Renowned Urdu author Joginder Paul passes away

Renowned Urdu litterateur and author Joginder Paul passed away on Friday after a prolonged illness. He was 90.

Paul had been suffering from age-related illness and was hospitalized for some weeks.

He is survived by his wife Krishna, sons Sudhir and Sunit, and daughter Sukrita.

A large number of relatives, friends and admirers attended the last rites here.

Born on September 5, 1925 in Sialkot in present day Pakistan, Paul migrated to India at the time of Partition. His mother tongue is Punjabi, but his primary and middle school education was in Urdu medium.

He did his M.A. in English literature, which he taught until he retired as the principal of a post-graduate college in Maharashtra. Paul chose to put his creative expression in Urdu language, as he believed that Urdu is "not a language but a culture" and for him writing is to be in the culture. He was part of the Progressive Urdu Writers' Movement.

Paul's fictional works are widely read not only in India but also in Pakistan. In all his writings he exposed social ills and all his characters are full of life and their struggles.

Among his works, Dharti ka Kaal (1961), Main kyun Socum (1962), Mati ka Idrak (1970), Khudu Baba ka Maqbara (1994), Parinde (2000), Bastiyan (2000) (all short stories), Nahin Rehman Babu (collection of short stories including some which were two liners), Amad va Raft (1975), Bayanat (1975) (both novelettes), Be Muhavara (1978), Be Irada (1981) (both short fiction), Nadid (1983), Khavab-i-rau (1991) (both novels) are most sought after.

The South Asian Literary Recordings Project (Library of Congress New Delhi Office) has acquired 22 works by and about him.

Paul won all the important awards that an Urdu writer can achieve. His awards include Iqbal Samman for 1999-2000, the SAARC Lifetime Achievement Award, and an Urdu writing award in Qatar.

Many of his stories and novels have been translated into different languages, including Hindi and English, by his wife Krishna Paul, daughter Sukrita, niece Usha Nagpal and many other authors.

He has also been the subject of study by young authors who have done extensive research papers on his writings for doctorates as he was an author far ahead of his times.

Paul was one of those rare storytellers who not only knew the story's past, present and future but interconnected these in a remarkable manner. The world of his stories is quite wide. Whether it be a of solitary housewife in which a lonely woman talks with the stove, the flour, pitcher or salt container or the broken pieces of division (symbolising partition).

--IANS

nagpal/rn