MANY years ago Gurbachan was Gurbachan Singh Azad. Then he became Gurbachan Singh. Now with age and experience, he has shed the suffixes and has become plain Gurbachan. Maybe, with advance in age and further experience, he becomes Guruor Bachan; only time will tell.
With the inverse application of the law of diminishing returns to his name, his literary output has increased when he decided to become a Punjabi writer, he brought out four books in one year, He can repeat the performance if he decides to write in any other language.
Gurbachan’s latest books “Sahitnama” (Balraj Sahni Yadgaar Prakashan, Chandigarh) and “Sanrachnawad de AarPar” (Aarsi Publishers, Delhi) are an important vent in the world of Punjabi letters. ‘Sahitnama” is a collection of the author’s 24 essays which had earlier appeared in newspapers and journals. These are important for their audacity. of expression, which very few Punjabi writers can afford to flaunt. Gurbachan is a critic in the lethal sense of the term. He criticizes writers, their works literary brokers, the so-called connoisseurs of culture, politicians and bureaucrats. He dips his pen in poison, and then uses it like a scimitar smiting those who do not fit into his framework. The cutting edge of words captivates him. In this sense he is a follower of Harbhajan Singh whose views on language he passionately shares.
As a critic of present-day Punjabi literary culture, Gurbachan has locked horns with Haribhajan Singh, Ajit Kaur, Swarm Chandan and others. There have been raging controversies with hectic mudslinging and washing of dirty linen in public.
According to the author, the world of Punjabi letters has of late become a scandal as the literary scene has been usurped by literary brokers and go between, unscrupulous pen pushers and commission agents who organize world conferences and sundry functions, manipulate awards and honors for those who deserve to be dumped in garbage cans.
The most prominent signifier that ‘occurs in all these essays is the “consumer culture” which has overwhelmed one and all. Literary honor core award is a deal struck for extraneous reasons. The reading public in Punjabi has declined sharply with the invasion of the electronic media, The number of readers and writers is about the same, A genuine writer is like a bonded laborer, sentenced to drudgery and lifelong deprivation, whereas the literary brokers and commission agents are rolling in uncounted wealth.
Gurbachan is equally harsh on Punjabi publishers, many of whom have grown old cheating the authors, ‘The future of Punjabi books is dismal, There are no buyers and no readers, Books are dumped in libraries which are mostly run on government grants or they are stored at places like the Delhi Academy where white ants feast on them, In the libraries in mofussil areas books containing a lot of literary rubbish within their covers are perched comfortably on shelves and tum yellow and brittle waiting for readers.
The literary activist who manipulates to secure a position in literary organizations and academies uses it to advance his own career and at times ‘manages to get residential plot from the discretionary quota of the Chief Minister. Literary awards, honors, patronage, seminars, conferences and behind them the glitter of the pound sterling and the dollars have made the Punjabi language literature and culture a captive of rank manipulators.
According to Gurbachan, their emancipation requires a total dismantling of the present structure of anachronistic institutions. A new tribe of writers has emerged on the horizon who are mere noisemakers, serving the interests of the establishment because the real issues are drowned in their cacophony. Many such literary agents have been let loose by the powers that ‘beto confuse and mislead the people’s consciousness. This technique the part of the advertisement blitz of modern consumer culture, in which the media acts as a pimp in the service of the ruling circles. Some of the essays in “Sahitnama” are about the writers for whom Gurbachan has soft comer, Writers like Paash, Sumit, Gurdial, Jaguar, Gargi, Shashi Samundra, Harinder Mehboob and so on are mercifully spared and even lauded.
There are certain lapses here and there, The write-ups mostly deal with the person of the writer rather than his writings. For instance in a longish piece on Balwant Gargi’s “Actress”, only four lines are about the nine TV plays, all else is about the “glory” of the author, All in all, “Sahitnama” is crisp and readable, though sarcastic and scandalous in patches.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 7, 1995
