When poetry rose above labels

jalandhar: this year''s sahitya akademiaward for excellence in punjabi literature went to a young painterpoet dev,settled in switzerland. inspired by the ‘minimalist'' school of painting,dev is being hailed by literary critics as a trendsetter and the sahitya akademihas been praised for its boldness in awarding him. ‘‘in fact, a newinterest was seen in poetry and anthologies of a certain kind started sellingonce again. these were the works of poets who chose to be different. rejectingall labels, readers even lapped up the new dalit literature. dev''s selection,too, is part of this same awakening among the akademi luminaries,'''' saidrenowned literary critic dr sarabjit singh, in a talk about the highlights of2001 in literary circles. ‘‘dev is also liberated from the nostalgiathat pervades the works of most parvasi punjabi writers. having liberatedhimself from this sentimentality, he has also liberated the reader. hecelebrates the fact that he is a painter living in switzerland and does notsuffer from the inferiority complex associated with most parvasi writers. then,dev has also freed himself from all labels. most punjabi poetry belongs to thiswave or that.'''' said dr sarabjit. another writer re-discovered in 2001 was lalsingh dil, who runs a tea stall in samrala and has been writing since the early''70s but, ‘‘because he never used the jargon of dialecticalmaterialism, marxism or any other fashionable movement of those days'''' hasremained alive as a poet. this year, his collection of poems sold 1,100 copies,something unheard of for poetry anthologies,'''' says prem parkash, short storywriter and sahitya akademi award winner. ‘‘dil writes brief, simplepoems on ordinary and much ignored people like eunuchs, cobblers, gypsies andprostitutes. his poems have titles like jail di kand, charvak, kangla teli,machivara, adivasnan,kuup, khed, diva, pen te copy,'''' says prem parkash. twomore works celebrating the newly-discovered dalit consciousness in punjabiliterary circles sold well. one was bhakhda pataal by balbir madhopuri and theother bhakhiya by madan vira of hoshiarpur. yet another book that exposes falsevalues and the myths built around religious figures was jaswant zaffar''s asinnanak de ki lagde haan. his publisher satish gulati says, ‘‘thisbook has already sold 2,000 copies and we are planning a second edition in thefirst year of publication.'''' dr s tarsem, president of punjabi lekhak sabhasays, ‘‘this anthology is daring in its experiments with form.thepoems also hit out subtly at the myths that have surrounded the saintly figureof guru nanak.the poems show that institutionalised religion has distorted hisreal message.''''