The Lahore Arts Council, in collaboration with the Kinnaird College for Women, organised an exhibition of photographs of sacred Sikh shrines in both India and Pakistan, which are named after trees. These photos have been taken from the coffee-table book ‘Tryst With Trees-Punjab’s Sacred Heritage’, by Indian author DS Jaspal. The exhibition opened on Wednesday at 5pm. The display was inaugurated by Punjab University (PU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr Mujahid Kamran. Jaspal’s book was a pictorial documentation of around 58 sacred and historical Sikh shrines in India and Pakistan. These shrines have been named after 19 species of trees including Gurudwara Tahli Sahib, Gurudwara Nim Sahib (Patiala), Gurudwara Ber Sahib (Sialkot), Gurudwara Amb Sahib (Mohali), Gurudwara Ritha Sahib, Gurudwara Lahura Sahib, and Ghavindi (Lahore).
Although love and respect for nature and environment were common to every religious faith, the naming of sacred shrines after trees was unique in Sikhism. Nature and environment were bonding factors of Sikh civilisation. Even Pakistani documentary filmmaker Dr Farooq Beg was making a documentary on Tryst.
Jaspal, who is a senior chief secretary-level officer of the Indan Punjab government, spent over three years travelling all over India and Pakistan to photograph these Sikh shrines. The book was released in New York in October 2010 by Indian State Minister for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, who also inaugurated an exhibition of photographs from the book. The event was largely attended by all lovers of nature and environment and widely reported in the media.
Details about the book as well as video clips and photographs about the exhibition in New York and earlier exhibitions in New Delhi and Chandigarh could be seen online. It was after a gap of more than three years that Alhamra, Pakistan’s premier Art Centre, was hosting an Indian exhibition, which also augurs well for the resumption of cultural ties between the two countries.
This exhibition was also timely and relevant since 2011 was being observed as the International Year of Forests by the UN. The hosting of this exhibition would be of great interest to nature lovers and environmentalists and help draw attention of a wider audience to the common heritage and composite culture of this region.
A pioneer in museology, Jaspal was presently working on two more very unique projects–one of them being the “Museum Of Trees” in Chandigarh, which is dedicated to the conservation of sacred trees. This project is supported by the Indian Culture Ministry and the Botanical Survey of India. A strong votary of Indo-Pak peace, Jaspal was also establishing the Museum of Peace, a memorial to the partition of India, located on the Amritsar-Attari/Wagah Road, less than two kilometres from the Indo-Pak border.
In fact, Jaspal being a media analyst has authored a book “Media Terrorism” which was a careful, detailed and scholarly analysis of media reporting on the Punjab violence. Based on archives, records, news agency dispatches and press clippings, “Media Terrorism” was a ground breaking contribution to the scientific study of media reporting by attempting to define parameters in order to evaluate the degree of bias and deviation from truth within the media, which attempted to report terrorism.
Jaspal was also the president of the Society for Information and Media Studies (SIMS) and also heads the Chandigarh Nature & Health Society (CNHS).
