Written piece
Five Rivers
Jasneet Bindra
India
About this piece
Punjab, the frontier state of India, is the birthplace of brave hearts and gurus like Nanak, whose holy verses were immortalized on a musical instrument called rabab. The state suffered many invasions, partition and political turmoil, but its people always bounced back.
Not one, two, three or four
We are five rivers that have lived to tell the lore
There is a land we carved that rhymes with rabab
Whose strings wrapped Nanak’s hymns in a lilting garb
We the five threads
Have seen bloodshed, dread and a long tread
Yet my people have baskets full of bread
Never begged, they’ve always marched ahead
When Abdali left them in a wreck
My men united, tied turbans higher than many necks
A lion came to lead and silenced invaders with a roar
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s voice echoed from Kabul to Lahore
Not one, two, three or four
We are five rivers that have lived to tell the lore
Then came the British, coveting my land rich as cream
They drew many leaves from their old book of schemes
Snatched away Kohinoor, they drew a line red and deep
Colonial order, new border, blood in rivers began to seep
Looted, separated, uprooted, my people took carts and trains
Broke and drained, they shuffled into unfamiliar lanes
Called refugees in a nation newborn, they toiled amid many thorns
Rose like phoenix, but unknowingly became a pawn
On their golden hearts, fields and temple
Bullets fell, dreams began to tremble
They lost limbs but found feet and stood upright
Lit up their lives that once looked darker than a politician’s might
Countless ballads and chronicles are all futile
For, none can tell what hurts my land so fertile
Rebels, rowdies, robust soldiers or boats without oars
Call what you like, you cannot treat them with ignore
Not one, two, three or four
We are five rivers that have lived to tell the lore
There is a land we carved that rhymes with rabab
Though divided in two, there’s one heart that beats in Punjab