Leave No Grain for Tomorrow

I have already stated that a lot has been written about Amrita, but I am sure not many here have had the opportunity of meeting her. I could unfortunately not pay a tribute to her earlier since I was travelling and when I read the recent news report of cross-border lovers, Imroz and her name immediately came to mind…I have had to depend on English translations of her work and the first time I heard her she did recite her poem in Hindi…I was entranced right then. Therefore I am no expert on her work and this piece makes no such claims.

Thank you for the kind words…
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#1 by ijaz_gul:

As I said it was in a way a response to the two Indian girls trying to cross the border…

[But there remains a paradox. In 1947, people were ready to migrate for the adopted countries out of ancestoral lands. In these cyber love affairs, its the other way round.

So what has changed? Why do people fall for mysteries. Is it the innate sense of facing a challenge or is it the mystifying, `whats behind the curtain` or yet a rebellion of sorts?]

Mysteries – like bhool-bhulaiyyas – suck you in their vortex the moment you take one step towards them. Satiating curiosity is also a challenge. Often, even if the end product is far from mysterious, the sense of rebellion may want one to stick one’s neck out.

PS: I am sorry that I do not fit into the speed-reading net habits, but if people can chat for hours – and then fall in love – a little bit of time can be invested. I agree, it could be also wasted, but nothing ever is, in my opinion.
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#8 by Salim_Chauhan:

[you come up with these philosophical gems that leave me completely at unease - laboring with intensity to understand the multiple paths that you want us to travel only because you feel a certain way]

High maintenance! Seriously, I would like the reader to travel on his/her journey carrying my backpack, so to speak…what they see on the way, where they decide to stop, and the pace is all theirs.
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#9 by Zeena:

[This article leaves me with the sense that both you as a writer of this article and the main character of this article have a sure touch and empathy, but not sentimental style.......]

Let me elaborate: I do feel a strong sense of oneness with Amrita Pritam’s persona, as I have with Anais Nin…that is the reason her translations are enough. I do believe that her autobiography did her no justice, at least the English translation.

And you are right about using he term ‘character’ to describe her…she wasn’t a personality; she was many people…which is why there is such empathy.
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#16 by drlokraj:

[Reason for Amrita`s fame were not her writings alone....more than that it was her life style, proximity to figures like Indira, numerous affairs, her magazine Naagmani which was responsible for providing platform to so many new writers, weight of her recommendations for Sahita Academi awards and drooling of many prominent punjabi writers of that time]

An interesting life lived on the edge has as much influence over people as words. I see no reason why a strong woman who has “drooling” fans ought to be castigated. Amrita Shergill, the painter, suffered from the same fate of being not taken seriously. You agree that Pritam provided a platform to young writers…as for her numerous affairs, she might not have been able to write a lot of the way she did had she not gone through the experiences.

A sadhu sleeping on a bed of thorns is sanctified; a woman – or any ordinary person – being tested in life is dismissed off cursorily.

[Her contemporary Mahasweta Devi was and is comparatively much better writer, but has never been that popular with the media and press.]

Mahasweta’s works have a strong political content which puts her in a different category. E.g. she would be feted by Naxalites and tribals, for she was an activist. Amrita Pritam’s ‘activism’ was to seek an internalised order in the chaos of small personal lives, including her own.

Ferzy our Amrita Pritam of prose of pathos.....this is your masterpiece -- read it and re read it -- each and every word of it from the beginnign to the end with moist blurry eyes.......

FarzanaVersey #18, {``High maintenance! Seriously, I would like the reader to travel on his/her journey carrying my backpack ...``}

Farzana,
You said ``High maintenance!`` I didn`t. But then you want me to carry your backpack! :)

Bitya, kyoon humka sataat ho? Hum tumhar likhaan PaRhaan par fida hogave to tum humre sar pe apna bojh patakhdiat ho.

Farzana ji
#17
Providing a lauching pad to many new writers who are now front line story writers of punjabi is probably Amrita`s greatest contribution to literature. Being liberal and secular to the core were other attributes so dear about her, and she refused to succumb to any pressures. her say in the power circles was sometimes worrying for the genuine writers and her admirers as some undeserving people did receive Sahitya Academi awards because of her.

Farzana

You have written sentences in this piece for which I have some thoughts:

“There can be no one else…no one…you are my daughter….I your son.”

Is that uttered by a lover? If yes, then is the taboo of incest been broken? You say you realized what it meant. What does that mean if incest is not implied?

Why does it happen that after the hard climb there is always the plateau, so placid that you wonder whether the effort was worth it?

Depends on what that plateau is. Isn’t it wise to figure-out the plateau before you spend the effort climbing it, to know the goal before you struggle to get there?

“Victory and defeat are problem words. To be a winner you have to defeat someone

These are, in fact, sublime words. The only person to be defeated by you is you.

”How does one know that a person has tasted life?”

When you have defeated and claimed victory over yourself.

sunlight is the prisoner of the sun.

On the contrary. It’s the sun that is the prisoner of light.

PS: I did translate Amrita Pritam’s Thekhana, a story which I liked a lot, for Chowk as Basement, without really knowing anything about her. Thanks for introducing her to me.

AMRITA PRITAM`S RASEEDI TICKET - BIOGRAPHY

It is interesting.

``..In 1947, people were ready to migrate for the adopted countries out of ancestoral lands..``

mostly poor and or fanatical muslims......who had illusion of a Islamic utopia...

The rest - most muslims, hindus and sikhs.....never game a damn about Pakistan or partition.....tell that to a refugee on either side of the border.....who lost life, limb or family....and s/he will curse you to hell......

regarding the two girls......either they are getting attention......or they are bewakoof.....or they are too ugly to get a match in India.....

Amrita pritam did have very romantic life style, but as for her writing she was an ordinary writer. I fully agree withKhushwant Singh on this.

FV
I have a quote for your article..........Amrita is dead now(I guess??). But if she would have read your article .........I am sure she would have been flattered................

Like I say, I am flattered that you are flattered.

What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering`` George Bernard Shaw.

Take care...........

PS:-I apologize for posting your article`s appreciation thread on Un Plugged. I will restrict my Front Page articles analysis, criticism and appreciation to FP boards only. You won`t even find them in my I-logs.

Thanks for your feedback.

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Collection of beautiful expressions.... Farzana.... conjures fond memories....
Life is truly an amazing journey...

Anil

Farzana,
I feel humbled. The point is that having read Amrita and listened many times over to her ` Aaj Akhan Waris Shah Noon` sung by Inayat Hussain Bhatti, I grasped what you were attempting to lay open, but yet missed pieces till I read and re read. Phrases are to be picked and then linked. Some backround knowledge of History, partition and lives of those involved is essential.

I feel, lots of comments on such essays come without much of comprehension. These are pieces of literature and one could write volumes.

By the way, my father and Amrita met many times. My mother told me that when Enayat Hussain Bhatti sang Aaj Akhan Waris Shah Noon, my father had to fight tears. We still have that 78RPM record.

Cheerios

I am truly touched that some people found a ‘connectivity’. It means a lot…especially given my pugnacious political reputation!

Nasah saab:

If you recollect on my Ismat Chugtai vs. Taslima Nasreen board I had mentioned this meeting and you had prodded me to share. Itney dinoun se aankh bharey hue liye ghoom rahe hai…
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#21 by Godot:

Some of the sentences you pointed out are mine, some by Amrita Pritam and one by Imroz. I shall clarify mine and stick my neck out and conjecture about the other two…after all, interpretation is as exciting as expression…

[“There can be no one else…no one…you are my daughter….I your son.” (Imroz)

Is that uttered by a lover? If yes, then is the taboo of incest been broken? You say you realized what it meant. What does that mean if incest is not implied?]

Most man-woman relationships suffer from an Oedipal/Elektra complex. Not quite in the literal sense, but when you are removed from a ‘structured’ environment into a relationship, the mimicking of role-playing would not be uncommon.

I understood it because he was initially supported by Amrita (‘the son’) and later tended to her needs (‘the daughter’).

[“Why does it happen that after the hard climb there is always the plateau, so placid that you wonder whether the effort was worth it?” (FV)

Depends on what that plateau is. Isn’t it wise to figure-out the plateau before you spend the effort climbing it, to know the goal before you struggle to get there?]

Even if you know the goal beforehand, the hard climb may change your perspective towards it – how many falls did you have, did you run out of oxygen, did you ever want to return? Such queries and the journey tell you a lot more than the plateau would. On still ground, besides wiping the perspiration, there might not be much left to ‘conquer’.

[“Victory and defeat are problem words. To be a winner you have to defeat someone” (Amrita Pritam)

These are, in fact, sublime words. The only person to be defeated by you is you.]

That is if you see defeat as defeat. I see it as a new beginning.

[“How does one know that a person has tasted life?” (FV)

When you have defeated and claimed victory over yourself.]

Life is not always about defeats and victories. The rhetorical query is about how you have tasted life right from the stage of the aroma, or waited to bite into it…how well has it been ingested and digested…in the present context it is about freedom to choose your kind of life.

[“sunlight is the prisoner of the sun.” (FV)

On the contrary. It’s the sun that is the prisoner of light.]

My full sentence was, “You couldn’t question Amrita Pritam’s freedom. Just as you wouldn’t ask whether sunlight is the prisoner of the sun.”

What I meant was that she (the sun) wouldn’t imprison her own freedom (sunlight).

However, to take your argument, I would like to twist it a bit: would you then say that each time we get an insight or enlightenment we become prisoners of it? Would you validate the ‘ignorance is bliss’ idea?

PS: Your translations are here and these add to Chowk. Thanks for the engaging queries.
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#20 by drlokraj:

Agreed that the Sahitya and other awards work on a sifarish hierarchy and Amrita Pritam might have been a part of it…but sometimes being mother-goddess make you believe in the genuineness of devotees.
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#29 by ijaz_gul:

[I grasped what you were attempting to lay open, but yet missed pieces till I read and re read. Phrases are to be picked and then linked. Some background knowledge of History, partition and lives of those involved is essential.]

I have often been accused of obtuseness, and sometimes rightly so. But I do feel that all of us should find our linkages with the piece of literature as well as how it has been ‘read’. I agree that background knowledge is essential, but besides ‘physical’ history, there is the history of one’s own psyche and how we perceive that history.

What I was struck by in your post is that both your father and I have been moved to tears by the same person…despite our different histories.

Finding linkages in the ether happens perchance…

A bit of a digression:

#19 by Salim_Chauhan:

[You said ``High maintenance!`` I didn`t. But then you want me to carry your backpack! :)]

You accused me of wanting the reader to travel a certain path because I felt a certain way. I played along…which is where the backpack metaphor came in.

I do not see high maintenance in a negative light, for it comes with the responsibility of mostly being deserving of it!

[Bitya, kyoon humka sataat ho? Hum tumhar likhaan PaRhaan par fida hogave to tum humre sar pe apna bojh patakhdiat ho.]

Eik to, humree umar ka lihaaj karo…hi bitya baatan koi chhokariya ko sunayee de. Aur likhan-parhan ki baat nikaal hi diye ho to maathey par darad ho ke bojh, baat to kaunu bhoosey ki naahin. To uthayee do ya patkayee do, tumra hi bedva paar howat ya nuksaan…humra to kaam logan ka raah dikhlayee ma hai…seedhi chaal ya tedhi chal, oo tuhaar pairan ki soch-samajh par biswaas ho…hamra biswaas todan ki jurrat ki to tentwaaN dabayee diye.

#25 by Zeena:

Thanks for understanding. Besides, I cannot compete with Mariah Carey or Nike shoes :)

More about that thread and other related things in my ilog later…

Ref#30

Dear Farzana

Just being pedantic it is Oedipus and not Oedipal. On the second thought you can say Oootpal and he is from Haryana and like any haryanvi he is also a maader???.