JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS
ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 06, 2020
A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF AMRITA PRITAM’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY “THE REVENUE STAMP”
Dr. Pori Kakoti
Assistant Professor, Jagiroad College, Assam, India.
Abstract : Amrita Pritam is a prominent female Punjabi writer. She was a poet, novelist as well as an essayist. At a very young age her deep thoughts were reflected in „Thandia Kiran‟ (1935) and „Amrit Lehro‟ (1936). In both these poems one can sense spirituality.Subsequently she wrote „Zinda Jiban‟ (1909), „Treldhote Phul‟ (1941), „O Giton Walia‟ (1943), Wadalo depalle Vish‟ (1943), „Sajh dilali‟ (1944), „Nikki Yahi Sugat‟ (1945), „Lockpirh‟ (1944), „Pathar Gite‟ (1946), „Ashok Seti‟ (1957), „Kasturi‟ (1959), „Kagajte Canvas‟ (1973). Till now Amrita Pritam‟s twenty poem book compilations are published. She wrote approximately Twenty five novels. Among these she wrote „Pinjar‟ (1950), „Dharti Sagar Aur Sipiya‟ (2002), „Kachi Sarak‟ (1997), „Rang ke patta‟ (1998), „Unki Kahani‟, „Adalat‟ (1995), „Kore Kagaj‟, „Nagmani‟ (1996), „Unsar din‟, „Ek Thi Sara‟ and Rasidi Ticket (The Revenue Stamp) (1976) which is an autobiography. She emerged as a vigorous writer as she was never scared to articulate her own opinions, her sensitiveness and to speak out against the social evils. These emotions were reproduced in most of her writings. Amrita Pritam wrote about sixty five years of her life in her autobiography book Rasidi Ticket (The Revenue Stamp) that was published in the year 1976. She dauntlessly described the incidents of her life to the readers. In this discussion I want to present a brief opinion on Amrita Pritam‟s autobiography Rasidi Ticket (The Revenue Stamp).
Objective and Method : In Indian literature Amrita Pritam is a fearless writer. She is remembered as a dauntless defendant as a writer in the Indian society. She received Jnanpith award in 1983 for her famous poetry book „Kagaj te Kenvas‟. She also received Padma Shri (1969), Sahitya Akademi award from the Indian Government and was honoredwith D. Litt degree by Delhi University. Although there are lots of discussions on Amrita Pritam‟s literature, the discussion on her autobiography hasn‟t come into view. That‟s why the prominent reaom behind this presentation is to highlight Amrita Pritam‟s autobiography the „Revenue Stamp‟. Descriptive method has been used while presenting the discussion of Amrita Pritam‟s Rasidi Ticket. This analysis is based on the assamese translation of „RasidiTicket‟ (The Revenue Stamp) written by Mamoni Gogoi Borgohain. KEY WORDS : Spirituality, Autobiography, God, Courage, fearless.
INTRODUCTION : Amrita Pritam‟s „Rasidi Ticket‟ (The Revenue Stamp) is translated in Hindi, English, Assamese as well as other foreign languages. She wrote fearlessly about the incidents of her life in the book „Rasidi Ticket‟ which was published in the year 1976. She was encouraged by the famous writer Khuswant Sing to write the autobiography. On this account, Amrita Pritam told “One day Khushwant Singhji Casually said, What is there in your life just one or two incidents…! If you wish to write an autobiography, the back of „A revenue Stamp‟ probably to suggest that all other stamps keep changing their size. The revenue stamp remain the same.” He was right. (Varma 54, 2006) The „Revenue Stamp‟ is the Journey of her sixty five years of life. In this autobiography she wrote about everything starting from her childhood to her marriage, her love, the ups and down during her literary works and a detailed journey about it. The autobiography is divided into six parts. In the first part she wrote about her family, her birth, her father‟s personality, her childhood, and also about her marriage and love life. The famous Punjabi Writer Amrita Pritam was born in the year 1919, 31st Oct. in the Gujranwala (Pakistan) in a Punjabi family. Her father‟s name was Sadhu Kartar Singh Hitkari and her mother‟s name was Rajbibi. Since childhood she was connected to the world of spirituality. Her father was a saintly man. That‟s why he taught about spirituality to his only child and before going to bed she was made to pray „Kirtan Sahela‟ according to her father‟s rule.
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We swim in the ocean of dreams during childhood. Amrita Pritam too swam in this ocean of dreams. For that reason she tried to break the restriction that was made by her father. She meditated on Rajan to play with her loneliness and emotions. A Rajan that appeared in her dreams and listened to her every little things. When she was young her mother suffered from illness.She was lying on bed in a state of unconsciousness. Her mother‟s friend Pritam kaur called Amrita Pritam and said “Pray to God who can sympatheize. A child‟s, prayer does not go in vain.” (Borgohain 12, 2008) With this hope she started praying for her motherHer tender mind believed that since she prayed to God her mother will recover soon. In the year 1930, 31stJuly her mother died. Amrita Pritam was only eleven years old during that period. She was completely heartbroken and abandoned all her earlier religious duties and beliefs. She also faught with her father because of that. In this way her tender heart turned against God. She naver concentrated even though her father forced her to pray. Amrita Pritam stepped into youth just like everyone else. But very cautiously, still and silently. Because she had lots of obstructions. She only had her father to look after her. Since she did not have friends she spent most of her time writing poems and reading religious books. The harsh rules and regulations imposed on her turned her more rebellious. She took the help of poetry to express her disapproval. She was unable to do a lot of things as she was very scared of her father. It‟s not that her father was against her poetry writing Infect, he was the first inspiration behind her poetry but he wanted her to write about religious matters. It was not only the time when India got independence but also the time of terrifying partition during the period of her youth. It was the end of the social, political and religious values during that time. Everywhere there was disunity, discord and murder. Blood….. there was blood, everywhere. The blood of a mother‟s love, the blood of shame of a rape victim. This blood became the ink of Amrita Pritam‟s poetry. She wrote prayer poetry to heal the pain these people have been through. The more she became older the more questions were constructed in her mind. She wanted to destroy all the unwanted social rules. She became more curious. Questions developed from her curiosity and even the answers didn‟t pacify her. This made her more rebellious. Love is a heavenly feeling. This feeling came to her life in the form of „Shaheer‟ who decorated her life with sweet and lovely feeling. She had a lot of lovers but she never fell in love. In her language “I had many lovers of my age. But I was unable to reciprocate,” (Borgohain 17, 2008) Many famous people fell in love with her beauty. During that time a famous Punjabi writer fell in love with her and wrote a lot of poems dedicated to her. He is Punjabi‟s most respectable poet Mohan Sing. Regarding this matter many news were created. He wrote a poem called “Sampatti” for her which goes like this “She was standing silently infront of the door. Like a piece of husband‟s property” (Borgohain 23, 2008) Those days disturbed her a lot. One day she clearly told to Mohan Sing- “Mohan Singhji, I respect you a lot…… I‟m your friend …. What else do you want?” (Borgohain 24, 2008) She met a lot of lovers like this who were mesmerized by her beauty and her knowledge. Amrita Pritam married at a very young age as it was arranged like that. She was against her marriage. In the year 1936 she was married off to Pritam Singh, a Pakistani businessman when she was only a 16 years old. He had a business called “Husairi” in Pakistan. His shop name was “Jagat Sing Kuwatta”. Jagat Sing was Amrita Pritam father in law. In 1960 she left her husband and started to live with artist imroz in a Delhi house, khas k number- twenty five. Their platonic love astonished the famous writer from Assam Mamoni Raisom Goswami who was also her friend. The love stayed for more than fifty years which clearly confirmed the deepness of their love. She was a mother of a daughter and a son. The second part was named a “Khotikaburor Logot Sakhyat”. In this part she introduced her literary life to the readers, her foreign tours as well as described about her famous book „Pinjar‟. The third part was named as “Agni Pariksha”. Here she talked about her ending of marriage, the complications of her love life with Imroj, and the different obstacles she had to face during her literary career. She told to her criticizers in Rasidi ticket . “Some people are creating a lot of chaos by putting themselves into the world of glamour and awards. I am not there. I was not there and will never be. I only had one wish which was to make a places in my and my readers heart.” (Divedi 10, 1997). The fourth part was named as “Nirobotar Awege Aghat Kore”. Here she described about the incidents related to her development of literary books.Overall she created her literary world on the platform of reality. „Aak da Butta‟, „Yatri‟, „Doo Aurotan‟, „Alaka‟, „Ek thi Anita‟, „Arial‟, „Jebkatre‟ etc. are some of the novels whose
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 06, 2020 characters are also discussed here. At the same time she remembered about the wonderful memories she spent with mroj. The fifth part was named “Finixor Bonkho”. In this part apart from talking about the Phinisians she also discussed about some part of her diary. She described about her marriage, her friendship with Indira Gandhi and also about her children. The last and the sixth part was named as “Ekhon Hatot Jetuka Ankhonot Panijula”. She talked about Jyanpith award that she received for “Kagaj Ke Canvas” in the year 1983 and also presented other parts of her diary. In this part she talked about the murder of Indira Gandhi, her dreams as well as about the letters given to her by Indira Gandhi. Most of the incidents of her life are described in her autobiography. Her fearless mind and her attitude towards life is clearly shown in “The Revenue Stamp”. In the year 1976 this book was published as „Rasidi Ticket‟ in Punjabi language. In 1977 it was translated in Hindi and English. After this publication some green eyed people tried to ban her book but they were abortive. Related to „Rasidi Ticket‟ Indira Gandhi wrote a letter to Amrita Pritam- “I had to do a lot of inquiry to get your book. At last Menaka borrowed it for me and I read it within one night without…… standing it touched my heart. Not because of the subject but because of the way you expressed them in words. Even Though it is your story, it is very much universal. The nature and appearance might be different but the essentials needed for dreams and battle are almost the same for every people. A lot of people cover their true forms and float on the surface…..” (Borgohain 124, 2008).
CONCLUSION : An Autobiography can never be fully completed because it is impossible to write everything about one‟s life. Amrita Pritam also covered sixty five years of her life in her autobiography. She was a fearless writer. A woman has to suffer a lot and they are the one who are forced to follow thee unnecessary rules made by the society because they are too scared to fight. But Amrita Pritam had that courage and that is the reason why she was able to fight not only for herself but also for others. Amrita Pritam never lied to herself and this is also evident in her autobiography. When she was asked about her life, She replied in this manner- “ Don‟t ask me what I gained in life or what I lost.Ask me what I have now. I have words and I have Imroj who coloured my life like a painting and turned it into poetry.” (Pritam 65, 1988) Amrita Pritam‟s life was like an open book. She is not only the pride for Punjab but for indica as a whole. At last we can say that Amrita Pritam”s „Rasidi Ticket‟ is very insightful, sensitive and an autobiography with deep understanding that has been introduced to the readers society without any fear. REFERENCE : 1) Borgohai, Mamoni Gogoi. (2008) The Revenue Stamp. Dibrugarh : Kaustav Prakashan 2) Diwadi, Dinesh. (1997). Punashwa. Awam Sri Yadav Printers 3) Pritam, Amrita. (1993). Saapno Ki Nili Si Lakiree, New Delhi : Kitab Ghar 4) Pritam, Amrita. (1988). Rasidi Ticket. New Delhi : Hindi Pocket Books Private Limited 5) Varma, Bhagyashree. (2006). Amrita Pritam Life as Literature. New Delhi, Prestige Books.
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