Amrita Pritam--The Late Indian/Punjabi poetess

[Puneet Kapur]

Enclosed is a small poem from the late poetess Amrita Pritam:

MERA PATA

Aaj Maine Aapne Ghar Ka Number Mitaya Hai
Aur Gali Ke Mathe Pe Laga Gali Ka Naam Hataya Hai
Aur Har Sadak Ki Disha Ka Naam Paunch Diya Hai
Par Agar Aapko Mujhe Jaroor Pane Hai
To Har Desh Ka, Har Shahar Ki
Har Gali Ka Dwar Khatkhatao
Yeh Ek Shap Hai, Ek Var Hai
Aur Jahan Bhi Azad Ruh Ki Jhalak Parhe
Samajhna Vah Mera Ghar Hai

**Dwar=door, shap,var=curse

Best Wishes
Puneet Kapur

[SF786]

Brilliant!
Thanks for posting this.
Saleem A Khanani

[Puneet Kapur]

You are welocme Saleem Sahib, Here are two short selections just for
you and 1999. Best Wishes

"Mera Pata" and "Cigarette" are autobiographical in that Amrita Pritam
was a "Buland Shakshiyat". She recd the highest national and
international honors but was a rebel/maverick at heart. Against the
tenets of her religion, she had a "bob cut" haircut and was perhaps the
first female Indian public figure to smoke and drink in public. A
resident of New Delhi she had several affairs with men much younger than
her and always suffered from the poet's melancholy/depression.

AMRITA PRITAM

Ek Dard Tha Jo Cigarette ki Tarah Maine Chup Chap Piya Hai
Sirf Kuch Nazmain Hai---
Jo Cigarette Se Maine
Rakh Ki Tarah Jhade Hain

LAMENTATIONS TO WARIS SHAH (PUNJABI)

Aaj Aakhan Waris Shah Nun, Kiton Kabra Vichho Bol
Aaj Kitabe Ishq Da Koi Agla Varka Fol
Ek Dhi Roi Se Punjab Di, Tu Likh Likh Mare Vairh
Aaj Lakhan Dhiyan Rondeyan, Aaj Waris Shah Nu Kehan
Uth Dard Mandeyan De Dardeya, Uth Tak Aapna Punjab
Aaj Bela Lasha Vichiyan Ta, Te Lahu Di Bhari Chenab.

***Waris Shah was of course the author of Heer-Ranjha.
Aakhan=To say, Varka=Page, Dhi=Daughter, Tak=look/stare,
Lasha Vichiyan=dead bodies spread out.

This is related to the violence that followed the partition of India
and alos the Punjab problem in India that consumed tens of thousands of
lives over more than a decade.

SF786 wrote:
>
> Brilliant!
> Thanks for posting this.