KAMAL, AJAIB SINGH (1932 – )

Kamal, Ajaib Singh was born in the family of Babu Jung Singh at Village Dandin (Distt Hoshiarpur, Punjab). After completing his earlier education in his own district, he got his higher education in Khalsa College Mahilpur and then in Khalsa College Amritsar. He is a poet who has successfully travelled from traditionalism to modern sensibility. He started his literary career as a writer of ghazals but soon shifted to other forms of poetry.

He has written some successful verse-dramas such as Chaanak Anne Han, Hatheli te-Ugya Shehr, Dahri Wala Ghora, Urf Unniso Narrinve, and Langra Aasman. His forte is long poems, the dearth of which is very much felt in the realm of Punjabi poetry. His famous long poems are \’Khia Vich Latkde, Manukh\’, \’Ekotar so\’ \’Akban Wala Mahabarat\’, \’Singan Wala Devta\’, \’Khali Kursi da Dukhant\’, \’Banere te Baithi Aukh\’, \’Africa vich Nailer been\’, \’Likhtam Kala Ghora\’, etc. He has also written a few novels and books of criticism, but he is mainly known as a poet.

His nostalgic feelings have kept his poetic sensibility very near to the life of his motherland, in spite of the fact that he is living abroad for more than a decade. He is an ardent lover of Punjabi language, literature and culture. But he does not forget to enrich Punjabi poetic sensibility with such personal experiences, as he had the opportunity to gain during his long stay in foreign countries. Being a rebel by nature, he makes artistic and forceful use of satire in his poems. At times, he seems to be an advocate of diffused style—a modem trend in literary expression.

References :

1. Amarjit Singh, Punjabi sahit da itihas—Qissa kal, Amritsar, 1981.
2. Ramdev, Jaginder Singh (ed.), Punjabi Likhari Kosh, Jullundur, 1964.
3. Sekhon, S.S. and K.S. Duggal, A History of Punjabi Literature, Delhi, 1992.