Nanak Singh’s son hurt by dip in Punjabi literature readership
ha Saini
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 4
Nanak Singh, a reformist and one of the most prolific writers, who gave Indian and Punjabi literature some of the most valuable gems, was remembered on his birth anniversary, that falls on July 4. The Sahitya Academy Award winner, who penned down the epic poetic novel Khooni Vaisakhi in 1920 as a critical piece of commentary on the bloody Jallianwala massacre by British troops in 1919 has immensely contributed to social reforms in the early 30s and 40s.
The District Library put up an exhibition of the literary works by Nanak Singh, including his most prominent novels like Chitta Lahu and Pavitra Paapi. Over 70 books, novels, poems and other literary works by the writer were displayed for generations of readers to get acquainted to the man behind those powerful works. “His writings were about things that ail our society, about our shortcomings as human beings, as community. The literature he wrote is relative to all times and the young generation of readers must get acquainted with Nanak Singh’s works,” said Dr Kulbir Singh Suri, younger son of the noted novelist and a writer himself. Suri, who is a children-literature author, has won Baal Sahitya Academy Award in 2014. “The exhibition of his books received tremendous response as it had old editions of his famous literary works that are not available otherwise. Also, a lot of young readers showed curiosity towards his works after his banned poem Khooni Vaisakhi got republished after 99 years again ,” he added.
Kulbir Singh also remembered his father as among the best selling novelists of his time. ‘As kids, we used to be amazed to see so many copies get published whenever any new work was penned down by bauji (his father). At that times, getting 1,000 copies published in one go was a big deal. Today, it’s tragic that the readership has declined significantly for Punjabi literature.”
He mentioned that the English translation of Khooni Vaisakhi by Nanak Singh’s grandson and Indian diplomat Navdeep Singh Suri got tremendous response world over but the Punjabi version, “The readers for Punjabi literature need to increase if valuable literature need to be saved from fading away into oblivion,” he said.
