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Shiv Kumar Batalvi Sb was that Son of the soil that Sialkot should be proud of. He was one of the greatest Punjabi poets of this modern era. He was born on 23 July 1936 (though a few documents related to him state 8 October 1937) in village Bara Pind Lohtian, Shakargarh Tehsil, Sialkot District, to Pandit Krishan Gopal, village Patwari later tehsildar. In 1947, when he was aged 11, his family moved to Batala, Gurdaspur district after partition of India.
He completed his matriculation in 1953, from Panjab University, and enrolled in the F.Sc. program at Baring Union Christian College, Batala, though before completing his degree he moved to S.N. College, Qadian, where he joined the Arts program more suited to his persona, though he left that too in the second year. Thereafter he joined a school at Baijnath, Himachal Pradesh to do a diploma in Civil Engineering, here again he left it in the middle. Next he studied for some time at Govt. Ripudaman College, Nabha.
Later in life, his father got a job as patwari at Qadian, it was during this period, that he produced some of his best work. His first anthology of poems was published in 1960, titled Piran da Paraga (The Scarf of Sorrows), which became an instant success.
In 1965, he became the youngest recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967, for his magnum opus, a verse play Loona (1965).
There was a famous incident happened after winning the award. He also received a handsome amount along with the award but he didn’t take a single paisa to his home, he let all his fellow writers have much drink as they could in the most famous bar of the city. One of his old class mates of Batala told that Shiv Kumar was such a talent that he used to sit on the last bench and could write a poem in one minute....he didn’t think for hours before writing a poem and whenever he felt like writing, he wrote two three poems in few minutes. He was a born God gifted writer. I also heard years ago that once Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was to visit Punjab and he asked then the CM Punjab famous Partap Singh Kairon to send a special invitation to Shiv Sb for reciting a poem or two at the occasion. On the day of the occasion Shiv got into the bus with one of his friends and set forth for the event. When they were just forth for the event, they were just within reaching distance of their destination, Shiv’s friend asked what he had written for the event. Shiv game him some money and asked him to get some whiskey whenever the bus stopped. When he came back with the whiskey, Shiv had all of it and took the bus ticket out of his pocket and wrote a poem on the backside of it within seconds. Apart from the fantastic content of that poem the way he sang it in front of Nehru bestowed him a standing ovation that evening.
His charisma was such that his face represented handsomeness as well as sadness and tragedy. He was a true son of Sialkot and Punjab. Some of his poetry is too difficult to understand for our generation. He has used the original old words and terms of Punjabi, the words forgotten by even the modern rural folk but those words and lines are entrenched with exceptionally crated smiles and metaphors, and when we understand those words then we would come to know why Shiv is regarded as one of the greatest Punjabi writers of modern era. He wrote Pooran Bhagat “LOONA” at such a young age that poets and writers put their fingers in their mouth and couldn’t measure his level of maturity in such an early age.
Once he was staying with his friend in Chandigarh and couldn’t manage to get whiskey. His friend explained him that he had nothing to offer as he did not have a single drop of alcohol at his home. Shiv laughed and said, “if you have a motorcar you have whiskey, how can you give an excuse while have four wheels under you”. Then they both sat in the car and started their journey towards Himachal. On the way he saw a girl going upwards the hill and he started reciting a FILBADEEH NAZM “pahadan”. It was such a marvellous poem that his friend offered him to stop the car and note it as he was afraid that he could not remember it once they reach home back but Shiv refused to stay as he was thirsty to wet his throat with the whiskey. After reaching home and pouring the whole bottle in his throat he took the piece of the paper and wrote the poem in one go.
His poetry recitations, and singing his own verse, made him and his work even more popular amongst the masses. He is known for his romantic poetry. Other than the famous Lona his poetical works are Peeran Da Paraga (1960), Lajwanti (1961), Aate Dian Chirian (1962), Mainu Vida Karo (1963), Birha Toon Sultan (1964, a selection), Dardmandan Deean Aaheen (1964), Loonan (1965), Main Te Main (1970), and Aarti (1971).
He fell in love with Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari's daughter who left for the US and married someone else. When he heard of the birth of her first child, Shiv wrote 'Main ek shikra yaar banaya', perhaps his most famous love poem. It's said that when she had her second child, someone asked Shiv whether he would write another poem. Shiv replied "Have I become responsible for her? Am I to write a poem on her every time she gives birth to a child?"
In May 1972, Shiv visited England on the invitation of Dr. Gupal Puri and Mrs. Kailash Puri. When he arrived in England, his popularity and fame had already reached a high point among the Punjabi community. His arrival was announced in the local Indian papers with headlines and pictures.
His engagements in England were regularly reported in the local Indian media and the BBC Television once interviewed him. While Punjabi community got their opportunity to listen to Shiv on various occasions, his stay in London proved to be the last straw for his failing health. He would stay late and continue to drink until 2:00 or 2:30 in the morning at parties or at home engaged in discussions with his hosts and other people who would come to visit him. He would wake up after a short sleep around 4:00 A.M. and begin his day by again taking a couple of sips of Scotch. When Shiv returned from England in September 1972, his health had declined visibly. He was in a dire financial predicament during those days and felt that most of his friends had deserted him in his time of need. His wife Arun, somehow managed to get him admitted in a hospital in Sector 16 of Chandigarh where he received treatment for a few days. A couple of months later, he was admitted in a hospital in Amritsar, but left it on his own against the advice of his doctors. He didn't want to die in a hospital and simply walked out of the hospital and went to his family home in Batala. He was later shifted to the village of his in-laws, Kiri Mangial, a small village near the border with Pakistan. Shiv Kumar Batalvi died in Kiri Mangial on 6th May, 1973.
He was sung by Deedar Singh Pardesi. Jagjit Singh-Chitra Singh, Surinder Kaur, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali, Hans Raj Hans, Mahendra Kapoorand Asa Singh Mastana. In 2004, Punjabi play titled Dardaan Da Darya based on the life of Shiv Kumar was performed at 'Punjab Kala Bhavan', Chandigarh.
Several of his poems have been adapted for movies, e.g. "Ajj Din Chhadeya Tere Rang Varga," etc.
Babar Nasrullah Khan
Daska, District Sialkot.
(help from Wikipedia is also taken in writing this article)
