Pashaura Singh Dhillon

Many of you have been asking me for an audio download of the poem I sang at the Kavi Darbar of the 542nd Guru Nanak Prakaash Utsav in Caruthers, California celebrating November being officially designated as Sikh-American Awareness Month. If you haven’t read my blog on that yet, you can do so here: Caruthers Makes History. If you’d like some basic information and terms in Punjabi Poetry, please also check out Punjabi Poetry At A Glance.

Without further adieu, here is my poem, which you can now listen to and download for free:

Leila Khaled

Times come around and the revolutionaries of yesterday become legendary symbols and potential peacemakers for the future. One of the most such legendary figures of the Palestinian struggle for national liberation is Leila Khaled, who re-visited the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon recently.  A refugee herself, Leila was forced to flee Haifa as a 4 year old girl in 1948 and later became the first female member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1967. She remains a member in the PFLP Leadership Council and no doubt a potential participant for any lasting peace treaty whenever that happens.

Leila made herself and the Palestinian cause the newspapers headlines, when she first hijacked a TWA plane going from Rome to Athens and landed at the Heathrow London Airport in 1969. This was perhaps the first hijacking of its kind carried out by a young woman ever in the history of aviation to draw to the attention of its global community, an international problem blatantly ignored. Ironically, her cause remains as potent today as it was then 42 years ago. What followed in the Middle East and elsewhere for that matter, relating to this festering saga, directly or indirectly, turned uglier and uglier. Supporting the rights of Palestinians now automatically means being anti Israel and a support for suicide bombings and violence against innocent people, while the fact remains that the Israel has a right to exist and displaced Palestinians need their home and their rights restored. It is eerily similar to how people react to prolonged and polarizing issues of the not-so distant past in Punjab. Land, Language and Water rights in Punjab somehow became relegated to “Sikh issues,” which caused the further partition of Punjab and further loss of culture and Punjabiat. Discussing the grave situation Punjab and its people have been subjected through in the 1980s ending with the horrifying state sponsored massacre of innocent Sikhs in New Delhi, usually ends up being a politicized argument based on religion, and political affiliation.

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There are, of course, many poets in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, and English who I have read and been influenced by in some way over the years, but these eleven poets are perhaps the reason I am even a poet today. Their beautiful verses touched my soul from a very young age and helped me make sense of post-partition Punjab, as well as the world around me. It has taken me around 60 years to feel comfortable enough to pay homage to my all time favorite Punjabi poet, Waris Shah. This is my rendition of one part of his epic tragic love story,”Heer.” This particular scene is when Ranjha makes the difficult decision to leave Takhat Hazara.

Classic Punjabi Poets

Sultan Bahu (1628-1691) wrote in Punjabi and the Persian language, but is much more well known for his Punjabi poetry. What separates him from many other poets of his time (and indeed of any time) is that his verses are sung in a variety of genres associated with Sufi music.

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One of the questions I am often asked about is something that confuses many people: what are the various terms in Punjabi poetry? People have this misconception that Punjabi poetry is not at par with poetry from other languages in the region, such as Urdu or Hindi. It has an incredibly long history and is as complicated as any other form of literature. There is also a misconception that Punjabi is not a poetic language. What this is based on, I am not sure, but if this were true, at over 70 years old, I would have found another language to sing and write my poetry in by now!

Like many other ancient languages, Punjabi has evolved through various stages and Punjabi poetry is perhaps as old as Punjab’s Indus Valley civilization. It has beautiful and complex ballads both from the past and contemporary Punjabi poetry can easily be compared to verses from Shakespearean sonnets, traditional Japanese haikus, or modern “free verse” forms of poetry, including Spoken Word. Stalwarts from the past have contributed significantly to Punjabi poetry like Waris Shah, Sultan Bahu, Bullhe Shah, Chandar Bhan and Ali Haidar amongst many others. Bhai Vir Singh, Puran Singh. Mohan Singh and Amrita Pritam are considered luminaries who pioneered the new era in Punjabi Poetry. Properly defining the different styles and forms found in Punjabi poetry is an impossible task for someone who is not a literary historian. I have never taken a poetry class, or studied the form in an academic setting. I have read countless poems over the decades and they have all, in some shape of form, influenced my views on life and, of course, on my poetry.  Here is Punjabi Poetry at a Glance:

Definitions
The ghazal has its origins in the Arabic language and is traditionally considered a more scholarly form of poetry. It is a collection of couplets that embody a single thought or subject. A couplet is known as a sher. The plural of a sher is an ashaar(s). A  ghazal contains  5-15 ashaars and follows the rules of matla, maqta, behr, kaafiyaa and radif.
Here is an example of a sher from Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s poem, “ਮਾਏ ਨੀ ਮਾਏ”/ Mae Ni Mae :
ਮਾਏ ਨੀ ਮਾਏ/ Mae Ni Mae
ਮੈਂ ਇਕ ਸ਼ਿਕਰਾ ਯਾਰ ਬਣਾਇਆ/ Mai ik shikra yaar banalia

There are many subcategories of a ghazal and the rules that govern its definition can get very complex. For example, a ghazal is an arrangement of lines whereby the first two lines rhyme with each other which in turn rhyme with the fourth, sixth, eighth and so forth. Each couplet conveys a complete message and may be interconnected to continue a theme. I told you it was confusing!

Any poem which does not pass the criteria to be considered a ghazal is called a kavita in Punjabi and a nazm in Urdu.

For a more in-depth look at the intricacies of the ghazal and many of the terms surrounding it, check out this article, “What is a Ghazal?”

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As many of you know,  Dr. Mamta Joshi, a well known Sufi singer in India, invited me to attend her concert in Canada where she was singing one of my most prized poems: Umber Di Shehzadi: To the Princess of the Skies. I was a little nervous about how she would interpret this poem that is so dear to me, and I was very pleased with her beautiful rendition.

I am pleased to make the announcement that Dr. Mamta Joshi’s rendition in Sufi Taan of Umber Di Shehzadiye : To the Princess of the Skies with English subtitles is finally here! Sit back, enjoy and judge for yourself. Your comments are welcome as always!

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