On October 6, 2010, Pratibha Patil, the president of India, visited my old stomping grounds of Khalsa College, Amritsar, to preside over the ‘Nanhi Chhaan’ campaign to “save the girl child,” an issue I hold very dear to me. While another glorious chapter has been added to 118 year old history of Khalsa College,, when for the first time the president of India took part in a function of the College. I wrote my poem over 30 years ago and since then have raised a son and daughter, with my wife, Inderbir Dhillon, and have two beautiful grand-daughters. So this is obviously not a new issue for me, but one that has become stronger over the years, and it is my hope that through more publicized events like this, her visit will enlighten and help change the current policies and mindset of Punjab as well as motivate other states (and other countries) to adopt this model for spreading awareness of women empowerment and other environmental issues concerning society at present as expected.
My poem was written with the hope of accomplishing this same task and I have recently created a moving image slideshow with images set to my voice to create yet another facet of this issue.
Below is the Punjabi version of my poem. I usually create an English translation of my poems when asked. If you would like to see one with English subtitles, contact me or leave a comment, and I am more than happy to do so in the near future. In the meantime, ponder over my kavita, “Dheeaan” and let me know what you think:
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