Honoring the Dead: Amrita Pritam
As Halloween approaches, so too, does the Day of the Dead. To me, this is a sacred time to look back; a day where the past, present and future swirl together, veils thinned almost to invisibility. So, as the 31st comes closer, I remember the ancestors. I think about all those lives that came before mine and have culminated in this place where I am standing in the present, looking back and looking forward in the same moment.
This week, I am dedicating my blog to posts about the life and writings of Amrita Pritam (1919-2005), who, incidentally, died on October 31st.
If you've never heard of her, you need to do some research (you can begin here). She was a remarkable woman (Sikh, Punjabi, Pakistani/Indian, writer, poet, and so much more) who created a life by her own definitions in a time and place that such things were not nearly as fashionable as they are now. And while she reaped the joys of doing this, she also suffered the consequences along the way.
Here is something from razarumi's blog to start off our "ode to Amrita Pritam" week:
Through the course of her life, this "free spirit" generated controversy but she never concerned herself with the mundane. Outspoken, prolific and deeply spiritual, Amrita existed within self-defined, non-conformist parameters. She lived with her partner for 41 years, shunned religious and sectarian identities and rejected the political divide of the left and right:
No absolutes for something as relative as a human life
No rules for something so tender as a heart..
The last two lines are from one of her poems, translated by razarumi. I'll have more from her works throughout this next week.
This week, I am dedicating my blog to posts about the life and writings of Amrita Pritam (1919-2005), who, incidentally, died on October 31st.
If you've never heard of her, you need to do some research (you can begin here). She was a remarkable woman (Sikh, Punjabi, Pakistani/Indian, writer, poet, and so much more) who created a life by her own definitions in a time and place that such things were not nearly as fashionable as they are now. And while she reaped the joys of doing this, she also suffered the consequences along the way.
Here is something from razarumi's blog to start off our "ode to Amrita Pritam" week:
Through the course of her life, this "free spirit" generated controversy but she never concerned herself with the mundane. Outspoken, prolific and deeply spiritual, Amrita existed within self-defined, non-conformist parameters. She lived with her partner for 41 years, shunned religious and sectarian identities and rejected the political divide of the left and right:
No absolutes for something as relative as a human life
No rules for something so tender as a heart..
The last two lines are from one of her poems, translated by razarumi. I'll have more from her works throughout this next week.