Village is invariably ridiculed for what it is; a symbol of stubborn conservatism born of a change-resistant socio-economic mode of living evolved over a long period of time. It moves at a natural pace which is an inevitable result of its being dependent on nature for its economic activities i.e. agriculture and livestock. Agriculture and livestock are again inexorably linked with seasonal changes. A society bound with the repetitive natural cycles itself becomes repetitive in its all aspects; economic, social and cultural. This is not to say that no changes take place in nature and social structure. They do but are generally so slow and gradual that they appear imperceptible to an undiscerning social eye. Guru Nanak’s verse “The same moon, the same stars/and the same days burning themselves out” may give us some measure of monotonous rural life. Agriculture is linked with seasons. Crops in terms of their yield are at mercy of nature that is beyond anybody’s control. Weather can bring prosperity or can cause famine. It can make or unmake you. It can at times make you flourish without any merit of yours. It can impoverish you without any fault of yours. That is how life appears a mystery producing an ambiance full of superstitious suggestiveness. Slow process of economic production in natural environments creates conditions where intellectual life becomes extremely sluggish if not vegetative.

One cannot imagine Punjab without the image of village it invariably evokes. Punjab’s village has its origins in pre Harappa times.

Its agricultural output, a result of its specific mode of production, laid the foundation of one of the ancient urban civilizations in the Indus valley. The economic surplus produced by the village made possible the rise of cities with all civic amenities one could imagine at that point of history: planned houses with straight streets, underground sewer, public baths, swimming pools, work-shops, grain stores, places of worship and public squares. All this implied an elaborate system of administration and governance.

What sustained and to some extent still sustains Punjab’s village is its unique socio-economic structure based on the notion of self-reliance. Clearly defined and marked division of work made it self-sufficient economic and social unit needing minimum input or intervention from the outside. Farmers tilled the public or privately owned lands. Black-smiths and carpenters made the agricultural tools and implements. Weavers made cloth of all kinds required for various domestic and commercial needs. Potters produced pottery and baked /unbaked bricks for construction and provided the animals for transporting yields from the fields to the village and the market. Cobblers provided leather goods. Oil-presser extracted oil from the seeds. Another set of people which included barbers, bards, genealogists, musicians, messengers and matchmakers provided social and cultural services. The village was a world unto itself. It used to have minimal contact with outside world. What it was compelled to do was to pay revenue in kind or cash to the government of the day and sell its surplus produce needed for the consumption in the urban centres. Natural and geographical factors must be taken into account if we want to understand the dynamics of our village that remained insulated as well as connected; the village that weltered in the stagnant morass of its own inwardness but at the same time paved the way for the emergence of highly civilised urban centres of ancient world. Under the shadow of Himalayas, Punjab is one of the biggest chunks of flat and fertile land in the world watered by five to seven rivers. Even the most sluggish could survive by gathering the fruits of wild trees offered in abundance by nature. “Let us go together and pick the already ripe Pilu-fruits” reminds us Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s verse of nature’s bounty that was always up for grab in Punjab, described by Mahabharata as land of Pilu forests. Punjab’s villagers not just content with ‘God’s plenty’, constantly innovated with the techniques of agricultural production resulting in a surplus that evolved cities. That is why Punjab through out its long history has been considered the food-basket of the Sub-continent.

Socio-cultural structure of our typical village conditioned by agrarian production is complex and multi-faceted. On the one hand it is weighed down by the constraints of class, caste and clan making it exclusive. On the other, contrary to its garbled description, it also has an inclusive community instinct with a robust sense of social concern. It highly values the delight of sharing and fulfillment of social responsibility. Young woman for example is daughter of the entire village whatever her social status. Marriage is a community matter. Everybody will chip in. The family will be helped by others in various ways in terms of providing food and lodging to the participants. The occasion will turn into a feasting and merry-making. Death too is a scene of collective mourning that gives the bereaved family strength to bear the grief with a bit of courage.

Though the social and economic fabric of the village is class-based, a strong community instinct born of relationship necessitated by kinship and economic interdependence of its members reflects its deeply embedded egalitarian aspect. Elder or headman sitting atop the hierarchical order is not necessarily a tyrant or a villain as is usually portrayed in our films, plays and ill-conceived political literature. It is not just coercion that keeps the social wheel oiled. The headman while protecting its class or group interests shoulders the responsibilities of providing succour to the under-privileged when they are in trouble; social or economic.

Village in today’s Punjab offers a different picture, a distorted image of what once it was. Intruding market economy accompanied by consumerist impulses during the last three decades has transformed it beyond recognition in terms of social and cultural life. It now seems to be an ugly chunk of urban slum, overpopulated and filthy with no prospect of jobs for the working classes as a result of lop-sided mechanised agrarian production to the disadvantage of tenants, small proprietors, artisans and traditional service providers. The authority of the elders or headman stands undermined resulting in a high rate of crime.

Traditional village with its disarming simplicity, at peace with itself and nature is almost gone. It is no longer what the bard of Punjab Waris Shah said it was: “a paradise on earth”. And our contemporary village can never be a paradise if it lacks community instinct and a joy of sharing. It now apes the cities built by corporate greed. And “what’s the point of cities built without the people’s wisdom” asks the poet Bertolt Brecht.