punjabi review
A life lived fully
Shalini Rawat

Halwarvi
edited by Sham Singh and Keher Sharif. Tarlochan Publishers, Chandigarh. Pages 128. Rs 125.

Harbhajan Singh Halwarvi’s life is like one of Turner’s canvasses. Painted with deft broad strokes, the events in it as tumultuous as the effect they produce, but nevertheless reflecting a strange tranquility. However, the palette here is far more variegated.

As far as his background goes, the predominant colour is red. His youth, juxtaposed against it, is a series of escapades both within and without, which end more or less with the drying up of the Naxalbari movement. This was also the time when he cut his intellectual teeth. The rest of his life is undulating strokes of luck.

Green, for his detractors, who pulled him down when he reached his peak, black for the untimely deaths of his mother, brother and wife, deep blue for the reflective prose and poetry hence born and finally white for the peace he found with his third wife and son. That, however, would be my analysis. He himself would rather choose yellows and rose-reds for celebrating the wonderful occasion called life. Going by the book, that is what his friends and dear ones insist. "Halwarvi was in love with life," they reiterate. Well, anyone who had lived on the edge like him for so long would probably be.

Back from being a castaway from the social mainstream, he opted for the pen-the mightier weapon, and rose to become the editor of prominent newspapers. During his stints in the Punjabi Tribune and Ajj di Awaaz, he steered these papers to new heights and encouraged intellectual debates. In fact, Punjabi Tribune was the only newspaper to stand up both to the militants as well as pro-establishment groups during the militancy era. Of course, he paid for his forthrightness, both personally and professionally, but remained undeterred. On the way, he received accolades and accepted brickbats good-humouredly for his literary works, including Pulan ton Paar which won him the Sahitya Akademi award.

This book, where unfortunately those who introduce us to Halwarvi have not been introduced themselves, offers us insights into the man he was. Many of his long-term associates and friends, whose essays have been included here, are prominent names in politics, literature and allied fields.

One essay after another details the accounts of a life well lived with tints of sadness at his untimely death. While Dr Joginder Singh Puar (Ex-VC Punjabi University) has fond memories of ‘Master Manohar Lal’ (the identity that Halwarvi assumed when he went underground in connection with Naxalite activities), Simranjit Singh Mann remembers him as one who emerged undaunted from imprisonment (Mann remembers him from his IPS days) and was always ready to jump headlong into any struggle for truth. Waryam Singh Sandhu, noted litt`E9rateur, recollects his happy-go-lucky and generous temperament as well as for being a friend you looked up to for encouragement and sincere advice. He also credits Halwarvi’s critical eye for assessing and streamlining many of his literary writings.

Almost everyone remembers him as being straightforward, clear-headed, a visionary as well as a profound analyst of the world around him and living out the nishkam karma philosophy. Although he yearned to live during the last days of his illness, he accepted emotional band aids from one and all with grace and dignity.

Transform into a song

Thus, spake Halwarvi. A fitting goodbye to a man who so lived and loved.

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