Poet recalls his meetings with Amrita Pritam
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 10
As a part of its ongoing series of talks with aficionados of art, culture and heritage, the society of Virsa Vihar organised a talk with a poet, writer and historian Col Tilak Raj (retd) here this morning.
Col Tilak Raj recited a few couplets of his poetry to the audience, shared the copies of his ghazals and talked about the days of Partition and his tenure in the Army. But his talk, anchored by Virsa Vihar Society vice-president Maj Gen Balwinder Singh, largely remained confined to his meetings with the Punjabi poetess of all times – Amrita Pritam.
“My meetings with her started in 1991. I was 52 then and she was nearly 75. I was very fond of her poetry since my school days. During my Army tenure in Delhi, I tried to call her up and asked her for a meeting. I told her that I was commanding a unit in the national capital and that I wanted to meet her. She invited me the same evening to her place 25, Hauz Khas. I went there with my wife Anupama, who is also a poetess.
“We were taken to the first floor of the house as on the ground floor, her daughter and son were staying. We were given a very warm welcome. We had more than an hour long meeting during which we only discussed poetry and literature,” he recalled, adding that she even wrote a poetic piece ‘Khaki’ on Armymen, for whom she had great respect.
Col Tilak Raj, who resides at Urban Estate here, said, “Subsequently, we met almost every month till 1994. Once, I even went to wish on her birthday. I presented her a potted plant which had a beautiful, blooming flower. She really liked the gift.”
The octogenarian shared about his most memorable experience at Amrita Pritam’s place. “There I also used to meet Imroz. I requested him to design the cover of my upcoming poetry book for me. I told him about the subject of my poetry for that book. But he insisted that I should leave the draft with him which he would like to read before designed the cover. He read the draft fully and designed a beautiful cover using line art, which I still treasure,” he told the audience.
Sharing about his personal life, Col Tilak Raj said, “I have penned 165 ghazals, many of which have been sung by eminent singers. Everyone at my place is engaged in poetry writing, including my wife, my son Dr Rakesh Tilak Raj, who is a dermatologist by profession, and his wife Vijeta Bhardwaj.”
He even talked about his memories related to Partition. “I was eight then. We were in Sialkot. We returned to the Indian side on foot. I have a very tragic memory of my paternal uncle being killed in front of me during those painful days of bloodshed. Partition used to remain the much-talked-about topic with Amrita Pritam during my meetings.”
