Lecturer with PhD on Vajpayee’s poetry

Vishal Joshi

The nation mourns the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. People from all walks of life and politicians across party lines have commended his contributions to nation building and the parliamentary system of government. For 47-year-old Hindi lecturer, Dr Pritam Singh, his demise is very disheartening, as he has lost all hopes of meeting his literary role model and the subject of his PhD research.

Pritam is posted at Government Senior Secondary School at Kanipla village in Kurukshetra. He did his PhD on Vajpayee’s poetry from Kumaun University, Nainital (Uttarakhand), under the guidance of Prof Manvendra Pathak in 2002.

Pritam’s academic research work on Vajpayee is stated to be the first in the country. He says that the enormous poetic capabilities of the late Prime Minister were overshadowed by his political personality.

He says his friend late Dr Suresh Dutt Mishra from RKSD College, Kaithal, had suggested to him to consider Vajpayee for my research work. “As I was looking for an offbeat subject for PhD, Vajpayee’s poetry impressed me. His mastery in various ‘rasas’ of Hindi poetry is inspiring,” he adds. 

“Poetry was in the genes of Vajpayee. His grandfather Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee and father Pandit Krishna Biharilal Vajpayee were poets. Prominent Hindi poet Shiv Mangal Singh ‘Suman’ was Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s teacher whereas Suman’s Hindi teacher was Krishna Bihari (Vajypayee’s father). The literary environ implanted passion for poetry in young Vajpayee’s mind,” he says. 

“I met several of members of Vajpayee’s family, friends and associates during the course of my research work. I managed to meet Vajpayee once but it was only an introductory meeting. After he quit public life in 2005, I unsuccessfully tried to meet him again. Now, his writings and speeches are valuable assets for me and his other fans,” he adds.

Vajpayee’s close associates say the late leader was a foodie but had simple tastes, says Pritam. “He was fond of Jujube fruit or ‘ber’ and ‘mungore’, a deep fried salty snacks prepared at his hometown Gwalior,” says Pritam.

In 1945, Vajpayee, then 21, enrolled himself in a Kanpur college to study law and his father was his hostel roommate. “His associates say that whenever Vajpayee’s father was late for the class, professors laughingly used to ask him where his father had disappeared. And when Vajpayee was late, his father was questioned about his son. Since they both faced an awkward situation, the college management shifted them to separate sections,” he adds.