Latest news with #Batalvi
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Batalvi lives in verse, but not in memorials
Chandigarh: "Eh mera geet, kise na gana. Eh mera geet, main aape gaake, bhalke mar jana (This song of mine, no one will sing it. This song of mine, I will sing it myself, and by tomorrow, I shall be gone). " Shiv Kumar Batalvi wrote these lines, maybe in a moment of prophetic defiance that no one else would sing his song, and that he alone would carry its pain to the grave. Decades later, these words feel eerily true. Not because his poetry faded, it didn't. His verses echo across oceans, in Bollywood tracks and across social media. But in the very institutions where his journey began, Baring Union Christian College in his hometown Batala and Sikh National College in Qadian, there is silence. No bust, no plaque, no literary corner. If he would have been alive, Batalvi would have turned 89 on Wednesday. The youngest recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Batalvi completed his matriculation in 1953 and enrolled in Baring College but soon left, joining Sikh National College. He dropped out midway through his second year to join engineering in Himachal Pradesh, which also, he left. Yet even those brief years shaped his early journey. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Top 15 Most Beautiful Women in the World Undo "There's so much curiosity about him. People come from abroad, even researchers from other Indian states just to ask about his life, his home, his voice," said his nephew Rajiv Batalvi, 58, who still lives in the family house in Batala. "But in the places where he once studied, spent his formative years, there's no sign he was ever there. It's like no one thought he was worth remembering." At Baring College, principal Ashwani Kansra said the lack of recognition may have been a case of the world catching up too late. "The beauty and depth of his work weren't celebrated in his lifetime the way they are today. It took Bollywood, singers, and now social media to bring his poetry to the mainstream," Kansra said. While he admitted that the college hasn't yet taken any steps to formally commemorate Batalvi, he added: "There is a growing sense of pride among students and faculty that such a voice once passed through this campus. If the moment feels right in the future, the college may explore a way to acknowledge that connection." Sikh National College, Qadian, where Batalvi made the switch from Batala, has a similar absence. Principal Dr Harpreet Singh Hundal said Batalvi's name is one that carries immense literary weight. "His work is deeply respected by everyone. While our college hasn't marked legacies in a physical way, his presence is still there in what we teach," Hundal said. "We follow Sikh principles and do not create personal memorials or remembrances. That is why we haven't named anything after anyone, not even Balbir Singh Senior, the legendary hockey player who studied at our college when it was still in Lahore," said Col Jasmer Singh Bala (retd), honorary secretary of the Sikh Educational Society, which runs Sikh National College, Qadian. "However, we are planning to introduce a poetry competition in Shiv Kumar Batalvi's name. " And yet, for those who walk the same corridors as Batalvi once did, the erasure feels stark. No sign, no story, no shared memory. Just his words, growing louder in their absence. Still, a formal event is scheduled tomorrow in Batala, to "commemorate" Batalvi's legacy at the auditorium named after him. Rajiv Batalvi said he received a call from the state government inviting him to attend. The Shiv Kumar Batalvi Auditorium itself tells the same story- its foundation stone was laid back in 1980 by the then Punjab Governor, but the building remained unopened for nearly three decades, only becoming functional in 2016. "It's not unusual," Rajiv said. "With Shiv, recognition has always arrived late, and mostly on paper."
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Long before ‘Heeramandi', Batalvi gave the world ‘Loona'
Chandigarh: At a time when web series like Heeramandi, Made in Heaven, and Saas Bahu aur Flamingo are making headlines for centering rebellious, complex women, one Punjabi poet had already done it, nearly 60 years ago. On the birth anniversary of Shiv Kumar Batalvi, it's worth revisiting Loona, the epic verse play that earned him the Sahitya Akademi Award at just 31, youngest till now, and challenged the way generations viewed women in folklore. Loona is based on the Punjabi legend of Puran Bhagat, a prince turned saint. In the traditional telling, Loona is a young stepmother who tries to seduce Puran, and when he refuses, she falsely accuses him of misconduct. The king, her husband and Puran's father, has him exiled and mutilated. Loona has, for generations, remained the archetype of an immoral woman, a scheming seductress. But Batalvi flipped the narrative. In his telling, Loona is not a villain but a victim — a young girl married off to an ageing king Salwan, living a life she never chose. Her attraction to Puran is not sin but yearning. Her rage is not evil but trauma. Rather than glorify her, Batalvi indicts the society that condemned her for feeling, for desiring, for speaking. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 30 Beautiful women who lived 80-100 years ago Undo Retired associate professor Manjit Kaur, who wrote a PhD thesis titled Puran, Loona and the Psychology of Punjab, calls Loona a rare example in Punjabi literature where a woman's desire itself becomes an act of protest. "Puran protests by renouncing the world and turning to yog. But Loona protests by refusing to silence her longing," Kaur said. "In Punjabi society, we often see the spiritual man as a rebel, but a desiring woman is called immoral. Shiv turned that upside down." According to her, Loona challenged the psychological and cultural frameworks of Punjab long before such themes entered mainstream writing or cinema. The idea that a woman could want something, or someone, and not be punished for it was radical in 1965. Today, it's become the emotional and political core of many popular shows and films. In Heeramandi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali presents courtesans as women with agency, navigating patriarchy with their own power. Made in Heaven peels back the layers of modern Indian weddings to expose how women are still expected to conform, sacrifice, or stay silent. Saas Bahu aur Flamingo breaks the mold of the "ideal woman" altogether.
