Neem Thalle, Pilkan Kol

Neem Thalle, Pilkan Kol

Amrita Pritam, a great Punjabi poet, died about a month ago. Few friends have asked me to write something about her. I haven't dared to. And I don't know why. The fact the Sacramento Bee, a small town newspaper in California and The Guardian (UK), the internationally known liberal paper, have published detailed obituaries does indicate her stature as a giant among dwarfs--that is what moden Punjabi literary scene has been reduced to. I want to write but still can't bring myself about doing it. Hopefully I will manage to write what I feel like writing. Hopefully.

Rabb Rakha

Neem Thalle, Pilkan Kol

The erractic postings on my blog pretty much mirror my own life--sputtering one moment and on hold for months. As the postman says to Pablo Neruda that his feels like a boat being rocked on the words of his (Neruda's) poem, life does pass through phases when one's boat is rocked, though not always on the words of a poem.

Snow has come early to Toronto. Christmas has been quite pleasant. The election campaign has mostly been playing in the background, like a soft music providing back drop to a Mumbai melodrama.

I just discovered Aloe Vera and associated benefits. Discover may sound little pompous given the fact I grew with Aloe Vera all around me.


Over the x-mas weekend I saw "The Postman", easily the most beautiful film I have seen in a long time. Its majestic views of Italian country side are quite mesmerizing. Neruda's introduction to poetry and poems is that of a master--the one he definitely was. There is more to it than Neruda's larger than life stature, though I am not sure what is that. May be it is the smooth encounters with the greatest master and most novice. Or may be it is the suble beauties of life that poetry plants in otherwise a simple village life. I am not sure I know what is about that move that appealed to me. But it is definitely more than what I think I understand.

What a pleasant way to celebrate festive season!

Rab Rakha

Kavita: A Journal of Poetry in Punjabi

We just launched the web-magazine Kavita. It has been quite fulfilling experience. A big challenge, though one I would love to take on.

Check out:

www.kavita.cc

Pehla Din

Today, I started my blog, though I am not sure why. I just felt like doing it and went ahead with it. It is just like sipping a cup of boiling tea, chai, under a neem, in the shadow of a pilkan which requires no reason and seeks no justification. I do it just because I enjoy it. Do we really need reason to do everything? The swamp of reason and logic has come to paralyze the most basic, the simplest of human instincts. Like sipping a cup of boiling hot tea. In the sweltering monsoons of Punjab.