sikh-dominated Punjab, Christians have significant presence in some pockets of the state. This is essentially in areas like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Batala, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and others. A number of convent and public schools run by Christian missionaries are among the most popular and elite ones in the state.
Hotels, restaurants and busy shopping streets like Lawrence Road in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar – which is home to the holiest of Sikh shrines, ‘Harmandar Sahib’ (Golden Temple) – too are full of Christmas colours.
For fun-loving Punjabis, Christmas, after all, is another occasion to celebrate.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at : [email protected])