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 of Shiv Kumar Batalvi were continuously being reported in the local Indian newspapers.
A proof of greatness in Shiv Kumar was recorded in England, when BBC Television called to interview him. Mahendra Kaul from BBC interviewed him, which was later released publicly, and it is the only known video of Shiv Kumar Batalvi we have. In the interview Mahendra Kaul asked what made Shiv a poet, to which he replied, “Poetry is not an Accident. Some people think love gives birth to poetry, others say it is sadness or frustration, my poetry had all of these.” Another great statement he made in the interview, which is considered to be the most memorable is, “ Life is a Slow Suicide, and it is happening to every intellectual out there.”.
In his stay at London, Shiv would stay late and drink alcohol till 2 A.M. in the night. He used to take short sleep and start his day with Scotch and get busy with the events. Shiv never disappointed any fan of literature there, he met everyone who came there to see him.
In September 1972, Shiv Kumar returned to India, his health had declined visibly. Shiv complained about the undue criticism of his work from the leftist writers. He was then more open about his poetry, disappointments he had from the world, his differences with his father and other important incidents of his life. In November 1972 his situation started getting critical and he never recovered from this again. At the time when he was not earning any money with his critical health, the family was facing a major financial crisis. Shiv believed his friends never came to help him in these tough days, another disappointment was added in the list. His wife Aruna managed to admit him in a hospital at Chandigarh where he spent a few days, after a couple of months he got admitted to a hospital in Amritsar. He never wanted to die in a hospital, so going against the advice of doctors there, Shiv decided to shift to his home in Batala.
Later he moved to his in-laws village in Gurdaspur, near to the Borders of Pakistan. Finally his pain and grief ended, Shiv Kumar Batalvi died in Kiri Mangial during the early morning hours of May 6, 1973.
Comments
Post a Comment