Prem Gorkhi, 74, who passed away on 25th April, was a
leading fiction writer in the tradition of subaltern literature that took root
in Punjab in the mid 60s propelled by the ultra-left literary movement.
Born to a poor Dalit family in Ladhowal, he came up the hard way. However, he achieved literary success penning several acclaimed books in a life of immense struggle and told his own story in an autobiography titled 'Ghair Hazir Aadmi' (The Absent Man).
One of the first laments in the memory of Gorkhi came from a younger contemporary Dalit writer of Moga, Gurmeet Karyalvi: 'Tur Gaya Ghair Hazir Aadmi (The Absent Man has Left). Karyalvi says, "He was the writer of the untouched and as young readers, we would buy Amrita Pritam's journal 'Nagmani' to read his autobiography that was being serialised as well as the column 'Sarhaknama' (Story of the Road) by Baldev Singh Sarhaknama.
"However, his growing readership was irksome to several writers who came from privileged castes," says Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan whom Gorkhi looked up to as a mentor for encouraging him to write about his own people. Bemoaning his loss, editor-writer Swarajbir says, "He had recently started writing a column which readers waited for. His demise is a loss."
Source: Hindustan Times
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