Harcharan Dass Chawla (, November 4, 1926 – November 5, 2001) was an Urdu writer.
Born in
Mianwali
Mianwali ( Punjabi/ ur, ) is the capital city of Mianwali District in Punjab, Pakistan. The 81st largest city of Pakistan, it is known for its diverse population of, Punjabi and Pashtun ethnicities.
History
Mianwali District was an agricu ...
(now Pakistan), he moved to Delhi, India as a refugee as a result of the 1947
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
. The event served as the backdrop for his first novel ''Darinday'', and would leave a lasting impression throughout his career, with migration and cultural identity dominant themes of his work.
After graduating from the Panjab University in Chandigarh in 1956 and working for Indian Railways, in 1971 Chawla moved to Frankfurt, Germany then Oslo, Norway in 1974 where he would eventually settle. His shift to Europe would bring new dimension to his writing, addressing issues of loss of culture and identity faced by South Asians migrating to different parts of the world.
In Oslo, Chawla helped creating a literary bridge between the Indian subcontinent and Norway by translating Norwegian stories into Urdu and Hindi and South Asian work into Norwegian. Completing the work of his wife Purnima Chawla who died in the midst of the process, he translated
Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...
's novel ''
Victoria. En kjærlighedshistorie'' into Hindi and Urdu and ''Indian Foreteller'', a compilation of stories by Indian writers into Norwegian. He was also the Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi consultant for Deichmanske Bibliotek, Oslo.
Works
*Darinday, 1968 (Urdu)
*Aks Aiyene Ke, 1974 (Urdu, short stories)
*The Broken Horizon, 1974 (English, short stories)
*Ret, Samundar aur Jhag, 1980 (Urdu, short stories)
*Chiragh Ke Zakhm, 1980 (Urdu)
*Akhri Kadam se Pehle, 1983 (Hindi, short stories)
*Aate Jaate Mausmon Ka Sach Afsaney, 1984 (Urdu)
*Pani di Aurat, 1985 (Punjabi)
*Norway Ke Behtreen Afsaney, 1989 (Urdu, short stories, translated)
*Anguish of a Horse and other stories, 1990 (English, short stories)
*Dil, Dimagh aur Duniya, 1992 (Urdu, short stories)
*India Foreteller, 1992 (Norwegian, translated)
*Sach Jaise Sapne, 1992 (Urdu, short stories)
*Tumko Dekha, 1992 (Urdu, short stories)
*Bhatke Hue Log, 1993 (Urdu, Hindi)
*Dhoop Ek Chadar, 1993 (Hindi, Urdu, novel)
*Darya aur Kinaare, 1995 (Urdu, short stories)
*Dhai Akkhar, 1996 (Urdu)
*Garebaan Jhut Bolta Hai: Afsaney aur Afsance, 1996 (Urdu)
*Victoria, 1996 (Urdu, Hindi, translated, with Purnima Chawla)
*Album Yadon Ki, 2001 (Urdu, Hindi)
*Yaadein, 2001 (Hindi)
*Bhatke Hue Log, 1984, 2003 (Hindi)
*Fan or Shakhsiyat, 2003 (Urdu)
*Adrift, 2003 (English)
Short Story Contributions
*Back to Ganges, in Roses in Snow - Poems and Lyrics of Immigrants in Norway, Sweden and Denmark edited by Khalid Salimi, 1988
*Between the Lines, in Contemporary Urdu Short Stories: An Anthology, selected and translated by Jai Ratan, 1991
Honours and awards
* Rajinder Singh Bedi Award
*
Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy
''Uttar Pradesh Urdu Akademi'' also known as Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy or Urdu Academy, Uttar Pradesh (Urdu: اردو اکادمی، اتر پردیش) in the interest of developing the Urdu language and preserving the Urdu tradition and cul ...
Award - 1976, 1981, 1991
* Zalaten Klas Bulgaria International Short Story Competition
* All India Meer Academy Award - 1981
See also
List of Urdu language writers
This is a list of notable Urdu-language writers.
A
* Allama Rashid ul Khairi
* Akbar Allahabadi
* Ali Akbar Natiq
* Maikash Akbarabadi
* Akhtar Orenvi
* Akhtar Sheerani
* Ada Jafri
* Aizaz Ahmad Azar
* Jamiluddin Aali
* Ghulam Abbas
* ...
External links
; General
* An article about the Chawlas
''Count the blessings of old age'', Khushwant Singh, Tribune India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chawla, Harcharan
Urdu-language novelists
1926 births
2001 deaths
Punjabi people