Finally, DLitt for 95-year-old author

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7

Defying age, Isher Singh Sobti has been conferred with the honorary Doctor of Literature (DLitt) at the age of 95. He received the degree from the World Academy of Arts and Culture during the World Congress of Poets held in Hualien, Taiwan, last month.

Sobti, who belonged to an affluent family in Sindh (Pakistan) owned 2,000 acre land, but had nothing when he came to India due to the Partition. Due to this, he could not complete his ‘Gyani’ in Punjabi as well. He said: “We had to start life from scratch. I worked as a truck driver, ran a flour mill.” He later multiplied the little piece of land he was allotted in Rajasthan and later migrated to Ladhowal area in Ludhiana, where he continued to work later as a farmer.

“I was passionate about writing from my childhood and had even written books, including a novel ‘Anokhe Phull’, which I could not bring here. Then I could not pursue my passion due to struggle to make both ends meet after Partition. I could not take the time out for writing for 40 years,” he said.

It was in 1989, that he came up with his book of stories titled ‘Neki’— his first book in India. Since then, he has written several books, including Purab Te Pachham (East and West); descriptive books, including Sachi Kahani Batware Di (True Story of Partition), Kiven Marna (How to Die) and Aman (Peace). His books on religion include ‘Panj Phul’ (Five Flowers) and ‘Tinn Mahan Shatabdiyan’ (Three Great Centuries).

He received a state award for poetry in 2006 for his book Khyalan De Vehan (Flow of Thoughts) in Punjabi. He said it was during World Book Fair in Delhi, that an organization sent his book ‘Death Demystified’ to World Academy of Arts and Culture.

“In that book, I have written about death and how it has been perceived by different religions and also about the experiences of three different persons who claim to have returned from death. Their experiences were uncannily similar and say they all had to go through a tunnel,” he said.

After that book, the academy sought more of my books before conferring D Litt on me on November 5.

He has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Punjabi University in 2012 and a state award for his contribution to literature in 2006, he said.

He made sure that all his sons were well educated. His eldest son Dr Satinder Singh is a doctor, Bharat Bir Singh Sobti, is a senior advocate general of Punjab, while Prabhjeet Sobti is a solicitor in England.

His grandson, Maninder Sobti, said even now his grandfather does extensive research while writing. “He cannot use the internet, but he reads extensively and even now visits libraries,” he said.

“He has a view about everything and remembers history, the Indian rulers, British rulers, Prime Ministers chronologically and remembers Sikh history vividly,” he said.

The pen has not stopped for the nonagenarian, as he is writing an autobiography now.