Who Do You Think You Are ?

[Freed]

Gurfateh !

I was going through some old videos and found this - it's from the outstanding BBC TV geneaology show 'Who Do You Think You Are?' - where UK celebrities trace their families and ancestors.

In this episode Meera Syal - from 'Goodness Gracious Me' and 'The Kumars ....' traces her family roots - Her Mother is Sikh and her Father a Punjabi Hindu.

Her father's father was Tek Chand Syal a noted Journalist and Communist , Her Mother's father was Phuman Singh Uppal who took part in the Jaito Morcha.

The film is fascinating - whether you are interested in Sikh History, Punjabi History or punjabi Village history - it's all covered here.

Meera goes to her father's ancestral home in Lassara (Dist Jalandhar) - you see her inspect a 'Fard' or the records that show property rights in a village and she then goes to Hardwar to see the Ancestral Records kept there - you see the old 'Vehi' or roll of family records.

She also visits her mother's village Bassian (Dist Ludhiana) and visits Jaito Gurdwara . She then goes to Amritsar and finds records noting Phuman Singh's role in the Jaito Morcha in the Sikh Reference Library Amritsar. There is great archive footage and photographs and some really poignant pictures of the Shaheeds of the Morcha.

It's all great stuff - well worth a look

"Who Do You Think You Are ?" - first shown BBC 2 UK in 2004

Link :

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...57&hl=en-GB

Ranjit Singh 'Freed'