Sukhjit: Writer who delved into labyrinths of human mind
Nonika Singh
“As is a tale, so is a life: Not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
– Seneca
Words such as these ring more true for writers, especially ones like Sahitya Akademi Award winner Sukhjit, who passed away on Monday at relatively young 62 after a brief illness. Hailing from Machhiwara, Sukhjit was that rare son of soil whose imagination touched great heights. Though not a prolific writer, whatever he wrote had merit and his short stories were no less than psychoanalysis of the society we are and he was a part of.
Indeed, when a writer’s book is titled ‘Hun Main Rape Enjoy Kardi Haan’, you would expect controversy to be his middle name. But he was best known for delving into labyrinths of human mind and was hailed as a serious writer in literary circles. On the rather provocative title… Well, he was not referring to rape as we understand it, but as an analogy and corrosion of the system that dehumanises both men and women. Rape for him was an exploitative tool, not of bodily lust but one that devoured the human soul.
It was only two years ago that he received the prestigious National Sahitya Akademi Award for his book ‘Main Ayanghosh Nahin’. The honour not only gladdened his heart, but also of other eminent literary figures.
Famous poet and cultural activist Gurbhajan Singh Gill remembers Sukhjit as a master storyteller who had a finger on the pulse of life. According to Gill, few writers have such a deep understanding of human ties and fewer still could write with such candour, yet so aesthetically.
The beauty of his nuanced writing also lay in his language. Guriqbal Singh, general secretary, Punjabi Sahit Akademi, Ludhiana, shares, “Such was his felicity that not a single word was ever out of context. Take away one word and the entire meaning would turn on its head.” His short stories emanated as much from his personal experiences as his deep understanding of Indian spiritual texts. If on one hand, he dared to speak against the deras with which he was closely associated, on the other he explored Indian mythology, too. In ‘Main Jaisa Hoon, Waisa Kyun Hoon’, the first part of his autobiography, he turned the lens on his own actions and was no less critical of himself.
His journey in the literary world began with a book of poems, ‘Rangan Da Manovigyan’. He then turned to prose and published a book of short stories, ‘Antra’.
Soon after Sukhjit’s last rites on Tuesday, Guriqbal Singh could not help but recall the last lines of Sukhjit’s short story ‘Antra’. ‘Aap aa rahe ho, ke jaa rahe ho’ — he believes this pithy line summarises the eternal and final truth of life.
As the gifted writer Sukjhit covers the ‘antra’, the space between mortal and the other world, the void he leaves behind can only be filled by the magic of words he wove in his lifetime. Only, his magic that never failed to cast a spell on his readers did not work at a superficial level. Rather, it was potent enough to make them delve deep into societal hypocrisy, double standards and human greed.
