A poetic legend called Surjit Patar

NIRUPAMA DUTT

The Padma Shri to Punjabi poet Surjit Patar brings the spotlight once again on his verses that have stood witness to Punjab and its aspirations.

Surjit Patar, born on January 14, 1945, in Patar Kalan village near Kapurthala distict in Punjab and thus carrying with him the village with him, was the rebel poet of the Sixties: empathised as he did with the ultra-Left movement.

The red of the youth may have changed hues over the long years but his poetry, linked with the lyrical and classical traditions of Punjabi, has always mirrored the hopes and aspirations of his land and language.

The Padma Shri that follows the Sarasvati Samman and the Sahitya Akademi award are the many laurels his verses have won. Pleased at the latest honour, he however says in all humility: “The greatest honour is that my poetry should echo in the joys and sorrows of the people”.

Female foeticide, mass exodus by Punjabi youth to the West, onslaught of globalisation on the Punjabi language and culture as well as environmental degradation are some of contemporary concerns of the land that prominent Punjabi poet is voicing poignantly in his recent poems.

Speaking of his poetry in the context of Punjab, Surjit Patar said: " At least 50 per cent of my poetry is concerned with Punjab and the other 50 per cent can be called universal."

Patar said: "As a young poet I found it difficult to reconcile to the partition of Punjab and, thus, that became a subject of a number of poems."

It is well known that Patar, who is well entrenched in the poetic tradition of Punjab, has always been quick to respond to the disquiet of the land of the five rivers that he was born to.

"I was very young at the time of Partition, but later I was sorry to see that it had just become a land of two rivers and a half,” he added.

Patar's poetry written in empathy with the Naxalite movement in Punjab in the late '60s shot him up into recognition.

And later, his verses during the dark days of militancy were on the lips of every Punjabi. These included 'Kal Waris Shah nu wandea si, ajj Shiv Kumar di waari hai' and 'Lagi nazar Punjab nu'.

One of his recent poems dwells on the oppression of women in Punjab and makes a scathing comment on female foeticide: 'Aithe kukhan hoyian kach dian/ Aithe masan bachian bachdian/ Jo bachdian agg vich machdian.' (The wombs here are made of glass/ It is difficult for baby girls to survive/ And those who do are burnt alive).

The sorrow at people leaving the land in the race for dollars and pounds is voiced thus: 'Aithon kul parinde urh gaye/ Aithon megh aonde vi murh gaye'. (All the birds have flown away/ And the clouds too have dispersed).

The experience of immigration is one that Patar said he had felt deeply in childhood when his father went to Africa in search of a livelihood. "I was just two when he left and I saw him later when I was seven." Thus, this dichotomy of leaving one's land to earn a living figures in many of his poems.

Of late, Patar has also been addressing the problem of language in his poetry: "We have so many words for intervals of time in Punjabi like 'Amrit vela', 'Sargi', 'Laude vele,' but these have been swallowed by the one English word—'Time.' We no longer call our parents Ami and Bapu. They are now called Mummy and Papa."

Giving many examples, the poet recites an ironical line from his poem: "Mar rahi hai meri bhasha, By God!"

However, he hopes with a vision of a poet that things will change for the better in his Punjab one day.