By Balwant Sanghera
VANCOUVER: This year’s first Dhahan Prize for Punjabi Literature worth $25,000 went to California-based Avtar Singh Billing for his book Khali Khoohan Di Katha (The Story of Empty Wells). The second prize of $5,000 each was shared by Jasbir Singh Bhullar (Gurmukhi) and Zubaid Ahmad (Shahmukhi).
Started by Indo-Canadian businessman Barj Dhahan, the Dhahan Prize is awarded by the Canada India Education Society (CIES) in partnership with the Department of Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.
The awards ceremony held at the Museum of Anthropology of the UBC last week, was a memorable occasion in many ways. For one, it brought together a large number of well-wishers of Punjabi from varied backgrounds and interests. The attendees included prominent writers, poets, novelists, story tellers ,politicians, community activists and many other distinguished people not only from the Punjabi community but also many other communities.
It was great to have two of the three prize winners –Avtar Singh Billing and Zubaid Ahmed – present on this occasion to receive their awards. The third recipient of this award – Jasbir Singh Bhullar – sent his regrets.
This initiative has given the Punjabi language an unprecedented boost to the third most spoken language in Canada. Events like these are bound to create more pride in the Punjabi language.
The gala began with a Musqueam welcome from Cecilia Point and was followed by introductions of special guests, including Gage Averill, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the UBC; Prof Anne Murphy, Chair of the Prize Advisory Committee; Amrik Virk, British Columbia Minister of Advanced Education, and other guests. Nikki Sharma, City of Vancouver’s Parks Board Commissioner, brought greetings from Mayor Gregor Robertson. She also read a proclamation from the Mayor declaring October 25 as Punjabi Literature Day in Vancouver.
Of course, both Punjabs – East and West – are the major centres of the Punjabi language. Quite often we tend to concentrate more on Indian Punjab and forget that our brothers and sisters in Pakistani Punjab constitute one of the largest Punjabi-speaking segments in the world. In this context, it was great to make both scripts of the Punjabi language – Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi – as the participants in this process. For this, our heartiest congratulations to the organizers and the winners. The selection of Zubir Ahmad, professor at Islamia College in Lahore, added a unique and different dimension to this celebration.
Keynote speaker Waryam Singh Sandhu captured the essence of all of the well -wishers of Punjabi working together regardless of the artificially imposed geographical boundaries. Sandhu complimented the organizers for taking the lead in this regard and urged the continuation of these efforts.
Selection of these books was a result of an extensive review of Punjabi literature spanning a number of countries, including Canada, the US, the UK, India and Pakistan. These three books were selected by a panel of very prominent scholars. Thus, these three authors, whose books have been selected, must feel very proud of their contribution to Punjabi language and literature.
It has been mentioned that these three books will likely be translated into many other languages. This indeed will be a wonderful way to create more pride and respect for the Punjabi language.
The celebration concluded with an inspiring speech by prize founder Barj Dhahan and a reception. On behalf of the Punjabi Language Education Association (PLEA), I would like to congratulate the Dhahan family and everyone else associated with this wonderful initiative. It has certainly given Punjabi language a big boost at the international level.
(Honoured with the Order of British Columbia, Balwant Sanghera is a known Indo-Canadian community leader based at Richmond near Vancouver)
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