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A Cradle of Writers
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Date: 04/06/2006
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By Varinder Walia
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Amritsar has been a cradle of Urdu,
Punjabi, Hindi and English literature, particularly during pre-Partition days.
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Saadat Hasan Manto, one of the greatest
short story writers in Urdu, was born on May 11,
1912, in Amritsar. He had once written about
himself: "Saadat Hasan will die one day, but 'Manto' will never die."
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Manto belonged to a middle class Kashmiri
family of Amritsar. In January 1948, he moved to
Karachi, a metropolitan city of the newly-created
state of Pakistan. He virtually drank himself to death in 1954.
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Eleven years ago, Puran Singh Hunar, an
eminent Urdu poet, breathed his last in Amritsar
on July 3, 1995, at the age of 90. He had
composed his first ghazal in 1920, when he was
studying for his matriculation in Dyal Singh High School, Lahore.
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He was a rare symbol of the composite
culture of Punjab that flourished during
pre-Partition days. He had taken up the job of a
language teacher at a district board school in
Amritsar. He retired in 1962 with the record of a meritorious service.
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Shortly afterwards, the Languages
Department, Punjab, appointed him as an Urdu
teacher for the neo-literates in this language.
In 1982, he was honoured with the Shiromani
Sahitkar Purskar, which is the ultimate award
conferred by the Punjab Government on an eminent litterateur.
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One of India's best-known novelists and
short-story writers, Mulk Raj Anand, who died at
the age of 99, also belonged to the Holy City. He
was born in 1905 in Peshawar (now in Pakistan).
After his initial studies in Amritsar (Khalsa
College), he moved to England where he spent much
of his time in the next three decades. During
World War II, he worked as a freelance broadcaster with the BBC in London.
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Another recipient of the Shiromani Kavi
award is Parminderjit. He has been bringing out
the famous Punjabi literary magazine "Akkhar". He
began publishing and editing "Akkhar" from the
city in 1997, after having been associated with
another Punjabi literary magazine "Lo" for a decade.
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His literary career started with the
publication of his first book of poetry "Likhtum
Parminderjit". Although he has written only four
books "College Kitab" (1973), "Likhtum
Parminderjit" (1981), "Meri Marfat" (2000) and
"Bachpan, Ghar Te Main", he has created his own
place in the field of Punjabi poetry.
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His book "Meri Marfat" remained part of MA
(Punjabi), Part-II curriculum of Guru Nanak Dev
University for three years. Apart from this, he
has a special liking for editing and translating
books. These include "Kalma Ke Rishte" (1970),
comprising poetry of Indian and Pakistani poets,
"Bedian Te Badban" (1973), which he edited in
collaboration with Shaheryar, "Kavita Punjab",
"Shairiy 92" (1992) and "Dastak Te Sarnave".
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He was honoured with the Kalam Puraskar by
the Komantri Lekhak Manch. He has been given a
number of awards, including the Safdar Hashmi
Puraskar, Bawa Balwant Kavya Puraskar, Janwadi
Kavita Puraskar and Maulvi Gulam Rasul Yaadgari Puraskar.
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Dr K.S. Kang is yet another famous
literary person from Amritsar. He has done the
city proud, as he has been nominated for this
year's Shiromani Punjabi Lekhak Award by the Punjab government.
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Earlier, Dr Kang had been disappointed
with the state government for the omission of his
name from the list of awardees last year. He
thinks that he was denied the honour for long, as
he writes fearlessly - unmindful of those in power.
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The 70-year-old writer has enriched the
literature with 77 books, the latest being
"Punjabi Novel Te Novelkar". He founded two
genres of prose in Punjabi, including lyrical
essays and character-sketches. He is credited to
have written the first lyrical essays in Punjabi.
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His famous books are "Sahitya Chintan",
"Badlan De Rang", "Pathar Leekan" and "Sahitya
Meemansa". Dr Kang's literary journey began at a
comparatively young age. He began his literary
career at 16 by writing stories. Gradually, he
developed a taste for criticism. Just within a
short span of four years, he was a recognised
critic, thanks to his unbiased criticism.
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His writings portray the contemporary
history of the Holy City comprehensively and give
readers a peep into various facets of the city's
life. "Yadan De Panchhi" (autobiographical essay)
is an exquisite example of this. Dr Kang is a
widely travelled writer. He visited Germany,
Holland, Denmark, Luxemburg, Thailand, Singapore and Pakistan.
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The septuagenarian writer also writes in
English. His three books - "Principal Teja
Singh", "Bawa Balwant" and "Sujan Singh" - are
already available in the market. In his literary
career, he compiled Punjabi-English dictionary
and his 15 entries found a place in the
Encyclopaedia of the Indian Literature published
by the Sahitya Akademi. Various state and
national literary organisations honoured him for
his contribution to literature.
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The most prolific Punjabi poet of
Amritsar, who won the Shiromani Kavi award, is
Ajaib Singh Hundal, an advocate by profession.
His poems offer a veritable pageant of images
from mythology, history and contemporary life,
highlighting corruption in society, especially in
judiciary. His works have raised Punjabi literature to prominence.
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Compactness, simplicity, and perfection of
form have been the qualities in which Hundal
excelled from the outset. Exemplifying the best
kind of personal or even confessional poetry,
they achieve a universal appeal that is derived
from their artistic and emotional integrity. His
motifs are his own and they are the most original ones.
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He took a giant stride with
"Lafaz-Balafz", published in 1985. After Nanak
Singh, the great Punjabi novelist who was awarded
Sahit Akademi Award, Hundal is the first literary
figure from Amritsar who has had the honour to
receive Shiromani Poet Award by the Punjab
Language Department in 1995. Hundal is also the
recipient of S.S. Misha Award (1993), Takht Singh
Ghazal Award (2005), Kanwar Chohan Poetry Award (2005).
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He has authored 17 books and has had many
firsts to his credit. He is the first Punjabi
poet who has authored six well-acclaimed epic
poems. An epic poem "Lafaz-Balafz" is a unique
work of Hundal, portraying the "court culture" in
unique style. Another long poem of Hundal covers
vast period of Punjab, beginning from the period
of legendary Sikh leader Master Tara Singh to the
assassination of Indira Gandhi.
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His seminal works include a satire on
Waris Shah, a great Punjabi poet of eighteen
century who had authored "Heer Ranjha", based on
the traditional folk tale of Heer and her lover
Ranjha. The poem is written from a diametrically
opposite angle, disapproving the "love affairs" approved of by Waris Shah.
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Similarly, Hundal's poem "Apna Apna
Kurkshetra" has been written in a unique style,
giving a "modern interpretation" to mythological
characters. However, the 65-year-old poet has a
grouse. He says, no university has ever
prescribed his book in its syllabi since he never indulged in lobbying.
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Received via E-Mail
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