PIONEER PUNJABI WRITERS-1

GURBUX SINGH PREETLARI

Gurbax Singh Preetlari

Preet Nagar dream dies a painful death
Varinder Walia

Noor Jehan’s Aramgah which later housed the printing press A modern house has replaced Balraj Sahni’s kothi

Preet Nagar, the “locality of love and friendship”, which used to be the hub of renowned Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu writers, artistes during the pre-Partition days has fallen on bad days. The place, a visit to which was pilgrimage for many, now wears a desolate look.
The story of Preet Nagar is the tale of how the progressive ethos and culture of the Punjabi literary sensibility was shaped and nurtured during the cultural renaissance, before the Partition. The township was a showcase of the composite Indian culture, which encouraged community living and established its own brand of philosophy that produced many writers, poets and artistes. These culture pioneers set a new trend among the contemporary Indian intellectuals and this trend was bereft of the British influence.
Most of the majestic buildings have fallen apart. The majestic residence of the great film actor and Punjabi writer Balraj Sahni has been replaced with a modern house. There is no trace of the Langar Hall (community kitchen), where residents of Preet Nagar would partake of the common food. During the good old days, no separate kitchen was run in any of the house in this unique township. Womenfolk of Preet Nagar would perform kitchen duties by turn.
The common dairy building has also disappeared. The residence of great artiste Sobha Singh, which was one of the first eight houses, is in shambles. The building of Aramgah (resting place) of Noor Jahan, which later housed printing press, is in a dilapidated condition. The house Diwan Singh, father of Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Arora (of Bangladesh war fame), too, has disappeared. The major portion of the Activity School, a world famous residential school where students from different countries used to study, has been pulled down. However, a few houses, which have been preserved in original shape, include the residences of the novelist Nanak Singh and two big houses owned by the family of Preetlari.
It was the USA-returned civil engineer, Mr Gurbax Singh, who had established the township that was at equidistance between Amritsar and Lahore. Gurbax Singh Preetlari, through his personal charisma, brought people like Bhisham Sahni, Balraj Sahni, Nanak Singh, celebrity artiste Sobha Singh and father of Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Arora of Bangladesh war fame, apart from associating Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sahir Ludhianvi Upendra Nath Ashq and Kartar Singh Duggal, playwright Balwant Gargi, poets Mohan Singh, Sahir Ludhianvi and Amrita Pritam — the best talent of the time — with Preet Nagar. The cultural activities in Preet Nagar, revolutionary in nature, shook the British Government and many actors, including the daughters of Gurbax Singh, were picked up by the police and put behind the bars for staging revolutionary plays.
Gurbax Singh could visualise the shattering of his dream during his own life. The first blow to this model village, which Gurbax Singh wanted to develop into another Shantiniketan, came when the country was partitioned in 1947. Another setback came when the border township witnessed the ugly days of terrorism. Sumeet, grandson of Gurbax Singh, and young editor of Preetlari was gunned down in February 1984 when he was only 30. His widow Poonam took over the responsibility of editing the magazine. Two more attacks were engineered on the Preetlari family, including that on Hirdaypal Singh, the then-Editor of Bal Sandesh and younger son of Gurbax Singh by militants.


Gurbax Singh started Preetlari in 1933. The motto of Preetlari which reads Kise dil sanjhe di dharkan, kise preet-geet di lay ,pate Preetlari de dassan, jis vich proti sabho shai(A common heartbeat of so many, the symphony of a love-lyric, with everything in it).
Deeply shocked to see most buildings in ruins, Ms Urmila Anand, daughter of the founder of Preet Nagar writes, “Many unfamiliar people have come over to Preet Nagar. When we used visit Preet Nagar earlier, we had to think whom to go and meet first. Now people pass us by on the roads. Neither they recognise us nor do we recognise them. We have become strangers for them.”
Dhani Ram Chatrak, a famous Punjabi poet, was instrumental in getting Gurbax Singh a large tract of land at a reasonable price near Amritsar. According to Mr Hirdaypal Singh, the land was bought at one paisa per acre. Sadly, Preet Nagar now belongs to the haze of history.
However, the South Asian Foundation (SAF), and Mr Madanjit Singh, a goodwill ambassador to UNESCO and contemporary of Gurbax Singh Preetlari, the founder of Preet Nagar, have endeavored to revive the intellectual spirit of Preet Nagar. While recalling his association with Preet Nagar, he said that Preet Nagar was in focus for being the melting pot of Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu writers and poets.
They lived together here as a homogeneous group. They discussed the influence of Sufi saints, the teachings of the Sikh gurus and others in the peaceful environment.
He said the selection of Preet Nagar came naturally to him.
Recently, the daughter of the famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Prof Salima Hashmi, and her husband, Shoaib Hashmi, besides a renowned theatre promoter, Madiha Gohar from Lahore, and a Pakistani group of Sufi singers, Niazi brothers participated in the nightlong celebrations to celebrate Madanjit Singh’s 80th birthday.
Professor Hashmi said though she had never been to Preet Nagar, her father had often talked about his experiences of this place.
Articulating her views on the present state of Indo-Pak relations, she said the time had come for these man-made boundaries to disappear, so that people from the two countries could once again interact at an intellectual level. She said it was like a homecoming for her. Madiha Gohar said she would soon produce a play on the lives of people closely associated with Preet Nagar.
“The play would depict the depth of our composite culture, which has withstood the trauma of the Partition and the hatred between the two nations,” she added.

— Photos by Rajiv Sharma

Nehru’s visit

Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, who later became the first Prime Minister of India, visited Preet Nagar on May 23, 1942. Impressed by the “dream township”, he scribbled on the Visitors’ Book “All good wishes to this enterprise which is full of promise and so full of ideals in this world today of conflict and disharmony. It is good to see good men and women labouring in this brave effort”

‘Oasis in desert’

On her visit to Preet Nagar on November 22, 1941, Nora Richard, a British lady and veteran of Punjabi theatre, described the model school in Preet Nagar as the most fascinating destination for education. She wrote, “Activity School is an oasis in a desert in more ways than one.”
Guru Dayal Malik of Shantiniketan was specially deputed by Rabindranath Tagore to visit Preet Nagar on June 30, 1941. He wrote in the Visitors’ Book, “I am on pilgrimage to Preet Nagar, believing as I do that it is miniature map of India in the making. It is the ideal of community building on the basis of mutual service and sacrifice….To me, Preet Nagar is sister of Shantiniketan.”

                                          -Courtesy: The Tribune, Chandigarh