Shiv's Life in Chandigarh

Shiv Kumar Batalvi moved to Chandigarh with many hopes and expectations of a better life, but four years of his life in this city gave him a lot of disappointments. While his stay in Chandigarh, Shiv was at peak of his success, he had fame, recognition and respect of the literary audiences, which every artist aims to achieve. Shiv was least interested in his job at the State Bank of India. There he was given the charge of books lying around the bank, for which Shiv simply kept a register on which one can make an entry and take a book of his wish available there. Later he was shifter to the work of Public Relations, but his attitude towards the work remained same.

Shiv Kumar used to live in a house at Sector 21 of Chandigarh. It is said that he spent most of his Chandigarh days at the watch shop of Preetam Kanwal Singh, which was close to the liquor shops of Sector 22. It was a small booth type shop, where Shiv used to come in the morning and stay there till evening, sometimes he used to lie behind the counter to take rest. When the day sky started getting dark, Shiv could be found in the Writers’ Corner of Sector 22. There is also a great story associate with Shiv and the birth of Writers’ Corner. On the day when Shiv moved to Chandigarh, he and his fellow poets decided to meet, and as usual they decided to have a poetic evening. Bhushan Dhyanpuri, Mohan Bhandari, Bhagwant Singh and a few other fellow poets met at a square in Sector 22, celebrating the meet they decided to name the place as Writers’ Corner. They immediately sent a young boy around there to get a sign board with ‘ Writers’ Corner ’ written on it. They hanged the board there, Shiv with fellow poets inaugurated the place, which today is also known as Battian Wala Chowk (The Square of Traffic Lights) of Sector 22-23. The places around Sector 22-23 were known as the hub of literary events, and about 25 authors used to stay near this place in Chandigarh.

The continuous harsh criticism of his work from a specific set of persons impacted his mental health a lot. During the last couple of years in his life at Chandigarh, it was reported that Shiv had a few epilepsy and panic attacks. Before these incidents, Shiv was known for his intelligence, melodious voice, painful poetry, and his quick-witted attitude. He was the guy whose presence completed the events and literary gatherings. Now his mental and physical health issues were quite public and can be seen in his social life and events he attended. During these days Shiv turned to an actual alcoholic, he started talking more about philosophy and death, became more open minded, and presented his sorrows and disappointments to his people.

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Trip to England & Shiv Kumar’s Death Chapter

From 1968 to 1972 the four years of Chandigarh gave both fame and pain to Shiv. Wishing for some peace and to get a change in his life, Shiv was looking for a trip abroad, which was fulfilled by the invitation for a trip to England, from Dr. Gurpal Puri and Mrs Kailash Puri. When he reached England he realised that his work has the same popularity in the Punjabi Community of other lands too. His arrival was announced in the local newspapers of India with big headlines and photographs. He had a busy time in England too, many public and private shows were organized for him. The very first function after his arrival was organised by Dr. Gurpal Puri in Coventry (a city in England). Kuldip Takhar, Santokh SinghSantokh and Tarsem Piurewal, the famous poets of that time, also attended the event. Another big public event was organised in Rochester for his honour. It was said that S. Sobha Singh flew to England at his own expense, especially to attend events of Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Events o...

Thoughts of Shiv Kumar Batalvi's Friends and Family About Him

The most common term or phrase his fans use to describe him is Birha Da Sultaan (The King of Sadness). In this post of the Blog, we will talk about the stories associated with the name of Shiv Kumar and the opinions of fellow poets and his friends. Once Shiv Kumar Batalvi mentioned that he was sitting with Amrita Pritam (Punjabi Poetess) and Achla Devi (Bollywood Actor), when he started singing his poems in front of them they both got emotional and he could see tears in their eyes. To break the sadness in the environment Shiv stopped his singing in between. When Shiv released his first anthology Peeran Da Paraga (The Scarf-full of Sorrows) in 1960, Amrita Pritam was so touched with his work that she wrote a letter to Shiv, a copy of which can be seen in the photograph below. Amrita blessed him for the pain in his poems writing, “ May the Pain in your Poems live Forever. I don’t know whether your Pain is a Blessing or a Curse ”. Bhushan Dhianpuri, a fellow poet, who was in Chandig...

Shiv Kumar Batalvi Getting into Poetry

After the partition, the Kumar family settled down in Darussalam Mohalla of Batala, which is now known as Prem Nagar. Shiv’s father always wanted to see his son getting the best possible education and building a respectable career ahead, but Shiv had his mind involved in Literature. After completing his matriculation in first division from Punjab University in 1953, following his father’s insistence, he got himself enrolled in F.sc. program at Baring Union Christian College of Batala. Although he spent 2 years there, he ended up getting dropped out for not appearing in the final examinations. Then he enrolled in R.D. College, Nabha, where he spent the next few months, but again left the college. Shiv finally got admission to another college named S.N. College, Qadian (a town in Batala) in arts subject, but dropped out again after spending a couple of years there. Because of never attempting the final examinations of any of these colleges, Shiv Kumar never got any degree qualification. ...

Shiv Kumar Batalvi

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