Batalvi lives in verse, but not in memorials

Time of India

5 days ago

Chandigarh: "Eh mera geet, kise na gana. Eh mera geet, main aape gaake, bhalke mar jana (This song of mine, no one will sing it. This song of mine, I will sing it myself, and by tomorrow, I shall be gone).
" Shiv Kumar Batalvi wrote these lines, maybe in a moment of prophetic defiance that no one else would sing his song, and that he alone would carry its pain to the grave.
Decades later, these words feel eerily true. Not because his poetry faded, it didn't. His verses echo across oceans, in Bollywood tracks and across social media. But in the very institutions where his journey began, Baring Union Christian College in his hometown Batala and Sikh National College in Qadian, there is silence.
No bust, no plaque, no literary corner.
If he would have been alive, Batalvi would have turned 89 on Wednesday. The youngest recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Batalvi completed his matriculation in 1953 and enrolled in Baring College but soon left, joining Sikh National College. He dropped out midway through his second year to join engineering in Himachal Pradesh, which also, he left. Yet even those brief years shaped his early journey.
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"There's so much curiosity about him.
People come from abroad, even researchers from other Indian states just to ask about his life, his home, his voice," said his nephew Rajiv Batalvi, 58, who still lives in the family house in Batala. "But in the places where he once studied, spent his formative years, there's no sign he was ever there. It's like no one thought he was worth remembering."
At Baring College, principal Ashwani Kansra said the lack of recognition may have been a case of the world catching up too late.
"The beauty and depth of his work weren't celebrated in his lifetime the way they are today. It took Bollywood, singers, and now social media to bring his poetry to the mainstream," Kansra said.
While he admitted that the college hasn't yet taken any steps to formally commemorate Batalvi, he added: "There is a growing sense of pride among students and faculty that such a voice once passed through this campus. If the moment feels right in the future, the college may explore a way to acknowledge that connection."
Sikh National College, Qadian, where Batalvi made the switch from Batala, has a similar absence. Principal Dr Harpreet Singh Hundal said Batalvi's name is one that carries immense literary weight. "His work is deeply respected by everyone. While our college hasn't marked legacies in a physical way, his presence is still there in what we teach," Hundal said.
"We follow Sikh principles and do not create personal memorials or remembrances.
That is why we haven't named anything after anyone, not even Balbir Singh Senior, the legendary hockey player who studied at our college when it was still in Lahore," said Col Jasmer Singh Bala (retd), honorary secretary of the Sikh Educational Society, which runs Sikh National College, Qadian. "However, we are planning to introduce a poetry competition in Shiv Kumar Batalvi's name.
"
And yet, for those who walk the same corridors as Batalvi once did, the erasure feels stark.
No sign, no story, no shared memory. Just his words, growing louder in their absence.
Still, a formal event is scheduled tomorrow in Batala, to "commemorate" Batalvi's legacy at the auditorium named after him. Rajiv Batalvi said he received a call from the state government inviting him to attend. The Shiv Kumar Batalvi Auditorium itself tells the same story- its foundation stone was laid back in 1980 by the then Punjab Governor, but the building remained unopened for nearly three decades, only becoming functional in 2016.
"It's not unusual," Rajiv said. "With Shiv, recognition has always arrived late, and mostly on paper."