Allar Ballar Bave Da: A Punjabi Folk Rhyme for Little Children

By Satbir Malhi

ਅੱਲੜ ਬੱਲੜ ਬਾਵੇ ਦਾ - Allar Ballar Bave Da - is the rhyme Punjabi mothers bounce a child to on their knees. Every Punjabi grandparent knows it. Most of their grandchildren, growing up far from Punjab, have never heard it.

This book gives it back to them, as a picture book. Papa brings the wheat home. Mumma sits and winnows it. One rupee is a bad one, so it buys a lota. The flour comes home on a bullock cart, Mumma cooks the mann, and Bava sits and eats. Then the moon-uncle, far away, cooks his pooras, breaks the gur, shares it out with everyone, and the stars come out for sleep.

Every page has three lines:
One in Punjabi, in Gurmukhi script.
One in English letters, so you can say it out loud even if you do not read Gurmukhi.
One in English, so you know what it means.

The chant repeats, so a small child starts saying the line with you before the page turns. Sit them on your shins, hold their hands, and bounce. That is how the words stay.

Twenty illustrated pages of a Punjab village: the charpai, the chulha, the chhajj, the bullock cart, the rangla jhoola, the pakkhi. Written for children who are growing up far from Punjab, and for the people who put them to sleep at night.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HK12T49G
• ISBN13: 9798174731202
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 26 Pages
• Weight: 0.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.5" x 8.5"