What is it with Punjabi Songs

that people, on listening to one, immediately raise both their hands and one leg in the air. See the two photos below taken from the Diwali Party at Amdocs. Notice the obvious difference? If not, better consult an optician.

The second one was when a Punjabi song was being played. Even the non-Indians did the same act! So, over the last few weeks, I researched lot of materials on the web and also spoke to Punjabis and non-punjabis about this strange phenomenon. I was surprised at the amount of information that turned up. So, here are the various theories and urban/rural legends that I came across from this investigation.

• Punjabis were the first Indians to use deodorants. The rest of India was still backward, as in, using natural substitutes like saffron, Thulasi etc. So, this meant that their underarm always had a bad odour.So, they couldn't raise their arms to dance. Whereas, the Punjabis, after using the deodorants, had nothing to fear and felt safe to raise both their arms.
• It is a known fact now that peeing, while your bladder is about to burst, is one of the best sensations one can experience. But this was documented only in the early 19th century.The Punjabis, even as early as 3rd century AD, had domesticated the dog and were the first to do so. They had noticed that their pets, while peeing, used to raise one of its legs. The Punjabis had seen the satisfaction on the faces of their pets after they had pee'd. But, they didn't know then , that this was because of the post-peeing satisfaction. They assumed that this pleasure was because of the fact that one leg was raised. So, they incorporated this into their traditional dances and hence it is, as we see now.
• The Punjabis as such are known to have a big bottom and are prone to falling backwards when they dance. So, they raise their hands to balance themselves and also lock their one leg with the other person's leg in the front to avoid falling backwards when they dance.
  

I am just done with my initial investigations and am still getting feedback from Punjabis around the world.Will post more logical reasons for this act as and when i get them.

Tags: Punjabi diwali amdocs Bhangra

Filed under: India