London-based Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan’s poem with its English translation is being carved in stone to then be installed in a public square in a town near London. Artist Alec Peever, a master in Lettering and Sculpture, is carving it on a forty foot long stone.
To us, it constitutes an unusual honor for both the Poet and the Sculptor where we will have the pleasure of viewing an art work that is being created by combining two different creative domains by artists of diverse cultural experiences. What a treat!
Here is the poem in Roman script:
dur bahut dur kisey nachhtar [planet] uttey piá hai pathar geeta.
eh ankháN muNd ke takkná paiNdá,
jeoN chetey ávey sohná mukh sajjanaN dá
View the poem in original Gurumukhi Punujabi with its English translation:
.
Sculptor Alec Peever, who has been working on large scale sculptures and public art since 1976, has created this plan for the poem:
And…
This is how it will manifest itself:
.
Amarjit Chandan and Alec Peever outside Peever Studio in Oxfordshire where this inspiring work is now happening:
This playful person is Chandan’s grandson Aneel.
Photo by Sukant Chandan.
Read Amarjit Chandan’s Poetry
View Alec Peever’s Work
‘Indians in Britain’ by Amarjit Chandan
Stone Carving
South Asian Poetry
This is my grandads brother and what he has achieved is truly something amazing.
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Last line of Chandan’s poem should have been translated as following:
As you remember the beautiful face of a loved one
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[…] Amarjit Chandan’s Poem being Carved in Stone in Oxfordshire […]
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Long Live Revoltion
INQULAB ZINDABAD
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[…] More information about this project Published in: […]
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congratulations Chandan ji !
Well Amarjit Ji
Shabbir Nazish
Karachi Pakistan
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Dear Amarjit –
In your honor, we all — lovers of Punjabi literature and culture — feel honored. Thank you for creating this lovely thought. Congratulations.
Prem Kumar
Seattle, Washington, USA
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It is a remarkable tribute to a creation that so inspires and moves another artist, in another art-form, that he decides to bring it alive in his medium. My salute to both of you for finding this rare resonance of creative impulses and a warm bonding as human beings.
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Congratulations for the aamad of such a beautiful thought in a beautiful language and for the deserved recognition. This is just great.
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This is just the begininging.
Your poems has has to go a long way.
As you know I have been saying ever since BEEJAK and JARHAN got published.
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you deserve it .
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congratulations Chandan ji ! a wonderful poem from our wonderful poet
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How wonderful Amarjit! It’s slowly coming, the recognition that we have a great poet in you, here in the UK. Let it go faster!
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Fauzia asked me what was Daljit Ami’s comment as she can not read Punjabi in its mother-script. She had met the film-maker Ami in Lahore.
The three-word comment goes like this:
Dhann likhári Nánaká…
It is from Nanak-báni. The whole verse is:
Dhann so kágad, qalam dhann; dhann ghotam kálRi muss.
Dhann likhári Nanaká, jin nám likháyá sach.
Blessed is the paper, blessed the pen, blessed the ink pot and blessed is the ink.
O Nanak, blessed is the writer, who writes the True Name.
– Guru Granth Sáhib. (1291-13, Vár-malár, Mahalla 1)
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ਧੰਨ ਲਿਖਾਰੀ ਨਾਨਕਾ …
ਦਲਜੀਤ ਅਮੀ
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babeo zindabad!
desraj kali
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Wonderful!
That’s real well deserved honour. Indeed, it is an honour to Punjabiat of which Chandan is an epitome.
Three cheers!
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Thanks a lot for making us – The Punjabis, proud of our language, our literature, our poets !
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Well Amarjit Ji
Regards
Roop Dhillon
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