In Memory of Harinder Singh Mehboob

“Grand harmony aims at elevating every unit of social and cultural life to the height of heroic majesty”
– Harinder Singh Mehboob (1937-2010)

Revered Punjabi poet, Harinder Singh Mehboob, passed away on Sunday night leaving behind a significant mark on the map of Punjabi literature.  Mehboob, who had also worked as Principal of Khalsa College Gardhiwala, had written Sahji Rachio Khalsa and Jhanan Di Raat, a book on poetry which he received an award for in 1991.  The Sahiyta Award was not without controversy.  Regardless, Mehboob’s work will continue to be appreciated by the community:

Jhanan Di Raat which wins Sahitya Akademi Award for Punjabi is his second major publication. A collection of over two hundred poems, written over a period of three decades, in seven anthologies of poetry now published as one volume, Jhanan Di Raat is a formidable work both in conception and in content. The stylistic range and virtuosity reflected by this 828 page volume is enormous; and while the ideological orientation and the concerns of the age as reflected in the poems change gradually, the poet’s warm humanism is always extent.

The poet’s synthesis of the folk poetic traditions with contemporary trends is a distinctive feature; and a recurrent theme is his deep nostalgia for the past glory of Punjab. For its variety of styles, images and metaphors, its vastness of scope, its amalgamation of modern diction with folk-forms and its poetic intensity, this work is regarded as an outstanding contribution to Indian poetry in Punjabi. [link]

He will be remembered and appreciated for elevating Punjabi literature and for his important contributions to the Qaum.