The Writing Challenge

Yesterday, I wrote. And with a twist. I wrote a few lines in my mother tongue Punjabi. It has been years since I picked my pen to write the language that has shaped my subconscious. This was in response to my blogger friend Jithin’s challenge to write something in our mother tongue on World Handwriting day.

Poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi

I wrote the first few lines of a beautiful poem by the noted Punjabi Poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi (1936-1973), well known for his romantic poetry full of passion and pathos. He was the youngest recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award in 1967. Batalvi’s poetry lives on in every Punjabi’s mind. I remember seeing his works among my father’s books. My mother often hummed his poetry. His verses have been immortalised by many Punjabi singers- Hans Raj Hans, Rabbi Shergill, Mahendra Kapoor, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Jagjit Singh-Chitra Singh, Surinder Kaur, Asa Singh Mastana…

Here is a rough English translation of this poem.

Ek Kudi Jehda Naam Mohabbat

A girl whose name is LOVE, is lost, is lost, is lost………
simple, beautiful, she is lost…..An angel by face, like Mary by virtue,
flowers blossom when she laughs, seems a poem when she walks….
tall like cypress, age barely alight…
yet she understands the language of a glance, she is lost…
its been ages since she is lost, yet it feels yesterday…
feels like today, feels like now…
she was standing beside me just now, now she is beside me no more…
what this deception is, what trickery, my mind is amazed….
A girl whose name is LOVE, is lost, is lost, is lost………

Thanks to the reminder, I am now tempted to explore his poetry. The next time I go home, I shall pick ‘Luna’ and ‘Mainu Vida Karo’.

P.S. So much so for my enthusiasm, here is the correction made on my script by my husband.

Correction!