#290 Origins of Jugni

We chase a too perfect story about Jugni’s origins and end up face to face with how misinformation spreads through oral history, newspapers, and diaspora retellings. We also map what Jugni becomes across Punjabi folk music, spirituality, film, and migration, and why she still feels like the sharpest voice in the room. 

• A village elder’s Jubilee torch claim and why it felt so believable 
• Tracking the story to a 2005 Punjabi Tribune article and later translations 
• The date problem: Victoria’s Jubilee versus the 1906 timeline 
• Alternative etymologies: jugnu as firefly, roots tied to light, and grammatical debates 
• Jugni as talisman, sacred thread, and metaphor for the soul’s bond with the divine 
• Jugni as a travelling witness in lyrics, satire, and political commentary 
• Jugni in Bollywood as a narrative pivot toward selfhood and resistance 
• Diaspora Jugni in the club, on the IELTS track, and in migration storylines 
• Gendered blame in folk narratives and what that reveals about “culture” 

Thank you for listening, you can hear Ravia every Thursday on 97.9 FM or through our live-stream at www.theuniversalradio.com

IG: @theuniversalradio

Transcript

Ravia’s Hook And A Wild Origin Story

SPEAKER_01 0:14

I am Ravia and I am so excited to talk to y'all tonight. Okay, I need to tell you this story from the very beginning of where I started to research this. This happened actually when I was in India earlier this year. If you follow me, you might have seen I made a Kradasma on postwall in India, besides the point. But it is something I was actually told by an elder in my bin in my village who was telling me the story about the Jubilee and when the Queen came, or not the Queen didn't actually even come to India, but the story goes: when the Queen came to India, there was a torch passed around, kind of like the Olympics, to celebrate her Jubilee. And um he said, Hey, I read it in the paper years ago. And did you know that that's where the origin of jugni came from? Like the genre of songs jugni, like juguny-ji, ala meriao jugne-ji, sai valia jugunni ji. You know the jugni I'm talking about. If you have listened to um Bollywood music, South Asian music in general, and Punjabi folk music, or even some Sufi music, it is a narrative device, it is a concept. Jugni is a is a narrative device and it is and a person, and we'll get into more about that how Jugni exists in culture. But this story is about how I realized I was a victim of fake news, y'all. It was me. I was I was personally victimized by fake news, and it was fake news from a village elder. And I never, I don't question my elders in that way. I mean, we all should question people, but I'm almost like, oh, sick, cool story. And I wrote it down. At that time, I wrote it down. I said, you know what? What is when is like Victoria Day? I'm gonna talk about the Jubilee and I'll talk about Queen Victoria, it's Victoria Day long weekend, it'll all, you know, mash up, even though Victoria Day is for Victoria's birthday, Queen Victoria's birthday. Um, but you know, Miss Vicky, Queen Victoria was up to a lot, and more than all the new flavors of Miss Vicky's chips that are coming out, and man, those are good too. But Miss Vicky is Queen Victoria. Let's get back to being a professional. Queen Victoria is does a lot in her life, right? She has these like huge, like one of the longest reigning monarchs that she's thought of as the mother of Confederacy. She was in power when Canada was like created into a country. She also was like obsessed with India in a weird way, and we'll talk about Orientalism another day because she was like low-key. She had never been to India, first of all, she'd never been there, never allowed to go. But she was like allowed to like bring parts of India and certain people from India and art and textiles and and parts of culture into her, you know, zone of being a royal in her palace, in her, you know, in her place. Uh, but she didn't really know what it was like, and she very much kind of kick-started this, like, I don't know if she kickstarted or what order it was, but she was obsessed. And it was like, hey girl, why are you so obsessed with me? And then why are you oppressing me at the same time? Like, that's that's kind of what goes through my head. Like, that's what Orientalism kind of is.

Realizing The Jugni Jubilee Link Is Shaky

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Edward Said, rest in peace. You're a legend. Um, we'll talk about Said another day, but I will have to say, so the story I just told about Jugni being connected to Jubilee, it's all false. And I will tell you how I figured this out, actually. While I was researching for this episode, I was so excited about it. I thought it was all connected. Turns out it might be connected, but I'll get more into it. And I'm gonna read you some smart people's work, some smart people that have really worked on this, and I will give you that. No, I've always been like wary of like believing things on the internet because of like AI and you know, people just saying things, people been given a mic and just being like la la la la la. Here's some fun facts that are actually not facts. But I didn't expect this untrustworthiness to like then translate to me not trusting a village elder. What the heck is going on? And it all goes back to an article in the Punjabi Tribune published on 24th of September 2005, named Jugni the Atihesek. Atihesek such. So it's the the historical truth. Karam Jitsing Ojla wrote this article, and at that time he probably had no idea he was going to be creating fake news that would be told to me it almost like 21 years later. Can you believe this? Subsequently, after Garm Jit Singh Lajla G posted this and you know wrote this story, it was translated by Grijan Singh as quote, the history of Jugni, uploaded to a wider circulation by the Academy of Punjab in North America called upnaorg.com. The article itself does not claim to be the result of serious research, and instead it does state clearly that the information was taken from oral history from a freedom fighter, Baba Makansh, a village I'm gonna I duckijamel sing, please, please help me with that, who recalled that the genesis of Jugni was linked with Queen Victoria's Jubilee celebration by the colonizers. And so this is suggested by Audla. He suggests that the British had engaged two folk singers, Bishna and Munda, in the year 1906 to sing, you know, songs about how the British are so great and they've been here 50 years as a part of commemorative celebrations. Interesting to do it in 1906. So red flag number one, 1906. The Jubilee happened in like 1890. So I know things back then, like you know, news travels late, but like six years later, really, those name, those numbers weren't adding up. But also then I found this article that I'm, you know, referencing as well throughout this show by Git Anjali Jala, who is a professor of English at the University of Delhi. She wrote an article on this and she's like, hey, yeah, this doesn't really line up. And she does say, like, you know, there's these articles posted, and she agrees with me. So this is this is how I realize that fake news is is everywhere, and we really have to double check our sources, y'all. So let's get back into how Vishnu and Manda were called by the British, right? They were called by the British to do these commemorative celebrations, and they were both apparently from the Majah region of Punjab. Shout out, um, accompanied the burning torch. So, like the this torch that you see at the Olympics, right? Like that torch, you carry the torch from village to village. And Bishna and Manda were known as these like amazing folk singers that could just sing, and they would, they would kind of like um, I don't want to say rap battle, but it was like people would, they would do this trick, apparently. You know, it's it's been said that they'd be like, Oh, if you give me a rupee, if you give me some money, I'll I'll make a song about you, about your village, and they would just on the spot come up with it, which is a great talent to have on a singing troupe that is going along with you, right? So, um, but these two were, you know, living in Punjab in the early 1900s. And at the time, there was a lot of pain, a lot of suffering happening, largely because there was a lot of colonial extraction, there was a lot of people fighting um as soldiers for the British, there was a lot of pain, a lot of um starvation, a lot of real issues occurring. And a lot of those issues you could point towards the British as being a big part of why things were bad. And as especially as a person who's growing up in the rural, you're just gonna be in the rural areas, the people in power are putting you in these positions. So anti-British sentiments were within these people, and when they went village to village, I imagine they saw some real strife, right? So they were meant to sing the praises of the empire, but the two singers, along with their troupe, propagated anti-British sentiments, which is what, which was, you know, like really, really tongue-in-cheek. Like they took uh supposedly the Jugney, the Jubilee. They were like, hey, hey, it's Jubilee time. They would be like, No, it's Jugny. And they were like, Let's light this firefly. So Jugne, a Jugnu is a firefly in Punjabi. So they were

Tracing The Claim To A 2005 Article

SPEAKER_01 8:50

like, they're, you know, they were maybe like referring to the flickering light of the Jubilee torch. They were maybe referring to lighting a spark of resistance in people. All of these things could be true. So this is a story that gets lots of clicks and lots of likes. But the origins of Jugni are still questioned because this is a story that was told by a freedom fighter Baba Mukinsing, who was, you know, then told that Takaram Jitsing Odla, who then created this post in Punjabi Tribune in 2005. And then we come back to today, where we're trying to line up the dates, we're trying to line up the stories. And while I do think that multiple things can be true, I do think that we do need to question things. So I'm not I'm saying that this is a story, there is no evidence to say that it's true, but it is one of them. Okay, Cello, I was talking about the fake news that I was duped by, but uh, you know, the theory that Jugni and Jubilee came about as a tongue-in-cheek kind of version of anti-British sentiment by these people that were hired by the British, like that's so cool, that sounds so fun. But the theory itself may be probable. And, you know, there are stories again, stories of Vishnah and Manda then being punished by the British because they found out, oh my gosh, these people are singing against us, not for us, you know, and they were punished for this. And I like they are then referenced as like sparking a big part of that revolution and and the change that happened, you know, uh 40 years later. But while the theory in itself is probable, um, the Jubilee celebrations of the Victorian Empire of Queen Victoria's reign took place in 1887 and not 1906. So the numbers, numbers aren't lining up, right? So, you know, as they say, follow the money, follow the numbers. So, you know, this is me, Ravia, reporting live from the diaspora research I am doing. And again, I am gonna give a big shout out to Gitangeli Chaola, Dr. Gitangeli Chavala, who is a professor of English at the University of Delhi, who has really given a lot of good, solid questions, questions to these, you know, these calls of being like Jugney is jubilee, that's she's like, excuse me, what is the solid bond? So other interpretations have cropped up in like there's one online called Gaffala on this website called Gaffala Online in 2011 in response to Ajla's article. So the original article that was written in the Tribune, that kind of is the original fake news, wherein they are, you know, writing about the romance of the wandering Jugni, and they talk about who is Jugni, and they seem to agree that there are different possibilities. So Jugni has often been linked with a feminine form of Jogi. So Jogi is also this person who is running around thinking about their love, like they've gone crazy in love and running around as in like just like being directionless, a wanderer saint in consonants, and so that you know, there's this like feminine embodiment of Jugni is what Jogi Jugni, those two things have been connected. While they have been connected, there is Dr. Chaola makes the point again. She's a smart, smart one that one. She says this too loses its validity because in Punjabi, the kni, so the jugni instead of jugnu, right? We say jugni, that that's one of the theories. Um, the form is not followed, so it's like doesn't follow the grammatical form. So the feminine form of jogi would be jogun, not jugni. It's two different words, right? Another theory is comes from Madan Gobal Singh, who is a renowned singer and scholar, um, is that jugni comes from the root jugn, root meaning light, and the first sign of the meaning jugni as the shining or jugni is a root in Hindi stands for shining, burning, waking. And then the word for living planet is jug, but there's also the term jug, which means age or era. So there's this like metaphysical dimension that Jugni brings to the table, and you know, Jugni is then being seen as this guardian of spirit, of age, of the jug, of the zeitgeist. You know, I like using that word, it's a fun one. So, who is Jugni and what is Jugni kind of sung like? So, like I think it's important to know that Jugni is seen as, and we how we hear Jungni, and you've been hearing uh hearing a lot of these songs, is a narrative device, and it is also considered a genre. Alright, so Jugne is seen as a narrative device. I don't know why I'm

Checking The Dates And Calling It Out

SPEAKER_01 13:55

English for the first second here, but Jugni, we as we hear, is you know, being sung as as this like feminine, heretic, dervish spirit, fiercely protective and very like lost, but really searching for someone. Jugni is also seen as the protective sacred thread worn by women, a tavish or tavitri, or tavit. Um, and in the song you you have sung by Alam Lohar, and even in songs by Diljitho Song, there is a line that we hear that says, So my taviz, my jugni, the thing I wear that is holding a representation of my faith, the strings, my thage, they are pakke. My strings are strong, they are permanent, they are not loose threads. And this way, in this way, jugni ends up representing a taviz or a pendant that holds your you know heart and like your dreams and wishes, and is a symbol for soul. So this is this is also related to in 1930 in Maheshkosh, so one of the biggest dictionaries in India at the time or in South Asia at the time, jugni was defined as prayer beads or a mala or a taviz, which used to be called a jugni. So, in different variations of this, the jugni, the jugni in these songs is a metaphor for a soul, for a bond that a soul would have with a higher being. So you hear this in Allah vali jugni, oh merit jugni the tag. So Allah, Islamic word for the higher power, uh vali jugni, so the jugni of God, of the higher power, oh my jugni that's my jugni, those strings are strong. It means my faith is strong, it means my soul's connection to Rub, to God is very close. So if there is a strong, strong bond, it means you're not attached to worldly things like identity, like nations, like you know, material goods. Your jugni is attached to your your higher power. So that is that is one of these, like, you know, you they see that jugni is is like a part of this like cultural even jewelry that you wear, but it is uh very spiritual. I don't I don't know if calling it jewelry might be the right words, but folk singers who sang these spiritual songs would always wear these thavites while singing. And Grimit Bava, you know, says that this is maybe like still the custom till this state. And this genre she believes became really, you know, popular in the mid-19th and early 20th century. But before that, not much of it really exists uh outside of like stories, right? But I think there is value in those stories. But let's try to figure out, let's try to purse out what actually makes sense in these stories. So there's another kind of layer. So another way that Jugni is thought of uh by Shiraz Hassan and Jamil Bal, they suggest that Jugni was a character in folklore, a mutiar, a young woman who becomes a jogun as she's wandering from place to place in search for her lost love. She becomes not just a symbol of eternal love, but also a symbol of exploration and search of truth. So, you know, looking for that higher power. Her beloved has transcended the corporeal form, you know, they have become one with with the with God, Sai or Allah, or you know, Rab. Um, and in a truly secular nature, which is interesting because in in a lot of South Asian work we see this that the Jugni is not looking at the boundaries of religion as it's looking and not even trans-religion or trans-geological, but also trans cultural. And it is not just found in Punjab, Bahrayana, but also North India and Pakistan. And this is this is one of those, again, like a jugni being, there's a there's a spiritual and like element here. Um, and so seeing this as a folklore related and like kind of tradition, the jugni must always be seen as traveling, either forcibly or fearatively through space. So, like

Other Origins: Jogi Roots And Light

SPEAKER_01 18:40

not always direct. And this is part of a larger social formation. So Jugni is observing herself as a part of her journey. So she's like Jugni in the songs that were sung about you know the British Raj, it's like Jugni goes into Lodiana, Jugni sees how terrible things are, and Jugni is like, oh my goodness, I'm gonna pray to God. Like, what is going on? And Jugni is still wandering from city to town to place, and you know, function and and and it's interesting because the gaze of this is like you'll get Jugni's point of view, but there is a narrator telling the story. So I'm gonna get more into Jugni as the as the narrative device and genre. I know I said I was gonna get into that, but there's just so many different places where Jugni could have originated from that I just wanted to tell you that all. So there is this article that I look at by SS Husnan Ghazmi in Bakazan Perspectives, where they compare three genres of Punjabi folklore, one being Jugni, one being Dola, and one being Mahiya. So Dola, Tola, Vetola, Hai Tola. You've probably heard that, right? And then you've heard of the metaphor of Maya. So, like there's always a song about Mahi, Mahiya, that those are two genres we can talk about another day if you'd like. But today we're looking at Jugni. So, Jugni, when we talk about as a genre, it is interesting because in this paper, Gazmi kind of looks at how it is sung by both men and women, which isn't always the case for Punjabi folk music. So the Jugni character is mysterious, active, perpetually perturbed. So, what does perturbed mean? So I like this word. Um, I'm gonna just give it a quick look here. So perturbed means feeling worried, upset, or troubled by something, often causing a state of mental agitation. Like, imagine Jugni is perpetually being perturbed, and Jugni is seeking solace in the holy world of spirituality. The character of Jugni is funny. This is how it's described, and this is like, so I'm gonna tell you a little bit about how this work comes to be. So, Gosmi in this article looks at many, many stanzas of Jugni songs and folk variations, and then kind of does this analysis of what comes out of Jugni as a character. So Jugni as a character is described as funny, oppressed, hilarious, sarcastic, innocent, Sufi, downtrodden. And in the words of the analyst, the character of Jugni is so unfathomable and all-encompassing that the fold that to unfold its layers is a hard job. It's a hard job. Like this character can be quickly recognized at the level of perception and feelings, but when you go to research the academic analysis of this, this would mean an unending endeavor. Having those variations of being oppressed, hilarious, sarcastic, innocent, downtrodden, funny. I think all of those things exist. And I think all of those existing things at Once holds Punjabi it. Like, and I'm not saying that that is one definition, but just seeing all those words together, I'm like, I know, I know people like this. Like they all, they're hilarious, sarcastic, innocent, and you know, they they have had seen some hard times. Um, not saying that being a person downtown is all we are, but the threads, Jugni can also, you know, in this famous example, Jugni's also arrange under different themes. So Jugni can assume any form and character according to the whim and the wishes of its composer. Threads of Jugni indicate the jewelry of the woman with the name Jugni, and threads may represent characteristics of Jugni or with connections to faith or to a higher power, as Jugni is a representative of someone who is seeking solace in the holy world of spirituality. So Jugni has an abundance of rhyming styles and it's put together for composite effect at times. So to give it musical appeal. So the same lines are repeated, so you just hear, you know, the same Allah Aliya Jugni, like the same ones over and over again. And that's what makes it. But I feel like this pace, like this fast pace also, and Kazmi says this too, is that the fast pace is like is given, it gives us this feeling of restlessness, right? It it's like it makes us the repetition, the way it's sung, it reminds me of some devotional music, and the instruments that are played with it enhance that effect. So all moods of Jugni are sung at that time. Like you hear the the kind of like Jugni, oh, what is Jugni doing? Oh, where's Jugni walking around? What is she doing now? She's what's going on? And it's interesting because in no way we we assume that Jugni is a woman, but in no way, in no place is there really a gendering of Jugni. But I think it's fascinating how we think Jugni is a woman. And I'm gonna get into some of the lyrics of Jugni. So the first, I'm just gonna go through parts of them, right? So just so we can see how Jugni is a metaphor, but also a reflection of the state of a nation, also a political device. We see her, we see Jugni as a spiritual device, we see it as a metaphor, we and we see her as a political device who is able to witness things as a as a person who is, you know, just trying to connect with a higher being, maybe. Maybe she is just a witness, and as a singer and as a performer, as a writer, you are just simply writing, Jugni saw this, it's not me. It's Jugni. It's just what Jugni does. Jugni just tells the truth and it's not me. You know, it's like a it's a good narrative device. It's nice to have Jugni to it's always nice to have Jugni in the room because she says what everyone else is thinking, even though you don't want to say it, you know. So here's what Jugni is saying. So Jugni Ja Vedi Kashmir, J Rose Muran Dasvi, Dasvi. So Jugni goes to Kashmir, J Rose Maran Dasvi, where over 10 to 20 people pass away every day, and Sonya Pana te sonne vir ororo putrena. So these are beautiful brothers and sisters, they ask, and they ask these questions about like what is the point of being born? Um, mukana jalampani sokna, virmejogni, and then goes on to like virme gandia, it can iron a veya. So this like stanza just goes into like, hey, and then it's sung in this way that is like very it's sad, melancholic, but also in a way innocent and in a way that is silly, uh, and and silly because it's like you're singing Vir Merea, like you're singing it. And I think that like those that contrast is what makes us interesting. So then we have jugunjab, jitte parele keybagar, beach mina javan bar, utte ute maran jadu, utte maran jadu, sorry, ute gori lenvea,

Jugni As Character And Narrative Device

SPEAKER_01 26:10

bitcheta bar takera, virya vit jugni virya bi juguni kandia, ik nai udari lendia. So nai udari lendia, sorry. Um apologize my pronunciation. I'm reading something that's like, you know, transliterated, which makes it a little bit difficult. But this is about jugni in going to Punjab. And she's like, oh, jitte parileke pecar. So jitte parileke bekar means where the people who can read and write are not very useful. They're actually bekar, they are not useful, they're useless. Bitch is a mina javarmar. They sell their land and they go out, they go become part of the diaspora, they go live out there, and they marry a white girl. So and then the family in that back home is waiting, is is taking the ra. They're like, excuse me, where is my where's my where's my man at? And then it's like, oh, we're jugni, we'd marry jugni kandia. So it's like, hey, it's just jugni that's saying this. It's not that. And then we have the next stanza where it's jugni javari bambay, j te so sonda n kohi nahi, saba lubran cheese kohi, kiss kise nu lab bay, jenu la be wo be chan, mate martke os de pen. So pain. But there's basically um Jugni goes to Bombay. There is no one is sleeping in Bombay in in Mumbai. Um, and everyone is looking for something, but they can't find anything, and everyone is be chan. Be-jan is restless, no rest. You are feeling very restless, and everyone's like faces show that they're in this, and then it's just like, hey, Jugni just witnessed this, Jugmi just witnessed this. So Jugni, in in just this one song that I've you know translated, she talks about and she goes through this journey and she's a witness of all of these kind of it uh idiosyncrasies of society, and she's like, What is this weirdness going on? And she's the one that's kind of like, oh, vehia jugni. Ovi meria jugni kendi. At the same time, everyone is like praying to Jugni. They're like, Oh, what is the state of everything? What is Jugni doing? I want to know what your interpretations of Jugni are. Let me know right here, right now, at DJ Rarraravia on Instagram. We just talked about the lyrics from Rabbi Shergil's song Jugni de Kenjali Deshite Jamaic Ved. So she goes into Punjab where Pade Lake goes to Punjab, where people who are have been educated are not considered great. Um, and she talks about crimes in Kashmir, air pollution in Dili, and pain in Mumbai throughout the song. So this is what Rabbi Shergil is singing about and how Jugni and you're singing to Jugni, you are singing about Jugni. But also it's interesting to see how Jugni is used as a narrative device in film. So I just played some Pataka Gurdiee from Jugni, and this is from a movie with Alia Bart. And in the movie, Alia is facing immense abuse. And then during the song, during when they play this song, is when it is used as a narrative device to kind of show Alia being able to go, her character in this movie, being able to go from being a person who is, you know, really impacted by the severe abuse she's feeling to being a person who is standing up to, you know, the abuser. And she's becoming this person who is, you know, standing up for herself and and going out and kind of like sticking it to the man, like really. And during that period of change, this Jugni song is played. And after this Jugni song, she becomes awakened and the movie changed. So Jugni is used as a narrative device, and I think that's really cool. And then in the movie Queen, we also have Jugni. So in the movie Queen, the character of Gangnar Navat is um, you know, a bride that's jilted, like her groom decides to cancel the wedding, and she decides that she's gonna go on her honeymoon by herself. Um, and they play the Jugni song because Jugni is like, girl, they're like, girl, go do what you want. This is it's like really fun. So we think about it from the lens of North Asian women and how we are represented. It is Jugni is aspirational for me, anyways. Jugni is one of those people that is able to stand up against the system, is able to be her own person, able to put her happiness first, able to, you know, say no to her abuser, able to change things and you know, be that spark, being that spark that, you know, also maybe what, you know, if Manda and Vishnu were the singers and hired as Jubilee singers, maybe like that spark that created in some, created something in people to take that step towards Azadi from the British, to from freedom from the British, and by singing it against the work. So this is this is just one part of how Jugni is showing up. I really want to go into Jugni as cultural resistance. I want to talk about the diaspora as we always do. So this is gonna be my, you know, almost, I'm almost finishing up here. Let's listen to some, I'm gonna listen to let's listen to some a really good song here. It is about Jugni, you know, Jugni goes to Canada, right? She, I mean, so Jugni first goes to India, right? And she's like, oh my gosh, what's happening in Dili, what's happening in Amritsar, what's happening in Delander? And

Lyrics As Social Witness Across Places

SPEAKER_01 31:55

then in the diaspora, Jugni follows. So as cultural resistance, we see how Jugni is a representative of that. Keep it tuned, right here. Of Jugni being this like force where one can view the world, a spiritual connection, and all of these things. At the same time, Jugni is also, you know, someone who is prayed to, sorry about that, is prayed to, right? You're like Jugni, like take care of the world. So, like in the song, we have them singing about many things about ki banudunyada. So, what is gonna become of this world? So, you know, only God knows, and they were referring to the sick terms for the higher fo the higher power, right? So at the same time, we also say Allah Bisamilla Teri Jubni. So Allah being the Islamic term for a higher power, hai tari, like good hai taria biteri jugni, sai bora be jugni. So they're referring to a lot of spiritual higher powers in the way that the jugni um, you know, genre of music kind of refers to. But throughout this song, you hear how women are being the problem, right? So they're I have to say, they are not only being called this by Gurdhasman, there's various other singers, like if we look at uh previous versions by um like oh my gosh, not Girdasman, but um Hazara Sing like Ramta or other songs. There's it they're talking about how you know, like Giddeyan Irani Fashionaj Ruligi, like the queen of Gidda, Punjabi folk dance, folk dance got um confused and um Rulgi, like uh I don't know how to translate Rulgi. She got like confused and lost and kind of undone by fashion. Um, and now she listens to Angrezi Irani, she listens to English music. So there's there's this like you know uh need of and I don't think this is like particularly pertaining to Ridasman or Gilji, you know, in their in their rightfulness of being legends and all that. But these songs and as a culture in general, where culture is being put onto the you know, the responsibility of women, when they say things like there's no one wearing traditional dresses anymore, traditional embroidery anymore. There's no one wearing traditional earrings or jewelry, like then they go on to say this Reshmi Du Pate Dore Jalia Vigenia. So they're talking about how women's dresses are leaving, and throughout this song, we do not hear the same about men. We do hear a little bit, right? But it's just it's just the genre of the song, and I don't want to say that that's a cop-out, but it is it is something that I want to notice about Jugni being, you know, a woman, but also being seen as like this person that is changing things for people, that people are, you know, as a symbol of that, but also at the same time, Jugni is almost like a cry for help. Jugni is looking to the world as like what is going on in the world. Let's get into the diaspora version of this. So when we talk about Jugni in the diaspora, let's think about how Jugney's been across the world. And now, through the process of a culturalation and assimilation, we find Jugni in the club on the dance floor? What is that about? So Bikram saying, I just played a song by him, and in the club, Jugney is in the fam with us. So there's a qualifying kind of signifier

Films, Diaspora Jugni, And Identity Tensions

SPEAKER_01 36:05

of like Americann-ness happening as Punjabi lyrics and beats kind of like are in there, but there's also the song is literally called American Jugni, talking about the duality of Jugni existing in America. And so it's it's quite interesting, and it's like this um, you know, there is this like idea that it's like defiant club clubgoers are defying patriarchal repression and going beyond their roots as they search for their routes to negotiate their identities, both ethnic and gendered, all of these beautiful things again. Shout out to Guitangeli Chavola for this amazing kind of like this this academic work that I can lean on, right? So, shout out to you, Dr. Javala, for this. But talking about cultural resistance, so there's a stereotypical, submissive, passive, conformist South Asian female that is transported to a fiercely rebellious and independent entity who is, you know, going into kalamand, you know, doing all these fun things. But even beyond that, there is like we see how Jugni travels. So this is like Jugni going to America, right? So there's another one where Jugni is going to Canadian, Canadian Jugni. And it is describing the journey of a young girl from Punjab who has no choice but to marry an old man in Canada in order to facilitate her family's migration to Canada.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

So in this song, they have Jugni Jana Jandi Keneda, Mapyo Doka Karke, Mapio Doka Karke Eda, Onu Lab Ke Ik Jaleda Ta Ke Nal Doli Padeti, Jugni Buddenal Vyadati.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

So what I just said in Punjabi, I know I'm doing a lot of translation today, but I do that a lot because I am with someone who doesn't speak Punjabi. But Jugni goes to Canada. She really wants to go to Canada, but her parents, her parents don't got her back, man. They found her, they found her an old man, man, and Jugni is off. So that is that is one of the experiences. But there's another jugni. So we have Jugni coming out in 2012, another Canadian Jugni, is about the changes of a modern jugni who is it's a it's a rap. So I'll play this up next. But she's clearing her eyelets exam to reach Canada. Jugni te nava rang hat charia. So she's, you know, she's got this new excitement, she's got this new color about her. Enu foreign da sapleria. So she's she's been bit by the snake of going abroad, of going to the foreign countries. An eyelet's test clear hackarea. So she's cleared her eyelets test. If you don't know what eyelets is, honestly, your life is is different from mine. So look it up. So she, you know, she left all of her sharp all of her all of her all of that stuff back there. She is in, you know, in Canada, and she is got the trip, got the plane from Dili, and she's on her way. And then and then we have another jugni in England. So we have Alam Lohar talking about England, the Jugni. She does not forget her homeland and become westernized, but she has acquired mastery over another language. So a lot of it's interesting. How much can you talk about learning languages? But Jugni, this one, this Jugni also speaks English. And she's not concerned with anyone except herself, and now is able to open a bottle of beer with her teeth. Blonde hair tattooed, and this new age jugney has immersed herself into the dominant culture in order to assimilate. But according to the singers, she is self-obsessed and has literally no sense left, not worth a penny. Hmm, how do we feel about that? Huh? Not great. I don't love it. I think you should be able to do these things and still be like, yo, I'm a jugny. I am still I am a person who can exist in both worlds. And this is how this is when I was talking about in the last part where I was like, hey, are they hating on Jugni? Are they making Jugni be a woman hater? I don't want this. But this all comes back to that feeling of a migrant's journey, the sense of being rootless, the sense of living between worlds. Um, and as Ian Chambers says, uh, between a lost past and a non-integrated present. And it is perhaps the most fitting metaphor of our postmodern condition. And maybe jugni is a very apt metaphor for our modern condition. So this is, you know, being it in America, Canada, the UK, there's even an example in in New Zealand. Jugni in the diaspora reinforces dominant representations of immigrants caught between this utopian past and a utopian future that they were chasing that is now an uncertain future. So there's a space where migrants are redefining themselves, where there's local identities, global identities all converging, and they are now, you know, unpacking and unfolding what it means to have this feeling of losing a culture through Jungni. Jugni is also a sense of grief. Jugni is unpacking this grief. And through this, we see how she has trav traversed the global space, right? She's gone from India, she's gone to the UK, she's gone to Canada. And in this, and in the world where we, you know, where I'm able to talk to you on this mic and reach you through the airwaves and reach

Why Jugni Still Matters And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 41:50

you if you're listening to this on Spotify or Apple, you're able to like listen to this from wherever you are in the world. Jugni is this metaphor that travels with you. She's not fixed, she's not stagnant. She is, she is like, she's everywhere. She is that part of like tongue-in-cheek kind of understanding of the world. And I think that Jugni being this like voice of satire and a gaze that pierces through the all the other stuff is is really valuable. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this analysis of Jugni. This journey we went through from fake news to finding myself. Wow, that could be that's my memoir, y'all. From fake news to finding myself. Wow. Someone get right. Someone get ratten on that. Write that down, write that down. That's all I have to say. I hope you have a great weekend. This is DJ Rara Ravia signing out for this evening.