Punjabi writer Kazak gets lifetime achievement award
Phagwara, December 17
The Punjabi Virsa Trust, Phagwara, conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award on Punjabi writer, folklore researcher and Sahit Akademy awardee Prof Kirpal Kazak at a function on Saturday. Among those in attendance were Punjabi writers and admirers of literature.
Led by the trust’s president, Prof Jaswant Singh Gandam, the trust presented a memento, a citation, a shawl and a cash reward Rs 31,000 to Kazak, who is also a former professor and fellow of Punjabi University, Patiala. Mota Singh Sarai, Convener, European Punjabi Sath, UK, was the chief guest on the occasion.
“Prof Kazak has so far written over 50 books, including short stories, novels, plays and celebrated research on tribes of India. He is known as Punjab’s Verrier Elwin, a world-famous anthropologist, ethnologist and a tribal activist, who, though born in the UK, spent his entire life in India, doing research on Indian tribes and writing various books about India,” Gandam noted.
Prof Kazak has also written scripts of dozens of tele-films, both in Punjabi and Hindi and documentaries. Set to turn 80 early next year, he has got two dozen awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award for his short stories book, ‘Antheen’(Endless).
He got emotional as he remembered his father. He said, “Books give us a lot but our gurus, ustads and teachers gift us a lot in a nutshell.”
Using metaphors, similes and poetic lines in abundance, Prof Kazak differentiated three forms of literature as, “Poetry gives you a pinch (‘chundi bhardi hai’), a
story gets hold of your wrist (‘kalayi pakadi hai’) while a novel takes you in its ‘kalava’(embrace).”
