Balwant Gargi dead
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22

Renowned Punjabi dramatist and short story writer, Balwant Gargi, was cremated here today. He died in Mumbai last night after prolonged illness. He was 87. He left behind his son and daughter.

The body of the Sahitya Akademi winning writer was brought to the Capital this afternoon and a large number of persons from cultural and literary field paid their last respect.

Born in Bathinda, Balwant Gargi completed his Masters from FC College in Lahore. Following Partition, he moved to Delhi.

He wrote several plays, including “Nangi Dhup” (an autobiography), “Loha Kutt”, “Husin Chehere Kesro”, “Kanak Balli”, “Soni Mahiwal”, “Sultan Razia”, “Soukan,” “Mirza Sahiba” and “Dhooni di Agg” and short stories “Mircha Wala Sadh”, “Pattan di Berhi” and “Kuari Disi”.

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award, the highest literary award, in 1962 for his play “Rang Manch”.

Balwant Gargi taught for two years at the University of Washington and directed several plays. 

‘No mourning on my death, please’
It’s curtains for the theatre mughal from Bathinda
Baljit Parmar

Balwant Gargi“THERE should be no mourning and breast-beating at my death.

A family get-together to be organised to meet at a dinner to mark the occasion.

The ashes of my body should be immersed in the waters of the Sirhind Canal of Bathinda, my native place, where I played on the golden sands in my childhood”— Balwant Gargi, September 17, 1997.

As Manu, son of the doyen of Punjabi literature Balwant Gargi, hands me a typed piece of paper containing the above four lines in the drawingroom of his sixth floor flat at the posh Versova locality of Mumbai, the 87-year-old writer lay sprawled on a mattress in the next room as if in a deep sleep.

“Yes, he is in deep sleep. Please do not disturb him,” pleads Manu Gargi. His sincerity and unbound love for his bed-ridden father reminds me of another celebrity son of a celebrity father and my neighbour at Juhu, Amitabh Bachchan. Here I have no hesitation to say that as far as the traditional father-son relationship goes in this country, Manu is much more down to earth guy than his American upbringing would have us believe the other way.

Now, one may wonder what Balwant Gargi was doing in Mumbai instead of Delhi where he spent almost half his lifetime rubbing shoulders with reputed writers, poets, and painters and thinking politicians like I K Gujral. Gargi suffered a massive stroke in 1999 while in Delhi and was brought to Mumbai by Manu who had already established himself in Mumbai’s filmdom by then.

His old friends from Delhi and Punjab kept visiting him off and on but Gargi’s declining health restricted his vital movements with the disastrous Alzheimer’s disease taking its toll. He slowly suffered memory lapses and could hardly communicate with his near and dear ones. But all these years Gargi was able to sit, recline and sometimes even concentrate on some occasions like the one two years ago, when Bhapa Pritam Singh, Gulzar Singh Sandhu and others came from Delhi to honour him.

Accepting the award, Gargi, who was moved by the gesture of his friends, fumbled through a speech, most of which could be understood. During the last two years his condition was quite steady but last month it suddenly took a turn towards the worst. He was taken to specialist doctors who advised against putting him on artificial life-saving gadgets.

The doctors were of the view that going by Gargi’s frail body and health, the so-called life-saving devices would not provide any relief. “We may manage to prolong his life by a few days but the end is inevitable. As any treatment at this stage would only be painful for the patient, we have advised the family to let the gentleman die a less painful death”, said a doctor who visited the octegenarian writer on Easter Sunday (April 20, 2003).

As I look at Gargi, lying on the ground, still as a slab, with his eyes shut and mouth half open, I journey back to the late sixties when impressed by the high talents of Balwant Gargi, the then Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Suraj Bhan created a special post of Professor and Director for the theatre genius and thus was established the Department of Indian Theatre on the campus.

I still remember Gargi taking rounds of the sprawling campus in his open top red coloured Standard car with his American wife next to him and two bubbly kids — Manu and Jannat — lolling in the back seat. As a youngster and pretty newcomer to the world of literature, I was simply awe struck with the sheer intense personality of the writer who gave us plays like Loha Kutt, Kesro, Dhoonni Di Aag, Kanak Di Balli, Actress and Naked Triangle, among others, later on.

The first time I met him was, however, in the company of legendary poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi during the making of the light and song drama Gagan Mein Thaal and I still cherish the moment. My last visit to Gargi’s house in Chandigarh was in 1977 when I went to request him for Amrik Gill’s admission to his department and Gargi obliged readily.

Soon after, Gargi left Chandigarh to settle down in Delhi. While I came down to Mumbai, Amrik Gill went over to Delhi to do his stint at the National School of Drama and became Gargi’s constant companion for years. No wonder that a doting pupil was at the house of Gargi this morning lending a hand to the doting son of his Guru.

In 1981, I produced Gargi’s play Kesro, which was staged at Mumbai’s prestigious Shanmukhananda Hall with late Sanjeev Bhattacharya and Rama Vij in lead roles. Just before the play was to start we had a surprise visitor on the backstage. It was Gargi himself, with Amrik Gill in tow. I was in a shock. I had not taken Gargi’s permission to stage his play and feared that he might stop the show. I think Gargi read my inner thoughts and said smilingly that he had just come to watch the play. The entire cast felt blessed by the writer’s presence.

Now, looking at Gargi’s face I just felt that he was deeply engrossed in creating a new role, not for his cast, but one for himself. For a moment I thought that maybe he has already enacted his role and was just waiting for the curtain call.

Manu and his sister Jannat, who has just arrived from the US, are prepared for the worst. And behind the curtains Manu is preparing for all eventualities. According to him, Gargi will be taken to Delhi for his last rites, the city where he belonged.

Over to Delhi and Bathinda, as per Gargi’s last wish and will.

Balwant Gargi — prodigal son of Punjabi prose
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 22
As one flicks through the literary corpus that defines Balwant Gargi, one cannot help tracing the roots of his literary genius. The journey takes us back from the glamorous Western settings to the humble Punjab villages that find expression in Gargi’s most celebrated works, ‘Loha Kut’ and ‘Kuari Teesi’. No matter how close to controversy Gargi went due to the voyeuristic appeal of his works, his heart was rooted in the village. That is precisely why his son is bringing him back home to Punjab.

Day after tomorrow when Mannu Gargi heads for Bathinda to immerse the mortal remains of his father into the Sirhind Canal, many Gargi associates in the city will wish for one last rendezvous with the man who made Punjabi prose worthwhile. This occasion brings back memories of days when Balwant Gargi belonged to Chandigarh — a city which he immortalised through references in his controversial novel ‘The Naked Triangle’. With its unconventional charm, Chandigarh grew upon him and inspired him to create the Department of Indian Theatre at Panjab University. As he enriched the department which produced Anupam and Kiron Kher, among others, seeds of ‘The Naked Triangle’ were being sown in the PU campus.

Today when the prodigal son of Punjabi literature is no more, it is time to reconstruct his memory with the help of vignettes provided by some of his friends. Eminent writer Gulzar Singh Sandhu has memories of Gargi losing control of his memory. “I met him two years back when he was chosen for the Punjabi Sahit sabha, fellowship. As member of the Sabha I had arranged the function in which lyricist Gulzar honoured Gargi. He looked pale. His memory was failing him. It’s strange because he was the same man who would never forget that he had borrowed money. He would make a note of his debts and clear them off sooner than later. He was also very rural at heart.”

As a writer, Gargi is unequivocally praised for three works — novels ‘Loha Kut’ and ‘Kuari Teesi’ and ‘Sharbat de Ghutt’ — a work in which Gargi has profiled people who influenced him. So Shiv Kumar Batalvi is ‘kaudiyaan wala sapp’ and Ajit Kaur is ‘kadhni’. Prof Mohan Maharishi, former Director, National School of Drama (NSD) and Department of Indian Theatre, PU, remembers Gargi as a cordial man and an excellent theatre person. “I met him at the NSD. He used to photograph Ebraham Alkazi’s productions. After Gargi saw my performance in Andha Yug, he called me to Chandigarh where he had founded the theatre department which I later joined as Director. I particularly remember Gargi’s play ‘Sultana Razia’ which Alkazi had directed. His Punjabi prose remains unparalleled. There is no such example in the realm of Punjabi drama. Gargi’s work was greatly inspired by Elia Kazan, a world famous American film director.”

Playwright Dr Harcharan Singh recalls the warmth of Gargi. “He was intelligent and dynamic. With his demise an era in Punjabi literature has ended. His literary contributions are indubitably the best, especially ‘Loha Kutt’, ‘Kanak di Balli’, ‘Kesro’ and ‘Dhuni di Aggan’. His work ‘Sohni Mahiwal’ was even staged in Moscow. The book, ‘Theatre in India’, published in 1962, fetched him the Sahitya Akademi Award. His documentary ‘Jatra’ fetched him the International Film Festival Award. What more can you ask of an artiste?

Rani Balbir Kaur’s association with Gargi dates back to days at the PU campus. “He gave the theatre department a firm footing. I am proud that I was among the first ones to be taught by him,” she says.

Even in his death, Gargi has entered another lifespan. He will be remembered in many shades — as a prodigal son of Punjabi prose and as a man who spared no one, including himself, when it came to baring raw feelings, born of unbridled emotion. Quoting Gargi: “I do not record happenings in my books, because I’m not a historian but a writer. In my books, I build up the experience that I’ve lived or have seen around. Writing a book, for me, is like erecting a rhythm of speech and that is it.”

Residents want memorial to Gargi
Say he has done Bathinda proud
Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 23
When Balwant Singh was born in a house in the Neeta Mal street, near the 1800-year-old historical Gobind Fort, little did his kin and neighbourers know that one day the kid, who was the second son in the family of Shiv Chand, a Head Clerk in the Irrigation Department, would create history.

Balwant Gargi, who had his primary education at Government Rajindra School, located in the heart of the city and being run by Patiala state, went to Multan after his father was transferred there, and did his matriculation there. After that he jointed the FA course at Patiala.

Residents of the city, who came in contact with him during his school, college and post-college days, said Bathinda had lost the pole star and a craftsman of stories on human relations who brought fame to Bathinda in the world of literature.

“Balwant was born out of his play ‘Kakka Reta’ (sand of desert) in which he portrayed human conditions in context with life in deserts. His ashes will be immersed in the Bathinda branch of the Sirhind canal as per his wishes. This reflects how Gargi was devoted to his roots in deserts and his unending love for his birthplace”, said Mr Deewan Chand, a former president of local municipal council, who enjoyed some sittings with Gargi “over drinks” about 30 years ago.

Gargi, who walked on unpaved streets to reach his school, located about half a mile away from his house, with an ink pot and a satchel, entered the hearts of Punjabis through literature, said Mr Kewal Krishan Garg, the only surviving brother of Gargi.

Mr Kapilash Garg, a cotton merchant, who resides in the house opposite that of Gargi’s, said though he had never seen Gargi, yet he always felt proud of the fact that he was a neighbourer of a legend in the world of Punjabi literature.

Meeta MohanMrs Meeta Mohan, a niece of Gargi, while showing a photograph of Gargi clicked at her marriage, said the last time she had met Gargi was in Mumbai in 1999. “Tauji (elder parental uncle) gave me love by holding my hand despite his failing health and asked about the well-being of others. Tauji’s last visit to Bathinda was in 1990,” she said.

Mr Banarasi Dass Goyal, an educationist, who knew Gargi since his childhood days, said he had never imagined that Gargi would make Bathinda and the entire Malwa region proud through Punjabi literature.

Meanwhile, residents of the city are waiting for the ashes of the doyen of Punjabi literature to pay their tributes to him. They have demanded that the Punjab Government should set up a memorial to Gargi at his ancestral house.

Writers pay tributes to Gargi
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, April 23
“Balwant Gargi’s demise has left a great void in Punjabi drama and is an irreparable loss” feel Punjabi writers of Ludhiana. Prof J.B.S. Nanda, former head of Punjabi department, Government College for Boys, said, “Balwant Gargi was the man who took the Punjabi drama to international level. His plays were staged in Russia and the USA. He used to come and stage plays in the college when we were students. He was very friendly and would sit with us and watch rehearsals of his play and offer his suggestions. He was the first Punjabi dramatist to write plays with revolutionary themes. He was a perfectionist and had perfected the techniques of stage craft. He was incomparable”.

Prof Nanda said a majority of people did not know that Balwant Gargi started writing in English. He showed his works to Rabinder Nath Tagore. He asked him to which state he belonged. When he told him that he was a Punjabi, he advised him to write in Punjabi if he wanted to become a great writer. So he started writing in Persian script as he did not know Punjabi. He was a creative writer but he was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award for his thesis on Indian theatre. He wrote very successfully sketches of writers besides short stories. Prof N.S. Tasneem, a literary stalwart said, “Balwant Gargi gave to Punjabi Drama its rural background. In his plays Loha Kut, Kesaro, and Kanak di Balli, he projected the theme of hardships of women of the land of five rivers. Apart from his plays, short stories, his novel, Kakka Reta too, has a place of its own in Punjabi fiction. Truly he was a great writer.”

Similar views were echoed by Ms Kuldip Kaur, former Principal and Professor of Punjabi. Prof M.S. Cheema, a Punjabi lecturer and writer says, “Balwant Gargi modernised Punjabi drama and gave it a new direction. He was master of stage craft. He put Punjabi Drama on higher pedestal in comparison with Western trends. He transformed the prose by enriching it with new subjects and also by treating them with new styles. He was a man other dramatist looked up to.”

The Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation organised a meeting to condole the death of Balwant Gargi, a renowned dramatist. Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal, chairman, and Mr Gurbhajan Gill, general secretary, said the Punjab theatre industry had suffered a major set back. Mr Gargi had also penned down many write-ups titled ‘Surme Wali Akh’, ‘Nim De Patte’, ‘Kaudian Wala Sap’ and Haseen Chehra’. A condolence meeting was also held at the PAU Sahit Sabha. 

Recalling Balwant Gargi’s visit

WHEN a prominent person goes from this world, he becomes the history of the land. The moments spent with him stand out like crags in the sea of time. One recalls the warm handshake with him and the cosiness of the cup of hot tea shared with him. It so happened when Balwant Gargi visited the city to deliver a lecture to the Rotarians at the Rotary Bhawan. In the beginning, while exchanging pleasantries with the members in the chamber, he appeared to be ill at ease.

I stepped forward and introduced myself to Balwant Gargi. We were meeting after a pretty long time. He at once recalled my earlier meetings with him in Shimla, Chandigarh and Patiala. Even in the fifties I had met him in Amritsar when he was with Prof. Mohan Singh at a meeting of Lok Likhari Sabha. At that time I had found him a man of few words. Even now he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. I tried to bring him out of his reverie by talking about his latest work. He listened to what I said with rapt attention, while a faint smile flickered on his lips. He warmed up in no time and then took keen notice of the other people around him.

So the Fellowship period was well spent in the company of Balwant Gargi over a cup of tea. In the lecture-hall he groped for a while for the subject of his talk. Then he settled down on his growth as a writer. The audience was spell-bound for more than an hour when the great dramatist traced his boyhood days in Bathinda, early youth in Lahore, youth in Delhi and manhood in USA and Chandigarh. The later years of his life were spent alternately in Delhi and Bombay. He spoke so well and so engagingly that the audience was a bit startled when he said, “I am now 75 years old.” He did not at all appear to be that old as he was quite jovial and spirited in his speech.

It is difficult to categorise him as a dramatist only as he was a good story-teller, a versatile delineator of pen-portraits of his contemporary writers and a renowned critic of Indian theatre. His novel ‘Kakka Reta’ (The golden sands) has a unique place in Punjabi fiction. He could start his career as a college lecturer after his M.A. in English at F.C. College, Lahore, but he preferred to be a free-lancer for a long time to come. Much later he taught Indian theatre at the University of Washington, from where he returned with his bride, Jeanie.

Later he established the Department of Indian Theatre at Panjab University, Chandigarh and produced memorable plays on the campus. His autobiography, The Purple Moonlight is read more like a novel than the account of his life. His loss to Punjabi literature cannot of course be recounted in words.

N.S. Tasneem

The importance of Balwant Gargi
Humra Quraishi

BALWANT Gargi’s death brought in memories of the days when he was residing here in a cottage just off the Kasturba Gandhi Marg. His semi-autobiography — The Naked Triangle — was still to be launched. Many a time, he told me bitterly about the two central characters in the book — his American wife and his Chandigarh-based lover Rani Balbir.

He’d also recount the details of his divorce that emotional chaos, the near-bankruptcy so much so that he couldn’t even pay his electricity and telephone bills. But then, his eyes would come alive as he’d say “Sardar sahib (Khushwant Singh) has helped me out financially during this entire period. That’s how I could manage to survive in New Delhi after I moved from Chandigarh...”

He would recollect each incident of his life with such intensity and passion that it would come across as a full-fledged story. After his novel became a hit, he got back into the circuit. His son Manu got a break in Bollywood in a Dev Anand film and he seemed less bitter. He shifted to Mumbai, fading away before the actual end.

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