Author: Uma Trilok
Translator(s)/ Edito: Isma Salim
Publisher: Penguin/Yatra
Year: 2006
Language: Urdu
Pages: 131
ISBN/UPC (if available): 014310120X
Description
Acclaimed as the doyenne of Punjabi literature, Amrita Pritam received many awards, including India’s highest literary award, the Jnanpith, in 1981. Born in Gujranwala, now in Pakistan, in 1919, she came to India after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Her best-known work is a classic poem, addressed to the great eighteenth-century Sufi poet Waris Shah, in which she laments the carnage of Partition and calls on him to give voice from his grave. Amrita met Imroz, a well-known artist, in the 1960s and they became lifelong companions. They stayed together for more than forty years, till her death, after a long illness, in October 2005.
Amrita–Imroz: A Love Story offers living glimpses of the ‘sacred hymn’ of Amrita Pritam and Imroz’s life together. Uma Trilok had the rare opportunity to witness their remarkable love story and the passionate bond that they shared for so many years. In this moving tribute she communicates her sense of deep wonder at their unique and unconventional relationship, as also her profound admiration for the creative energy of these two extraordinary individuals.
When I wrapped myself with your being
Our bodies turned inwards in contemplation
Our limbs intertwined
Like blossoms in a garland
Like an offering at the altar of the spirit
Our names, slipping out of our lips,
Became a sacred hymn . . .
(from Adi Dharam by Amrita Pritam)