CHANDIGARH: Prof Pandit Rao Dharennavar from Karnataka, who is serving as Assistant Professor of Sociology in Post Graduate Government College in Chandigarh, has been teaching Punjabi to South Indian doctors and nurses working at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), besides slum children, for the last 11 years. When he is not doing that, he is fighting against the glorification of gun culture, drugs, liquor and violence in Punjabi songs.
Dharennavar, whose mother tongue is Kannada, shifted to Chandigarh in 2003 after he got the job and learnt Punjabi because his students could not understand English. “I learnt Punjabi in 2005 and from 2010 onwards started teaching Punjabi to South Indian doctors and nurses working at PGIMER. I have taught Punjabi to about 50 of them, most of them from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. These days, I teach through online classes.”
“They send me audio recordings of their conversation with their patients which I listen to. I send them back the meanings of difficult words which the patients have asked them,” says Dharennavar. He has written a book, Sat Sri Akal Doctor Sahib (dialogues between doctors and patients with meanings of difficult words). At least 500 copies of the book were distributed to doctors in 2018. “The book also helped the medical staff to understand Punjabi,” he says.
He also teaches the language to poor children in three villages of the city Atawa, Dhanas and Butrela. And when he goes for a 15-day vacation every year in December to his native village Salotagi in Bijapur district, he teaches Punjabi to children of Sikligar Sikhs, the ironsmiths as they do not understand Punjabi. His love for Punjabi language has not stopped there; he has started reading religious scriptures. “After discussing with granthis and Sikh scholars, I translated Japji Sahib, Sukhmani Sahib into Kannada,” he said. He has also translated Vachana of 12th century saints of Karnataka into Punjabi language. He has penned 15 books in Punjabi, Hindi, Kannada and English.
“My aim is to translate Guru Granth Sahib into Kannada, which I have already started,” he says. The professor has taken up the cudgels against the raunchy lyrics of Punjabi songs. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had in July 2019 directed the DGPs of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to ensure no songs glorifying liquor, wine, drugs and violence are played or performed. The court order came on a plea by Dharennavar who had petitioned for a ban on such songs.
“In 2016, Kulwinder Kaur, 21, who was three months pregnant, was shot dead in Bhatinda while she was dancing at 11 pm on a song promoting liquor. After the incident, I decided to fight against songs promoting alcoholism, vulgarity and weapons which were played during marriages,” he says. He campaigns carrying a placard with a message against such songs seeking amendment in the Cinematograph Act 1952 to ban vulgarity and violence in songs.
“I have met family members of Punjabi singers and requested them to ask their sons or daughters to refrain from singing such songs,’’ says Dharennavar. His love for Punjabi language and culture does not stop here. He has named his daughter as Khivi after Guru Angad Dev’s wife. His colleagues, especially from South India are grateful to him. “When I came to PGIMER, it was difficult to communicate with patients because I did not understand Punjabi and they did not understand English. Prof Dharennavar taught me Punjabi. The doctors from South India find it very helpful to communicate with patients now. He is doing a great job,” says Dr Vishwanath S Bhaire.