Singing, writing or researching...she does all with soul

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 28

At 81, eminent educationist and writer Dr Iqbal Kaur came up with a song ‘dili nu jandyeo raheyeo, Guru tohade nal’ to motivate the farmers heading to New Delhi for demonstration against the recently enacted agricultural laws. Kaur had developed the skills of singing around 63 years ago during her stay at Preet Nagar, near Amritsar. She holds memories of literary personalities and singers such as Tera Singh Chann, Joginder Baharla and Amarjit Gurdaspuri close to heart; probably her source of inspiration.

“I often sing for myself but don’t record and upload on any social media platform. Now, I wanted to support the farmers so I have penned a song and then recorded it to upload on my Facebook account. People appreciated it,” she said.

Being a researcher, she is still active in her research work. “I have collected hundreds of traditional Punjabi boliyan and lammi hek de geet (folk songs) sung by women. Now, I am working on several aspects of these. They sing these songs and perform boliyan without any musical instrument. They only clap and tap with their feet to perform Gidha.” She has also written more than 100 boliyan on contemporary issues in which she expressed the sentiments of women facing contemporary challenges such as drug, honour killing and migration.

After retiring from the Punjabi department of GNDU in 1999, she continued her work for the Punjabi folk and culture. Apart from researching, she also wrote a book named Batwara and another on Partition of Punjab, recently.

“I was chairperson at Bhagat Namdev Chair in the university. I had written two books on Bhagat Namdev’s life and bani. Recently, I compiled a book of 35 stories named Budhe Theh Di Hook on Partition,” she shared.

Herself being a victim of Partition, she had witnessed violence and migration at the age of nine. Kaur is the daughter of Gehal Singh Chhajjalvadi, a freedom fighter, who was lost in blackness of the Partition.