Both Tariq Gujjar and his poetry are deeply entrenched in the soil of the Punjab. The land of five rivers, with its unique culture, vibrant language and diversity, is close to his heart – which is precisely why he chooses to express himself in Punjabi. The most redeeming quality of his poetry is his humane outlook towards life which attempts to rubbish all barriers of race, class and religion. His poetry is a clarion call against all kinds of oppression and exploitation.

Gujjar, who is 52 years of age and teaches Punjabi literature at a college in Layyyah, has three books to his credit. In 1947, Gujjar’s family left their ancestral home in a village in Hoshiarpur district (Indian Punjab) and migrated to Pakistan to settle in Faisalabad. His elders, like most people of that generation, were nostalgic about the Indian Punjab, where they had lived for centuries.

They would narrate tales of days when Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims lived together amicably. Some of them continued to live with a faint hope that they would one day be able to visit their native villages. This widespread sentiment about the past influenced Gujjar to a great extent. As a result, he began incorporating themes of a peaceful Punjab in his poetry – a Punjab free of friction between various communities.

In 2014, Gujjar recorded memories of an elderly man who had migrated from Indian Punjab at the time of partition. This was the beginning of his interest in recording memories. “I felt that I should continue meeting more elders who witnessed the carnage of 1947 in the wake of the partition, that rendered Punjab into two parts,” says Gujjar. “Punjab suffered a lot. With this interview, I not only recorded memories of the partition days but also shared glimpses of a composite culture devoid of any prejudice or hate,” he says.

Gujjar is a renowned figure on both sides of Punjab as he writes in Punjabi. He launched a Youtube channel, Ek C Punjab, five years ago and has so far recorded more than 250 interviews. He has developed a steady fan following on Youtube and his channel is widely watched by people across the globe.

Gujjar thinks that the vignettes of a shared culture that he portrays in his YouTube videos and poetry, might help erase the painful memories of the past.

“People encourage me to record more interviews. At times I get suggestions about areas where I can find people who would want to impart interesting information on partition. I try to reach out to more and more such people. In the last five years, I have mostly covered people who migrated from the Indian Punjab and Himachal Pardesh areas. With these interviews, I think I have been able to dispel many myths regarding the partition,” Gujjar says.

He’s visited the Indian side of Punjab twice along with delegations. On one such visit, he met the legendary Amrita Pritam, dream come true for him as he had always been in awe of her larger-than-life personality. “It was an amazing experience and I still cherish the few moments I got to spend with her,” reminisces Gujjar. Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi.

Rut Ralay Pani, Vancouver Toun Laylpur Tak are two of his books. Two more books are in the pipeline. One of his books was translated into Saraiki and Gurmukhi. He also wishes to write an epic covering the history of the subcontinent.

Gujjar thinks, that the vignettes of a shared culture that he portrays in his Youtube videos and poetry, might help erase the painful memories of the past. Perhaps, one day he will compile these interviews into a book for the benefit of historians to further explore the many facets of partition and the tremors in its aftermath. 

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad.