Batala: The 51st death anniversary of world famous Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi, who spent his childhood and youth in Mohalla Peram Nagar Dara Salam of Batala in district Gurdaspur, is being celebrated on Monday, May 6. On this day, where the whole world pays tribute to him, Shiv Batalvi will be remembered in Batala too. Kavi Darbar and Shiva's ghazals will be sung at Shiv Auditorium Batala on Monday.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi was born on 23 July 1936 to Pandit Krishna Gopal in Bada village Lotian village of Chakargarh tehsil of Pakistan. After India-Pakistan partition, his father Pandit Krishna Gopal along with his entire family settled in Mohalla Peram Nagar Dara Salam of Batala city of district Gurdaspur. Pandit Krishna Gopal was a Patwari by profession. Shiv Kumar passed 10th in the year 1953 and later joined Baring Union Christian College, Batala and before completing his degree from here, he joined Sikh National College Qadian. Shiv Kumar Batalvi fell in love with a girl during his college days and the said girl also loved Shiv Kumar Batalvi very much but the girl's father took him abroad on some pretext and married the girl there. After this, Shiva started writing poetry in love with that girl. Shiv Kumar wrote first…
Maa Nim Maa, I have made Shikra, friend,
If you hit him he will not eat.
We ate the meat of the heart,
A flight hit them like this
But he did not return to his country.
After this, a girl's name Mohabbat Ghoan Hai Ghoan Hai was written. Kumar Batalvi continued to write about the grief of his beloved, until one day he met Pandit Barkat Ram Yuman, a resident of Batala, who was a well-known master poet of Punjab and he accepted him as his master and started understanding his rams. The poetry of Ustad Barkat Ram Yuman and Shiv Kumar transformed him from Shiv Kumar to Shiv Kumar Batalvi. After the death of the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 27 May 1964, Shiv Kumar Batalvi presented his composition 'Aj Dharti Ka Babul Moya, Saari Dharat Naroi Ae' from the Red Fort, Delhi, the discussion about which started in the year 1965. Shiv Kumar Batalvi won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book 'Luna'. Shiv Kumar Batalvi's marriage took place on 5 May 1967. Shiv Kumar reached Mangeyal village of Gurdaspur district with a wedding procession on the banks of river Ravi where he got married to Aruna Sharma. On 12 April 1968, a son was born to Shiv Kumar Batalvi, whom Aruna and Shiv together named Meharbaan. On 23 September 1969, a daughter was born to them, whom they named Pooja. Shiv ruled the big stages of foreign countries with his poetry and when Meherban was only five years old and daughter Pooja was four years old, Shiv Kumar Batalvi died on 7 May 1973 in his in-laws village Mangeyal. Mangeyal village is now in district Pathankot where a library has been built in his name. An auditorium has been built in Batala in the name of Shiv Kumar Batalvi.