Gursharan Singh passed away on September 27, 2011. Punjabi writers, playwrights, poets, social and cultural activists, radical political groups, journalists and others wrote columns, blogs, letters, poems and features, paying tributes, reflecting on his life, his theatre, his life and times and accounts of their personal associations with the man. These were published in newspapers, magazines and as blogposts.
Many of these writings are collected in three books: Alwida Bhaji (Farewell Bhaji) edited by Kewal Dhaliwal; IkkSanstha – IkkLeher: Bhaji Gursharan Singh (A movement, An Institution – Gursharan Singh) edited by Dr. Anup Singh; and Sade Sameya da LokNayak – Gursharan Singh (People’s Hero of Our Times – Gursharan Singh) edited by Kewal Dhaliwal.
In the introduction to the edited book, Alwida Bhaji Kewal said, “I want to treasure each and every word that is said about Bhaji because he has no parallel in the history of theatre.” The edited volume was published in January 2012. On Sade Sameya da LokNayak, Kewal Dhaliwal said that he wanted to publish an edited volume on Gursharan Singh’s contribution to Punjabi theatre, the form of his theatre, and how and why he evolved a particular form of theatre which Gursharan Singh himself calledAwamiRangmanch – People’s Theatre and rural theatre of modern sensibility. Many Punjabi playwrights, critics, journalists and scholars had written about Gursharan Singh’s theatre and, when he passed away, many more contributions were made to understand and reflect on his specific form of theatre. Dr. Anup Singh in his introduction to Ikk Sanstha – Ikk Leher, stated that the edited volume which included some of Gursharan Singh’s own writings, interviews with him and contributions of Punjabi writers, scholars, and fellow playwrights was being brought out with a purpose to start a conversation on several aspects of Punjab’s history, the troubled past and the ongoing crises which was evident in Gursharan Singh’s plays and other writings.
This page contains all entries in the edited volumes in the language they were written in. We gratefully acknowledge Kewal Dhaliwal’s and Dr. Anup Singh’s painstaking work and permission to add the collection on this site. These contributions are presented here with the hope that this archive will serve as a platform to continue the dialogue.