Sukhbir (

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

: ਸੁਖਬੀਰ, Hindi: सुखबीर; 9 July 1925 – 22 February 2012), alias Balbir Singh, was a Punjabi novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. He wrote and published for fifty years. He wrote seven novels, 11 short story collections, and five poetry collections, and made many translations of world literature, essays, letters and book reviews.

Personal life

Sukhbir alias Balbir Singh was born on 9 July 1925 to S. Mansha Singh and Smt. Shiv Kaur in Mumbai, India. He was the eldest of his siblings, who included three brothers and three sisters. He adopted the pen name Sukhbir after partition, when he was arrested during the student unrest in Mumbai in 1950. He had already started publishing in literary magazines and was a known name as a budding writer. While he was in jail in Nasik, one of his editor friends in whose magazine his poems were to be published, changed his name to Sukhbir, to avoid the authorities' attention. Subsequently, Sukhbir chose to retain this as his pen name, as many other writers with the name of Balbir Singh had sprung up by then and were cashing in on his established name. His father, S. Mansha Singh, was a civil engineer in

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

. He was a religious man, but with a rational and liberal attitude. He was the first person to have opened Sukhbir up to rational interpretation of his own religion, and subsequently, to everything in life. He can safely be called the first influence in Sukhbir's life, which he remained throughout. Sukhbir's early schooling was in his native village Beerampur in Punjab. His father being in the Railways, the family was always on the move. When he was in the 6th standard, the family shifted to Mumbai. He did his subsequent schooling in Podar High School, Mumbai. He completed his graduation from Khalsa College, Mumbai, after which he moved to Khalsa College, Amritsar to pursue his master's in Punjabi in 1958, which earned him the rank of university topper and a gold medal. As much as he wanted to, he could not pursue a post-graduate degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. He started publishing in the leading Punjabi journal of the time, ''Preet Lari'', edited by

Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari Gurbaksh Singh (1895–1977) was an Indian novelist and short story writer with more than fifty books to his credit in Punjabi. He is also considered the father of modern Punjabi prose and received Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1971. ...

. Simultaneously, he started taking an interest in the activities of

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

, and had great regard for its founder,

Puran Chand Joshi Puran Chand Joshi (14 April 1907 – 9 November 1980), one of the early leaders of the communist movement in India. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of India from 1935 to 1947. Early years Joshi was born on 14 April 1907, i ...

. This interest did not last long as he soon became disillusioned with the political tactics that led to the severe humiliation and expulsion of Joshi from the party. He reflected hard on the communist ideology and chose to step aside to find his own way, while remaining committed to the Marxist thought and philosophy. Before taking up writing as a full-time career, Sukhbir was an advertisement-writer and college lecturer to earn his livelihood. By this time, he had married Jasbir Kaur. Soon thereafter, he left his job of lecturer in Khalsa College, Mumbai to take up writing as a full-time career, which was unusual and a risky proposition at that time considering the fate of writers in the country. Sukhbir suffered multiple complications after severe cardiac arrest and died on 22 February 2012.

Influences

Sukhbir's major literary influences were

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

, Irving Stone,

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

Sardar Jafri Ali Sardar Jafri (29 November 1913 – 1 August 2000) was an Indian writer of Urdu language. He was also a poet, critic and film lyricist. Biography Early life and education Ali Sardar Jafri was born in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, where he sp ...

Krishan Chander Krishan Chander (23 November 1914 – 8 March 1977) was an Indian Urdu and Hindi writer of short stories and novels. Some of his works have also been translated in English. He was a prolific writer, penning over 20 novels, 30 collections o ...

, and Rajinder Singh Bedi. He was greatly influenced by the philosophy of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

and Portuguese philosopher

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

. His writings depicted the inner travails of the human mind as a significant aspect of the life of the characters, and these thinkers dwelt upon the ambiguous nature of mental processes. He also studied the works of Sigmund Freud and

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

to understand the inner workings of the mind to add psychological dimensions to the characters of his novels and short stories.

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

's life and works also had a lasting influence on him, as Sukhbir identified with his empathy and concern for the underprivileged in society. Sukhbir was an avid reader of biographies of great writers and other personalities because he believed that an understanding and appreciation of their work is not complete unless one has studied the background contexts in which they lived and worked.

Writing style

Sukhbir is considered the pioneer of stream-of-consciousness writing in Punjabi. His novel ''Raat da Chehra (The Face of Night)'' published in 1961 is a stream-of-consciousness novel depicting the story spanned over one night. Even in his short stories, he pioneered the stream-of-consciousness genre of writing. A noted example is the story "Ruki Hoyi Raat (The Suspended Night)" in which the narrator in his reminiscences is recalling his long lost childhood friend who has become a rebel and is evading the repressive authorities. Sukhbir brought a new sensibility to the Punjabi novel by introducing lyrical beauty in prose and distributing his narrative material into pictorial scenes and adding dimensions to characters through exchange of dialogue. Sukhbir being essentially a poet wanted his prose to vie with poetry for the virtues of precision, harmony and rhythm. In Sukhbir's writings, progressive, psychological and artistic strands are inter twined. His realistic literary vision got strength from the pragmatic approach of Marxism on the one hand and depths of psychology and intricacies of arts on the other. Sukhbir had a good appreciation of painting and he occasionally did sketches. A painter's perspective is seen in all his writings. The poems in ''Nain Naksh (The Features)'' are written specifically in techniques of modern painting like Portrait, Nude, Collage, Still Life, Landscape, Self-Portrait, etc. This is a unique experiment in Punjabi literature. Observing the environs and its life from the perspective of a painter, he brought in a new approach in all three genres – poetry, short story and novel. Sukhbir's self-portrait which is part of the poetry collection ''Nain Naksh'' is reproduced. ਸੁਖਬੀਰ : ਸੇਲ੍ਫ ਪੋਰਟ੍ਰੇਟ ਸੁਪਨਕਾਰ ਹਾਂ ਭਾਵੇਂ ਆਮ ਜਿਹੀ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਹਾਂ ਮੈਂ ਖਰਵੀ ਤੇ ਤਗੜੀ ਚਾਨਣ ਨਾਲ ਜੋ ਗੁੰਨ੍ਹੀ ਗਈ ਏ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਜਿਸ ਦੇ ਸਵਾਦ ਅਨੇਕਾਂ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਜਿਸ ਦੇ ਤੇਲ 'ਚ ਬੱਤੀ ਜਗਦੀ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਜਿਸ ਵਿਚ ਦਰਦ ਦੀਆਂ ਤ੍ਰਾਟਾਂ ਸੁਪਨੇ ਤੇ ਰੰਗ ਹਨ ਆਮ ਜਿਹਾ ਇਕ ਚਿਹਰਾ ਕਿੰਨੀਆਂ ਹੀ ਚਿਹਰਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਕਸ਼ਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਲਕੀਰਾਂ ਨਕਸ਼ ਜੋ ਝਖੜਾਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਚ ਤਰਾਸ਼ੇ ਗਏ ਹਨ ਨਕਸ਼ ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੇ ਭੁੱਖਾਂ ਤ੍ਰੇਹਾ ਤ੍ਰਿਪਤੀਆਂ 'ਚੋ ਲੰਘ ਸੁਪਨਿਆਂ ਦਾ ਤਾਅ ਖਾਧਾ ਇਹ ਮੇਰਾ ਚਿਹਰਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਭਾਵੇਂ ਇਸ 'ਤੇ ਮੇਰੀਆਂ ਦੋ ਅੱਖਾਂ ਹਨ ਤੇ ਉਨਹਾਂ ਅੱਖਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਮੇਰੀ ਰੁਹ ਦਾ ਅਤੇ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ ਦਾ ਚਾਨਣ ਏ ਇਕ ਚਿਹਰਾ ਜੋ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਬੰਦੇ ਦਾ ਚਿਹਰਾ ਏ ਤਾਹੀਂ ਹਰ ਇਕ ਚਿਹਰਾ ਮੈਂਨੁ ਭਾਉਂਦਾ ਉਸ ਵਿਚ ਮੈਂ ਆਪਣੇ ਚਿਹਰੇ ਦਾ ਹਰਖ ਸੋਗ ਹਾਂ ਤੱਕਦਾ ਅਜੇ ਤਾਂ ਮੇਰਾ ਚਿਹਰਾ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਵਿਚੋਂ ਲੰਘ ਰਿਹਾ ਏ ਧੂੜਾਂ ਫੱਕਦਾ ਜਹਿਰ ਦਾ ਕੋੜਾ ਸਵਾਦ ਪਚਾਉਂਦਾ ਭਾਵੇਂ ਇਸ ਨੇ ਕਦੇ ਸੀ ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਪੀਤਾ ਤਾਂਹੀ ਤਾਂ ਇਹ ਅੱਜ ਤਾਈਂ ਜਿਉਂਦਾ ਏ ਸੁਪਨੇ ਸਿਰਜਦਾਂ ਹਾਂ ਮੈਂ ਉਂਜ ਤਾਂ ਆਮ ਜਿਹੀ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਹਾਂ ਆਦਿ ਕਾਲ ਦੇ ਚਾਨਣ ਨਾਲ ਜੋ ਗੁੰਨ੍ਹੀ ਗਈ ਏ I

Literary career

Sukhbir's first short story collection ''Dubda-Charda Suraj (Setting and Rising Sun)'' was published in 1957. The next year saw his collection of poems in print – ''Pairhan (The Footprints)''. His first novel ''Kach Da Shehar (The Crystal City)'' was published in 1960. By then, he had already become a renowned name, publishing in leading literary journals like ''Preet Larhi'' and ''Aarsi''. His works in Hindi were also published in magazines like ''Navneet'', ''Kadambari'', ''Parag'', ''Sarika'', and '' Dharamyug''. He published regularly in the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' and ''

Navbharat Times ''Navbharat Times'' (NBT) a Hindi newspaper distributed in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur. It is from the stable of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), which also publishes other dailies including ''The Times of India'', ''The Economic Tim ...

''. In the November 1973 issue of ''

Illustrated Weekly of India ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' was an English-language weekly newsmagazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 (as ''Times of India'' Weekly Edition; later renamed as ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' in 1923) and ceasing ...

'', the literary editor Nissim Ezekiel gave him an entire page for his poems – a rare honour at that time for a poet. In the early 1960s, he took up the translation of Russian works, funded by the Russian government. His most acclaimed translation is

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

's '' War and Peace'' in Punjabi as ''Jang te Aman''. Other translations include short stories, plays and letters of

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

Mikhail Sholokhov Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov ( rus, Михаил Александрович Шолохов, p=ˈʂoləxəf; – 21 February 1984) was a Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for writing about life ...

's ''

And Quiet Flows the Don ''And Quiet Flows the Don'' (''Quiet Flows the Don'' or ''The Silent Don'', russian: Тихий Дон, literally ''The Quiet Don'') is a novel in four volumes by Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov. The first three volumes were written from 192 ...

'', Askad Mukhtar's ''Sisters'' (Bhaina), and Konstantin Paustovsky's ''The Golden Rose'' (Sunehra Gulab). The Russian government used to honour the translators who translated important Russian works into native languages of India with an award and a short-period travel to Russia. However, the corrupt bureaucracy led to another writer getting the award that year, although Sukhbir's translation of ''War and Peace'' in Punjabi was published that year. The following year the awards were terminated. One of his unique contributions is the brilliant poetic character-sketches of illustrious personalities of Punjab like First Guru of Sikhs Guru Nanak,

, writer

Nanak Singh Nanak Singh, (b. 4 July 1897 as Hans Raj – 28 December 1971), was an Indian poet, songwriter, and novelist of the Punjabi language. His literary works in support of India's independence movement led the British to arrest him. He published nov ...

, Mohan Singh,

Amrita Pritam Amrita Pritam (; 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of wo ...

Kartar Singh Duggal Kartar Singh Duggal (1 March 1917 – 26 January 2012) was an Indian writer who wrote in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English. His works include short stories, novels, dramas and plays. His works have been translated into Indian and foreign la ...

, Rajinder Singh Bedi,

Balraj Sahni Brigadier Balraj (born Balasegaram Kandiah) was a senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Early life Balraj was the fifth and youngest child of Kandiah and Kannagias. He received his primary education in Kokkuthoduwaai ...

, Pyara Singh Sehrai, and Santokh Singh Dheer, which were published in the leading Punjabi monthly ''Dharti Da Suraj'' in February–April 2010. These were also published in the poetry collection ''Lafz te Leekan (Words and Lines)'' in 1989. He also wrote memoirs of literary personalities like Devinder Satyarthi. He did book reviews as well, the latest being the poetry collection Rishta by noted painter Imroz. Sukhbir wrote seven novels, 11 short story collections, and seven poetry collections. He published in Punjabi journals including ''Aarsi'' (now defunct), ''Nagmani'' (now defunct), ''Preet Lari'', ''Dharti Da Suraj'', and ''Akhar'', and all the Punjabi newspapers like ''Punjabi Tribune'', ''Navan Zamana'', and ''Desh Sewak''. He started the trend of financial remuneration for his writings and established himself as the first and only full-time freelance writer in Punjabi literature. Sukhbir believed letters to be a great source of information about a person's beliefs and values over time. He wrote various letters and articles on literary, political and social issues engaging in dialogue with truth, honesty, sympathy and reason. In this way he created a distinct genre in Punjabi literature. Being a reclusive and self-effacing person, Sukhbir stayed away from the literary cliques who controlled and ran literary circles, academies and universities in Punjab. He believed that awards and recognitions are given for extraneous considerations and not for literary merit or contributions. He decided not to accept any awards, nor attend any conferences and seminars for this reason.

Acclaim

Sukhbir's most acclaimed novel is ''Sarkaan Te Kamre (Streets and Rooms)'', dealing with the metropolitan life of Mumbai, which was published in 1964. It depicts the trials and tribulations of ambitious young people in the dream city of Mumbai. The title of the novel is poignantly evocative, telling the sad plight of dwellers of a metropolis who have no homes to live in, but have streets for the day and shabby rooms for the night. The novel was included in the post-graduate curriculum of Punjabi University, Patiala. His novel ''Adde-Paune (The Fragmented Ones)'' is a powerful portrayal of fragmented personalities in modern society. It is a bold theme in Punjabi literature to depict a gay hero in the work of fiction.

Literary works

Novels

* ''Kach da Shehar (The Crystal City)'', 1960 * ''Raat da Chehra (The Face of Night)'', 1961 * ''Paani te Pull (Water and the Bridge)'', 1962 * ''Gardish (The Wandering)'', 1962 * ''Sarkaan te Kamre (Streets and Rooms)'', 1964 * ''Tutti Hoi Kari (The Broken Link)'', 1965 * ''Adde-Paune (The Fragmented Ones)'', 1970

Story collections

* ''Dubda Charda Suraj (The Setting and Rising Sun)'', 1957 * ''Miti te Manukh (Earth and the Man)'', 1973 * ''Kaliya-kaariya (The Lonely Ones)'', 1973 * ''Baari Vichla Suraj (Sun in the Window)'', 1975 * ''Pani di Pari (The Water Fairy)'', 1980 * ''Ikai (The Unit)'', 1987 * ''Lori (The Lullaby)'', 1988 * ''Manukh te Jarhaan (Man and the Roots)'', 1988 * ''Sajje-Khabbe (Left and Right)'', 1989 * ''Ruki Hoi Raat (The Suspended Night)'', 2000 * ''Ik Hor Chardiwari (One More Fence)'', 2004 * ''Sukhbir Diyan Chonviyan Kahaniya (Selected Stories of Sukhbir)'', 2014 * ''Raat se Raat tak (Night to Night)'', 2015

Poetry collections

* ''Pairhan (The Footprints)'', 1964 * ''Nain Naksh (The Features)'', 1964 * ''Akhaan Waali Raat (A Night with Eyes)'', 1973 * ''Lafz te Leeka (The Words and the Lines)'', 1989 * ''Lahoo Libre Pair (The Blood-Stained Feet)'', 1992 * ''Sirnavan Samunder Da (The Address of the Sea)'', 2012 * ''Ibadatgahan (Places of Worship)'', 2013 * ''Vann-Trinn (Forest and Foliage)'', 2016

Translations

* Leo Tolstoy – ''Jung te Aman (War and Peace)'' * Maxim Gorky – ''Gorky Dia Kahaniyan (The Stories of Gorky)'', ''Gorky de Panj Natak (Five Plays of Gorky)'', ''Italy Dia Kahania (The Stories of Italy)'', ''Gorky de Khat (The Letters of Gorky)'' * Mikhail Sholokhov – ''Te Don Vehnda Reha (And Quiet Flows the Don)'', ''Navi Dharti Nave Siyad (Virgin Soil Upturned)'', ''Sholokhov Dia Kahania (The Stories of Sholokhov)'' * Konstantin Paustovsky – ''Sunehra Gulab (The Golden Rose)'',''Samay De Khambh ()'' * Nikolai Ostrovsky – ''Soorme Di Sirajana (How The Steel Was Tempered)'' * Vilis Latsis – ''Mahigir (The Son of the Fisherman)'' * Askad Mukhtar – ''Bhaina (Sisters)''

Books on Sukhbir

* ''Sukhbir Da Galap'' by Dr. Harvinder Kaur Chahal. Unistar Books Pvt. Ltd., Chandigarh, 2004, 81-7142-034-6 * ''Sukhbir: Antar-Jhaat'' by Dr. Chander Mohan, Chetna Parkashan, Ludhiana, Punjab, 2005, * ''Sukhbir: Kaav Nuhar'' by Dr. Chander Mohan, Ravi Sahit Prakashan, Amritsar, 2010, * ''Sukhbir: Kalam te Naksh'' by Dr. Chander Mohan, Ravi Sahit Prakashan, Amritsar, 2012 * ''Sukhbir: Simriti Granth'' Edited by Dr. Chander Mohan, Navyug Publishers, New Delhi, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukhbir Indian male novelists Punjabi-language writers Punjabi-language poets Hindi-language writers 2012 deaths 1925 births 20th-century Indian novelists Indian male short story writers Indian male essayists Writers from Mumbai 20th-century Indian essayists 20th-century Indian short story writers Novelists from Maharashtra Poets from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian male writers