Punjabi Studies Program at SJSU Gala Raises Funds for Guru Nanak Heritage Institute, San Jose,California.

At the same time that alarm bells are ringing in tandem with a Unesco report speculating that within fifty years the Punjabi Language will disappear from existence, a quiet miracle is taking place in the name of the Guru Nanak Heritage Institute at San Jose State University, California to prove this report wrong. The Punjabi Studies Program in the Department of Foreign Languages at San Jose State University has been a successful collaboration between the Punjabi community and the University for providing a model of community involvement in shaping the future of higher education since its inception in 1998. Through this program the SJSU has striven to expand cultural diversity in the community by holding events for the public such as Punjabi language instruction courses, conferences, poetic readings and classes on Punjabi culture. Hundreds of students from all backgrounds have attended these classes and benefited from these events. It appears there is no other college or university in Northern California to have supported Punjabi Studies to the extent that San Jose State University has.

Members of the Indian American community opened their hearts and wallets on May 9 to raise funds for San Jose University’s new Guru Nanak Heritage Institute for Punjabi Studies in order to pursue research and educational objectives in line with the University’s own goal of building a distinctive international identity. The Fund raising Gala was organized jointly by the Punjabi community represented by the Punjabi Studies Funding Support and the University. It was attended by a huge number of the Bay area local community as well as some distinguished persons, business people and representatives of organizations from Fresno to include the Sikh Council of Central California Fresno, The Indo-US Heritage Association Fresno, Punjabi Sahit Academy Fresno and the Punjabi Sahit Sabha California, Bay area. With its funding pledge no other college or university has demonstrated as much faith in the future of Punjabi Studies as SJSU. At the same time no other community has demonstrated such a strong investment in university education about its heritage as the Bay Area Punjabi community, in particular the Sikh community.

In this era of globalization and especially after the 9/11 tragedy, no one seems to have recognized the potential of a Punjabi American being bilingual better than the SJSU and the Bay area Punjabi community by setting up this Heritage chair. The Punjabi language is not the domain of any ethnic group or religion although the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Book, is also written in poetic Punjabi verse. Punjabi is the language spoken by all those who either live in Punjab or can trace their roots to the Punjab region and is the thirteenth major languages spoken world wide. Punjab literally translates to the land of five rivers and at one time extended all the way from Delhi to Afghanistan. Punjabi language like any other language is the mother of a distinct culture and a proud heritage. It is this unique ‘Punjabiyat’ that produced countless martyrs and patriots who made all kinds of sacrifices not only for Punjab alone but for their motherland, India. When a language dies, its culture and traditions die with it leaving behind a world that is much poorer. English is the language of the land but to paraphrase a powerful line someone said on the National Public Radio “English is important, no doubt, but your mother tongue is the language of love.”

In order to keep this blog brief but meaningful I would conclude this report with the following Statement regarding the Memorandum of Agreement between San Jose State University and the Punjabi Studies Funding Support:

‘The agreement between the University and the Punjabi community represents a significant step towards the University’s priority for internationalizing the curriculum and expanding the global educational experience of our students. The establishment of the Guru Nanak Heritage Institute for Punjabi Studies endowment means that Punjabi Studies at the University will move beyond the modest aims that began the program a decade ago and pursue research and educational objectives in line with the University’s own goal of building a distinctive international identity. This is an exciting moment for the history of the University’.