Surjit Pattar is certainly the finest contemporary Punjabi poet on the eastern part of the border. The video has a recording by his son, Manraj Pattar, of the poem “Aaj Mere Kolon Kach Da Galas tuteya” (“When I happened to break a glass tumbler today”)
And here is Surjit Pattar with a poem- titled “In the City of Medellín” but I’d rather call “Main shabdan da jadugar haan”- “I am a magician of words”
I had the honour to meet him once at the wedding of a friend. His beard had not yet greyed, and I had commented: “You are too young! Given the maturity of your poetry, I had imagined you to be much older.” He had replied, modestly: “I am old, I am 44 years this year.”
The video above is what I had imagined him to be then, though a few more grey in his beard would have been closer. Surjit Pattar was born in 1944, his poetry, a few years earlier.
More in his own voice at apnaorg
Technorati Tags: Punjabi, Punjab, Poetry, Surjit Pattar
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