Punjabi writer Jaswant Singh Gandam releases his 3rd book ‘Ugade Suraj Di Akh’
Phagwara, November 18
A new book ‘Ugade Suraj Di Akh”, authored by noted Punjabi writer professor Jaswant Singh Gandam was released this afternoon here by Apneet Riyait, Chief Administrator, PUDA.
Arjuna awardee legendary footballer Inder Singh, Vice-Chancellor Sant Baba Bhag Singh University Dr Dharamjit Singh, former national wrestling coach PR Sondhi, professor Manjit Kaur Riyait, eminent writer Gurmit Palahi, general secretary Punjab Football Association Harjinder Singh also attended the event.
Prof Gandam said, “This is my third book, having 176 pages, containing 33 articles on different issues, including 14 satirical pieces. These articles were written after the Covid-19 period (2022-23) and published in leading Punjabi dailies and weeklies. My first book ‘Kuchh Terian Kuchh Merian’ and the second book ‘Suttey Shehar Da Safar’ each contained 28 articles written and published before corona period. The present book is dedicated to my soulmate professor Sital Singh Riyait, a sports commentator, football promoter and trainer who left us on May 12.”
Maintaining that experiences of life and literature go cheek by jowl, Gandam quoted a line from Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses’, “I am a part of all that I have met.” He said that a writer sifts and sieves the coarser elements of his experiences, purges and prunes the baser parts of events/incidents to finally pen down a refined piece of literary work. He said, “A writer gives back what he gets from his surroundings.”
He quoted Sahir Ludhianvi to hammer homer his point— “Duniya ne tajrabaat-o-hawadis ki shakl mein jo kuch mujhe diya hai vo lautaa raha hoon main” (Whatever the world has given me in the form of experiences and events, I am returning these to it.” He referred to Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle who had said that all art was mimetic by nature as it imitated life.
“Actually, literature, which was a form of art, mirrored life as well as showed mirror to life”, he quipped. Noted Punjabi writers SL Virdi, TD Chawla, Ravinder Chot, Baldev Komal, Didar Shetra, Lashkar Dhandarwi and Parvinderjit Singh were among those present on the occasion. Poetesses Jaswinder Kaur, Balbir Saini, Kamlesh Sandhu, Monika Bedi and Simrat regaled audience with their poems. Apneet Riyait and her mother professor Manjit Kaur Riyait were feted with shawls and a set of books.
