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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Punjab insurgency drowned out Shiv Kumar Batalvi for years—until Bollywood brought him back

Like Keats, Byron, and Shelley, Shiv Kumar Batalvi died young— before insurgency had shaken Punjab to its roots.

From the mid to the late seventies of the last century, when Jalandhar was still called Jullundur, and before the turmoil in Punjab grounded all youth festivals and cultural activities, his melancholic songs were on everyone’s lips in college and university programmes.

Jagjit Singh gave voice to his iconic poems: Main Kandyali Thor Ve (I am a thorny cactus); Ghamaan Di Raat Lammi Ae (The night of sorrows is long); Eh Mera Geet Kise Na Gaana (No one shall sing these songs of mine); Maye Ni Maye (Oh mother, mother dear); Mainu Tera Shabab Le Baitha (Your beautiful youth has been my undoing); Main Ik Shikra Yaar Banaya (I made an untamed hawk my beloved); Yarian, Rab Kar Ke (May such friendships be blessed by the Lord); Rog Ban Ke Reh Gaya (It remains a sad malady); and Raat Gayi Kar Tara Tara (The night is gone, but some stars are still seen on the firmament). We heard them on audio cassettes played on then-ubiquitous tape recorders, as well as on All India Radio (AIR), for Doordarshan had still not reached every household.

However, the mass-circulation Hindi press—Punjab Kesari and Veer Pratap—ignored Shiv Kumar Batalvi because he wrote in Punjabi, while Punjabi papers such as Ajeet and Akali Patrika were not very comfortable with his Bohemian lifestyle, especially his public image with a cigarette in hand, which went against orthodox Sikh tradition. I am not aware of whether the Urdu press in Jalandhar or Lahore covered him—probably not. The Tribune, the only English newspaper from Chandigarh, was........

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