Jalandhar:- A magnificent literary program was organized at the Punjab Press Club, Jalandhar, to celebrate the 73rd birthday of prominent writer Prof. Sandhu Varianvi, General Secretary of the Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha (Regd.), by Shabadan De Ang-Sang in collaboration with Shairan Di Duniya. The presidium included Prof. Sandhu Varianvi, Dr. Lakhwinder Johal, Dr. Gulzar Singh Pandher, Dr. Dharampal Sahil, Kuldeep Singh Bedi, Dr. Kanwal Bhalla, and Prof. Baldev Singh Balli.
Jagdish Rana, who moderated the stage, mentioned that he had celebrated Prof. Sandhu Varianvi’s birthday in 2025 with a large literary gathering. He added that this year, five poets were being honored with memorial awards, and similar honors would be bestowed upon five or more poets every year to celebrate his birthday.
On this occasion, the first Ustad Ulfat Bajwa Memorial Award was given to Hardial Hoshiarpuri, the first Nand Lal Noorpuri Memorial Award to Naksh Varianvi, the first Narinder Prakash Khedi Memorial Award to K. Sadhu Singh, the first Folk Poet Gurdas Ram Alam Memorial Award to Navtej Garhdiwala, and the first Mohinder Singh Deewana Memorial Award to folk poet Jagdish Rana.
The speakers shared their thoughts on the poetry and personality of the aforementioned figures: Dr. Lakhwinder Johal spoke on Nand Lal Noorpuri, Kuldeep Singh Bedi on Ulfat Bajwa, Dr. Dharampal Sahil on Mohinder Singh Deewana, Chetan Saroop and Paramjit Mahe on Narinder Prakash Khedi, and Mittar Manjit on Gurdas Ram Alam. Similarly, Prof. Baldev Singh Balli spoke about Navtej Garhdiwala, Dr. Gulzar Singh Pandher about K. Sadhu Singh, Dr. Kanwal Bhalla about Jagdish Rana, Nakkash Chittiwan about Naksh Varianvi, and Kulwinder Gakhal about Hardial Hoshiarpuri. The honored poets added charm to the program by reciting one of their compositions each.
During the event, Resham Chitrakaar from the Darpan Sahit Sabha, Shaila Khurd, honored Prof. Sandhu Varianvi by presenting him with a painting he had created. The Navi Chetna Punjabi Lekhak Manch and Sahit Te Kala Manch, Variana also honored Prof. Varianvi with cash prizes and beautiful gifts. Prof. Sandhu Varianvi thanked everyone and emphasized that other organizations should take similar initiatives, and writers should always remain conscious of the Punjabi language, Punjab, and Punjabi-ness (Punjabiyat).
The scholars in the presidium stated that Jagdish Rana has started a new tradition of honoring writers on Sandhu Varianvi’s birthday, and that birthdays of writers should be celebrated in this manner. The organizing bodies also specially honored the members of the presidium and office-bearers of the participating societies. During the event, the second edition of Swinder Sandhu’s book Jiuonde Shaheed and the new issue of the quarterly magazine Meerzada, published by Kuldeep Singh Bedi, were released.
The event was attended by over 80 literature enthusiasts, including Keemti Kaiser, Surjit Sajan, singer Daljit Hans, Ramesh Alam, Ramesh Jalandhari, Shammi Variana, Surinder Gulshan, Jagtar Varianvi, Resham Chitrakaar, Daljit Mahimi, Jaspal Zeervi, Ritu Kalsi, Geeta Verma, Sham Sargundi, Gurmukh Luhar, Anita Nav Vashisht, Anil Vashisht, Gurdeep Singh Ujala, Jagdish Dalia, Gareeb Das Sandhu, Shiv Dutt Kalia, Kiran Bala, Mohan Singh Moti, Avtar Singh, Pritpal Singh, Geetpal Singh, Surinder Kaur, Harjinder Jindi, Heera Lal Malhotra, Paramjit Ambedkari, Yashpal, Sukhdeep Bagha, Naresh Kumar, Ripujeet Sen, and Vijay Shankar.