Shiv Kumar Batalvi Live Interview
his upload is intended to be a public service to the millions of punjabi poetry lovers all round the world who have come to adore the Poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
This extract is a live interview with the genius, and gives a glimpse of the mindset that created all the work we have come to love.
In my view, his own rendition carries far more feeling & emotion than experienced from other singers.
Hope you will enjoy as much as I have.
This extract is a live interview with the genius, and gives a glimpse of the mindset that created all the work we have come to love.
In my view, his own rendition carries far more feeling & emotion than experienced from other singers.
Hope you will enjoy as much as I have.
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00If you are even a little confused about Punjabi language and Punjabi literature,
00:05then you must have heard of Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
00:09This week is his 11th birthday.
00:13Shiv Kumar Batalvi was born in October, 1937.
00:17At the age of 25, he had set foot on the pedestal of fame and respect
00:23that very few people can reach at this age.
00:27At the age of 28, he had won the largest literary award in India,
00:31the Sahitya Akademi Award.
00:34But sadly, at the age of 35,
00:38he passed away in the month of May, 1973.
00:43At the age of 35, Shiv Kumar Batalvi
00:47turned Punjabi language into the wealth of a lion.
00:51And his songs were sung in the streets and villages
00:56as if they were folk songs.
00:59Shiv Kumar Batalvi says that his poetry
01:02had engulfed the whole of Punjab in its soft arms.
01:07Its fields, its gardens, its streets, its soil,
01:11its flowers, its thorns,
01:13all of them were thrown into a battle.
01:16It is also said about Shiv Kumar Batalvi
01:19that he was the first modern Punjabi poet
01:23who was like that bird
01:25that sings its last song,
01:27sets its body on fire,
01:30and burns to death in it.
01:32Three years before his death,
01:34Shiv Kumar Batalvi had come to Britain
01:37and he had spoken about his poetry and himself.
01:41In this interview, Mahendra Kaul had asked him
01:44what was it that had brought him towards poetry?
01:50Look, Mahendra, the simple thing is that
01:53poetry is not born out of an accident.
01:57Some people think that poetry is born out of love.
02:02Some people think that poetry is born out of frustration,
02:07out of sadness in life.
02:10I think that the poetry that was born out of me
02:14contained everything.
02:17The first thing in life there,
02:21in Indian life,
02:24is that there are classes.
02:29There is a division of classes.
02:33Some are of lower middle class,
02:37some are of upper middle class,
02:39some are of middle class,
02:41there is a division.
02:43Every man, every father, every mother
02:46teaches it like a game.
02:49And after ten years,
02:51they think that they will get a return.
02:56So my father was also a translator
03:00and he also thought the same.
03:03And I don't know why I became a poet.
03:06Why did you become a poet?
03:08Why did I become a poet?
03:09Because there are many poets who have written poetry,
03:12who have written poems out of despair,
03:15out of sadness,
03:17out of love.
03:19Mahendraji, it was not like that.
03:22There was no difference in love.
03:26Thousands of women came into my life.
03:31I never accepted them.
03:34Why?
03:35What was the matter?
03:36I have no sorrow of love or anything.
03:39As much as I have received love,
03:42no Punjabi poet has received it.
03:45So have you ever loved anything,
03:48any person,
03:50any picture?
03:54That picture was not made by me.
03:56Sometimes with hair,
03:58sometimes with someone's fingers,
04:01sometimes with someone's lips,
04:03sometimes with someone's feet.
04:05So it is obvious that you have also written romantic poems.
04:08Yes, I have.
04:09First of all, all of them are romantic.
04:11Please recite one of them to me.
04:13Sure.
04:15Should I sing and recite?
04:16Yes, sing and recite.
04:17Wow, great.
04:18Do you agree?
04:19So can I take the book?
04:20Of course, take it.
04:24So listen,
04:26there is a small song.
04:29Kee puch de ohaal fakiran da
04:41Kee puch de ohaal fakiran da
04:46Saada nadiyon vichde neeran da
04:52Saada hanj di joone aayan da
04:57Saada dil jaleyaan dil geeran da
05:03Jaan diyaan kuchh shokh jahe
05:12Rangaan dahi na tasveeran hai
05:19Rangaan dahi na tasveeran hai
05:24Jad hatge asi ishqe di
05:29Mulkar baithe tasveeran da
05:35Kee puch de ohaal fakiran da
05:40Saada nadiyon vichde neeran da
05:45Okay, Mr. Shivkumar,
05:50the present state of India
05:54sometimes it wants to run away
05:58sometimes it wants to flee
06:00it wants to flee from life
06:02it wants to flee from the environment
06:04it wants to run away
06:06it wants to hide
06:07it wants to cover itself
06:09do you get such a situation in India nowadays?
06:14I also want to run away.
06:16Where do you want to run away?
06:18Away from myself.
06:20Why?
06:22What is it?
06:24Life, I think, all of us are
06:29slow suicides
06:35people who die easily
06:40and this is the same thing
06:41and this will happen with every intellectual
06:44whoever is an intellectual
06:46this will remain tied to him
06:48this shop will remain
06:50he is dying every moment
06:52I think the answer was complete, wasn't it?
06:57Satsang with Mooji
07:01Satsang with Mooji
07:06Satsang with Mooji
07:36Satsang with Mooji
08:06Satsang with Mooji
08:36Satsang with Mooji
08:41Satsang with Mooji
08:46Satsang with Mooji