From a mason to popular Punjabi short story writer, Deep Davinder has come a long way

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 25

From arranging bricks to constructing a wall to weave words to make sentences, Deep Davinder Singh has carved a niche in both the fields.

He is considered an authority in short story writing in Punjabi literature. Similarly, his mastery over masonry skills helped him become a reputed contractor in the city.

Starting his career as a mason, Deep Davinder Singh has carved a niche in Punjabi literature as a story teller of contemporary society, apart from becoming a contractor.

After appearing in the matriculation examination in 1981, he joined his father to learn masonry. He used to earn Rs 10 per day as wage, when the daily emolument of a mason used to be Rs 20 per day. It took him about five years to learn the nuances of the trade. The civil work of a building like foundation, flooring, brick wall, pillars, elevation and finishing has been done by him manually.

In-depth understanding of his profession helped him become a contractor. Now, he provides livelihood to scores of families.

Meanwhile, his family encouraged the culture of reading as his father Ajit Singh was himself an avid reader of Punjabi novels. Availability of these books drove him to study these apart from his course books at a very young age.

Writing letters for his unlettered mother Jaswant Kaur and for her brother Avtar Singh in Canada laid the foundation to write the words sequentially and form sentences.

His cousin, a Punjabi novelist and story writer Talwinder Singh, gradually drew him towards story writing. He chiselled his story writing skills.

Born in Kotli Dhole Shah village on Amritsar Batala road, which is about 25 km from the city, he used to travel on a bicycle and bus to reach the work site here. It used to stretch the working hours from 6:30 am to 8:30 pm at night. During the days of terrorism, his family shifted to the city.

His first short story book, “Dhup Chaa Te Rukh””contains a collection of 10 stories. It contains stories on caste-based discrimination in Punjabi rural society, dealing with the lives of children whose parents had undergone the ordeal of Partition, addiction, farmers going landless, falling water table, trouble and tribulation of families whose youth go out to foreign shores in search of greener pastures. His other book “Tirkaal Sandhya”, which contains eight stories, will hit the stands soon.

It narrates the troubles of generation gap. It shows how generation of grandparents has the ability to bridge the gap between parents and their children in the digital age.

His grouse is that contemporary story writers are using difficult sentence construction. Instead of attracting more and new readers, it is alienating them. He feels that readers associate with those writings that they find easy to read and understand. 

His endeavour is also to write those Punjabi words which are rapidly vanishing from the daily exchange of people. 

Famous Punjabi literary magazines, ‘Hun’, publishes from Mohalli, ‘Filhal’, publishes from Chandigarh, ‘Shabad’, publishes from Jalandhar, ‘Ekam’, publishes from Amritsar, ‘Chirag’, publishes from Hoshiarpur and ‘Aks’, which publishes from Delhi, regularly carry his stories. 

He takes part in state-level literary programmes and addresses gatherings on Punjabi language, culture and lifestyle. His sincere views are keenly followed. 

He is the vice-president of Punjabi writers’ famous organisation, Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha (KPLS). The KPLS has made him in charge of its Majha zone, which has four districts, namely, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur, besides Amritsar. 

He arranges seminars and debates on  contemporary issues, new literary arrivals, poetry, novels, stories for the KPLS in these districts. 

About the mismatch in his occupation and hobby, he said the former provide him narratives to write about. 

His writings are known for brevity which perhaps he gained from his occupation, he said. 

His dedication to literary words reflected positively on his family as his daughter Sukhpal Kaur is teaching economics at a college in adjoining Tarn Taran. His son Sarbjot Singh is doing civil engineering.

Inspired by cousin

His cousin, a Punjabi novelist and story writer Talwinder Singh, gradually drew him towards story writing. His first short story book, 'Dhup Chaa Te Rukh' contains stories on caste-based discrimination in Punjabi rural society, dealing with the lives of children whose parents had undergone the ordeal of Partition, addiction, farmers going landless, falling water table, trouble and tribulation of families whose youth go out to foreign shores in search of greener pastures..