Amrit Varsha Sewak — the bold and beautiful lady

It becomes of a well-meaning human being to live and love life equally well. Amrit Varsha Sewak has been such a human who lived life in all its shades as it came to her. I never ever found her low in spirits since I knew her in the late seventies as Dr Satya Nand Sewak’s life-companion at her home and beyond. At home, she was the lady of home and hearth, and on or around ‘the stage’, she was Amrit Varsha acting in or directing a play written by her Man, Dr Sewak. The actors would often talk kind words about her like ‘Madam would feed them too like an empathetic mother while getting late at rehearsals at her home’. The couple would be writers, directors and producers at the same time, besides being host to the actors who would be generally Dr Sewak’s students from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

The theatre-couple founded Ludhiana Kala Manch in 1976 with a passion to contribute to Punjabi theatre by way of training youngsters, and also work for creating awareness among them about human relations vis-a-vis society by writing and staging short plays to start with. “Farhad”, “Madari” and “Jeevan Manch” were the earlier plays written and directed by the Sewak couple. Amrit Varsha would invariably be on the front during rehearsals and production. Numerous more plays followed slowly but steadily, and the recent one has been “Mera Yaar” on the life and sacrifice of Kartar Singh Sarabha, a prominent hero of the struggle for Independence. This play was also published and the book was released on February 2. 2019. But Mrs Sewak could not grace the event in Ludhiana as she was not having good health post a surgical procedure in Delhi. She asked her Man to be around the ceremony. Such was our Amrit Varsha Sewak, the bold and beautiful lady.

She was recovering steadily, but providence had other designs. She said adieu to us all on February 19, 2019, just short of 82 years of age by mere 30 days. On March 19, 2019, she would have been celebrating her 83rd birthday amidst the big family consisting of four well-settled sons and their families. No doubt she was a bit weaker due to illness, but her grit for life was alive as ever.

Such humans are hard to be lost for family, friends and society at large, but it has to be. Death has no alternative in life. Her four sons are unanimous in observing: “Mama was a mother, a nurse, a teacher and a philosopher to them; she will be a blessing for us all our lives”. May her life keep inspiring us all!

Bade adieu on Feb 19

She was recovering steadily, but providence had other designs. She said adieu to us all on February 19, 2019, just short of 82 years of age by mere 30 days. On March 19, 2019, she would have been celebrating her 83rd birthday amidst the big family consisting of four well-settled sons and their families. 

— Write-up by Dr MS Aulakh