Known for his smiling face, witty and light-hearted talk, Raja Sadiqullah is the third generation of poets. He was born in Wazirabad in 1955 into a family which was expelled from Rajouri, Kashmir, in 1855 for not accepting Dogras as the rulers of the state. He is among the generation of writers who deeply felt the horrible impact of the Partition, in a first-hand interaction with the people who witnessed the killings and suffered forced migrations in Punjab, especially in Wazirabad in 1947.

“There was agony in the air; the stories of mass killings of Sikh and Hindu families of Wazirabad were discussed in the streets,” he recalls.

Sadiq’s first inspiration to write was his father Raheemullah Khan, who was a poet, publisher of a literary journal ‘Dabastan’ and founder of ‘Bazm-i-Adb,’ a literary organisation, in 1930.

“My first works were printed in the Ravi and Patras magazines of Government College Lahore. I was one of the students who organised Ravians Front and defeated Jamiat with a single vote in student union elections in 1972.

“I wanted to do MA in Political Science but was denied admission because of my association with a progressive students group, which was feared by the right-wing administration,” he claims.

Sadiq was carefree person, happy with political activism, reading literature and playing first-class cricket as a fast bowler and captain of the Lahore division team. He says his mother was worried about his activism in violent student politics. Along with his elder brothers, she convinced me to take a bank job just for six months.

“This six-month trap proved to be a thirty-eight years long affair. I retired as senior vice president of Habib Bank last year,” he says in a lighter vein.

Sadiqullah had no financial liabilities and he would donate a big chunk of his salary to local cricket clubs and support literary activities. It developed an interest in him to continue with the job, which he found quite boring due to his restless nature.

“During my posting in Karachi in the late 1970s, I observed how sensitive Urdu-speaking people were about the purity of their language. It developed a consciousness about my mother language and I decided to write only in Punjabi.”

One of Sadiq’s friends sent his poem to Punjabi monthly magazine, Maa Boli, which was well-received. He kept writing and the first collection of his poems ‘Pehla Puur’ was printed in 1998. He says it was appreciated by senior Punjabi writers, including Afzal Ahsan Randhawa, Professor Sharab and Ali Arshad Mir but some his poems in the book were criticised for carrying a hint of Najm Hosain Syed’s style of composing poems.

“Sangat of Najm Hosain Syed has groomed and influenced a generation of Punjabi writers, including big names like Mushtaq Soofi and Mazhar Tirmazi. I was an occasional visitor. Even those who never attended the Sangat have an influence of Najm Hosain because he is a great personality, a literary giant of our times. I made a conscious effort to save my individuality from the impact of the senior poet,” he says.

Sadiqullah’s second book of poems ‘Dhup Kanni’ was printed last week. He is currently writing short stories, most of them are from real life events of his hometown. He writes casually after long gaps in a carefree style of his own. A rich diction, strong imagination and sound understanding of literary traditions of classic Punjabi literature have made his poetry colourful and strong in content.

Agony of political activists, nostalgia for a rich childhood, his personal and collective pain of forced migrations, alienation of a man living in big cities and feelings of soldiers posted away from their homes are the mainstay of his poetry.

A romantic and nature-loving Sadiqullah’s heart beats with the clouds coming from his ancestors land Kashmir and he dances with the colourful wings of migratory birds that land every year at Saman Burj, the house in Wazirabad, where he lived a major part of his life.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2017