Today during my visit to Pakistan we are on the the way to the village of Koankh where all my paternal ancestors were born including my father and most beloved grandfather Bulaka Singh who travelled along with his brothers Wasakha Singh and Labh Singh, all the way to France and Belgium during WW1 to fight for freedoms and rights of Europeans which he didn't have as a subject of empire. Suddenly my friend and host Siddique Ghumman asks our driver Imran to stop. He points to a river, a huge river, "this Raj is the Chenab."
"No way," I exclaim, "surely not!"
It was indeed the legendary Chenab which features at the core of all Punjabi culture, especially the legend of Sohni and Mahiwal, which we grew up to love through popular poetry and music. You can see my reaction to this unexpected pleasure. Before leaving I bowed before it and placed some of sandy soil on my head out of respect for the Chenab's contribution to life and culture of Punjab.
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