Kanwaljit Kaur
The journey of life has not been easy
Pal Kaur was born in village Kahlon Majra Tehsil Rajpura. He was the sixth child of his parents. She used to walk to school with her two elder brothers even before they were of school age. When he was old enough to enter the first class, the teachers automatically admitted him. He studied till the third standard in the village and then his father came to Kharar as the Granthi of the Gurdwara. She joined ‘Akali Office School’ Kharar also known as Khalsa School. She passed the stipend examination in the fifth standard but her parents did not want to teach her beyond the fifth standard, they thought that the girl was too busy to read letters, what to do with further studies. But the stipend was only available if she continued her studies, so she was able to continue her studies. His parents returned to Rajpura. She passed 8th and 10th standard from Government High School (Girls) Rajpura. Paul’s older brother was associated with progressive thinkers during his youth. It was he who asked his father to get Paul admitted to Prep in MCM DAV College Sector 36 Chandigarh. The father could not avoid talking to his elder brother. After completing the prep, his father again withdrew Paul from studies as he could not pay his fees. Paul again received his B.A. Entered the first year and earned money for his fees by selling surfboards during the summer vacations, he learned to be self-reliant by working part-time. After this, Paul paid the fees for all his studies by generating resources himself. Such circumstances only gave him the courage to live on his own. He did M.A. Punjabi from Punjab University Chandigarh and PhD from Kurukshetra University. At the age of thirty, Pal Kaur started teaching as a Punjabi lecturer in SA Jain College, Ambala and retired as a professor from the same college after thirty years of service. Paul didn’t get anything easy in his life. He fought against the circumstances and achieved all these achievements with his determination and the struggle of life alone.
This year, Punjabi poetess Pal Kaur has received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her poetry collection Sun Gunwanta Sun Budhiwanta. She makes the ramifications of relationships that grow across thresholds the basis of her entire poetry. Pal Kaur is a saga of the struggle to establish oneself in the social realm as an independent human being, reflecting the patriarchal thinking of the home and family. Pal Kaur was a college teacher by profession and had to struggle on many fronts. The same bitter-sweet and bitter-sweet experiences formed the basis of Paul’s poetry.
His poetry collection ‘Sun Gunwanta Sun Budhiwanta’, honored by the Indian Sahitya Akademi, is a history book of Punjab. This is a poetic statement of the history of Punjab. He has composed it out of personal feeling. It is about the soul of the land of Punjab. The main theme of this poem is how Punjab became Punjab in the social and cultural context of Punjab. This historical poem depicts the history from the civilization of Adi inhabitants even before Harappa to the reign of Ranjit Singh. During the historical period of Punjab, there have been changes in society, religion, politics, religion and people’s way of thinking. The main axis of this poem is the ideologies born in the region of Punjab.
Pal Kaur took the name of the poetry collection ‘Sun Gunavanta Sun Budhivanta’ from Gorakhnath’s poem. The nomenclature of the period of the book is based on the prevailing ideology of the same period. Like Adi Lok, Adi Aarti, Jangam-Sangam, Uttaradi Nadaf in Sindh, Maro ve Jogi Maro, Thiu Pawahi Dabhu, Viche Haji Viche Gazi, God is not like Ranjhe, Four Pir Fourteen Khanawade, Panj-Aab, Degh Tegh War and From Sarbaloh to Lohgarh etc. The method of Kavio Watch and Mangalacharan has been adopted in the book. In this history, Pal Kaur has presented her work only in the Pradhan Chand of the Kal Khand of that time, thus different poetic verses are visible.
In ‘Suna Gunavanta Suna Budhivanta’, the philosophical principles of Buddha, Chanakya, Chandragupta, Socrates, Confucius are found while examining the times of Vedanta. The opening words of the book are:
Many years of fairs, Chhin Chhin Hoe Aarti.
Aarti is blooming from left to right.
Let the flowers flow anywhere, the soul will be blessed with aarti.
Mahashweta, Brahmi, Vani, Bija Garbha Hoe Aarti.
(etc.)
In the episode ‘Sindh Chi Uttardi Nadaf’, he writes about the early period of handicrafts and cloth making: Charkha ghukia te nadal nadaf chali, Kattana-Pinjana hoa easy sara. / The weavers of their hands, only the great whole could not be described. This whole world was shaking.
Check out some more poetic lines:
Dear Makkah with Khankah. / Thousands on the thrones of many diamonds. / As we meet at the intersections,
Various different ways.
Ral Bahinde Khankah. (God is not like Ranjhe)
By the way, tell me one thing.
Who was the idol worshiper, and the tall knocking song.
The East played the Sankh, the West echoed the Azan.
Idols were worshiped daily, taking a bath after freezing. (five-over)
Raza, poverty, Baba will sing.
Khivi Maa, langar behavior.
No longer running, tall claims.
All together, let’s come together. (Deg Teg Time)
Amarjit Konke has this to say about Pal Kaur’s collection of poems: “Shyra, addressing the Sufi and Buddhist sages of the entire Nath tradition of Punjab, derives the poetic expansion of her thought from this same heritage. For her historiography, the author does not divide the book by the period of time in the traditional way, but she starts building her poetry from the creation that emerged from the water in the ice age through the myths and legends of Punjab, from the historical myths and visions of Punjab. It traces the history of Punjab by going through the Vedas and Puranas.
Pal Kaur’s poetic journey began with ‘Khalawasi’ in 1986. In this book, there are feelings about the life journey of a girl living in a Punjabi patriarchal environment. Paul was the sixth daughter in the family. Like many daughters of Punjab, Pal’s arrival was not welcome in the family. Pal clashes with family and society. That is why the poetry of Paul’s first period is a poem of anger and revolt. The journey to this realization begins with ‘Khalawasi’.
I-/ Some time ago/ I was lying in my mother’s womb./ And when I was born/ I was standing in the kitchen by the hands of my grandmother,/ The hooves broke loose./ The dog that bounded by my father’s bed/ cut its ears. were knocked
And then my grandmother-/ had given me, instead of honey,/ blue-thotha chatta./ But I did not die-/ perhaps because,/ that Guhti was given not to die,/ to be smoked./ Now, my limb is blue,/ And I am weeping, line by line, to the death that I have met in my womb. (autobiography)
It was the first poetry collection ‘Khalawasi’ that established Paul as a poet in literary circles. Pal had started printing in ‘Nagamani’ since 1980. Paul remained in close contact with Amrita and received warm patronage. On Amrita’s birth centenary, Paul wrote ‘Woman in Kathare: Amrita de Ang Sang’ as a tribute to her. In the year 1993, the third book of poetry, ‘Sweekar After’ came out, then the bold poem ‘Khabbal’ attracted the attention of the readers:
I have heard that when I was born, seeing me, ‘someone’ turned his face/ and ‘someone’ turned his back. -/ I recognized the back,/ From that time I became accustomed to recognize the backs-/ And whenever my eyes filled with anger/ I wrote on those backs/ my sad words/ Which those backs/ could never read!
Paul’s literary creation has a long history. His works include the poetry collection Khalawasi-1986, Main Mukhatib Hain-1988, Akbar Naftar-1993, Inj Na Milen-1998, Barish Andre Ander-2005, Pingh-2007, Paon Taragi-2009, Now Nahi Mardi Nirmala-2019, Till now (Selected Poetry Anthology, Editor: Des Raj Kali-2019) included. Apart from this, Balde Khatan de Sirnave-1985, Paashan: Jhar Kavita nahi vahi-1989, Parinde Kalpana dan Desh de-2005 are included in the edited books. Besides her books Prageet Chintan (Criticism)-1999, Meera (Sketches of Lonely Women)-2007, Poems of Octavio Paz (Translation)-2014, Woman in Kathare: Amrita Pritam’s Ang-Sang-2019 are
In the role of Pal Kaur’s much-talked-about poetry collection ‘Haw Nahi Mardi Nirmala’, Desraj Kali has written, “Pal tells the politics of her poetry, she says political poetry. Paul says a lot of political poetry. In his poetry, love is politics/death is politics/girls are politics/mother is politics/grandmother is politics older than her. It is natural for him to become political. Those who say we are non-political, this is their politics. Paul never says that.
Pal Kaur creates a political discourse through ‘Now Nahi Mardi Nirmala’. In the poem ‘Ghadar’ of this collection Paul writes,
I was born in a small village-/ and as soon as I came to my senses, I put on the ropes-/ at every sigh of my mother, I breathed a long sigh-/ I questioned my father’s sanctity-/ in a way, it became I was a “Maoist”/ who, after every class,/ wanted to send me home,/ she thought that my deep letters,/ had spoiled my mind!/ My So, my questions spread,/ and I slowly became,/ “Urban Naxal”!/ Every questioner,/ with an alert head,/ with a hostile tone,/ is an “Urban Naxal”!
In the title poem of the poetry collection ‘Now Nahi Mardi Nirmala’, she writes about the empowerment of the working woman.
Nirmala also used to send the children to school in the morning…/ run away in the afternoon, when they come!/ to put a roof on the house,/ take a loan from a house,/ stand with her husband!/ and her husband sometimes sits down,/ comes outside and drinks !/ “You don’t go to ‘work’,/ those who go to work,/ all are bad!”/ Nirmala stands, insists, fights,/ comes back to work the next day!/ Tired She would come and say,/ ‘Ziyada Chambhalya then/ Aunty, I will take my room too!/ I will not roll my child/ I will not kill myself like this!’
Pal Kaur also writes about power being afraid of writing.
We have something to give you/ So the book!/ The book is the breath/ The book is the way!/ Adi-Jugadi—
—Words—/ Google-Shugal, Kindle-Shindel’s/ Maa Hai Kitab!/ Governments panic from ‘Tera Tera’…/ Explain the ‘Babarvani’ of books today!/ Big Hitlers are afraid of books!
Nirupma Dutt’s reaction to Pal Kaur getting the award was, ‘After a long wait, Paul got the rightful award, which was due to his literary work.’
When I asked Pal Kaur about the independent personality of today’s Punjabi woman in the 21st century, she said, “Women’s freedom has not been properly understood or explained. I say give us the right to make our own life decisions, that’s it! We need so much freedom. A woman should have right to her own education, choice of marriage partner and right to her own body. Nowadays, the so-called modern women are living in patriarchal power who have not understood the ramifications of patriarchal power. Feudal traditions are in both men and women. Conscious women, whether they are writers or social activists, are fighting for women’s human rights on their own. Amrita paved the way for women writers in the twentieth century.”
Woman’s struggle for human status is the power of woman. This has been the focal point of Paul’s works.
Wain Nadi Itarai, saw a dream
Many chains are cut, single string harp.
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