My life has been a wonderful journey but full
of ups and downs.
I was born in a small village in the Panjab,
were life was very simple. There was no electricity, no telephone,
no radio, no television, just one newspaper that came to the village.
In our house, there were no books, no library,
but folk arts, crafts and folk poetry were part of daily life.
Looking back, from where I am today, it was
a long long journey. I would say life have been very generous
with me. It brought me in contact with some wonderful inspiring
and generous people, without them, I would not have achieved what
I have.
I was a simple village boy, who dreamt about
buying lot of books, generating electricity to lighten up the
village and traveling all over the world.
Thanks to Life, it gave me chance to dream and then to realize
most of these dreams. It brought me many opportunities and some
recognition as an artist, what many people do not get in their
life time.
During the last 30 years, I have traveled and
lectured and worked in many countries in the world, attended many
international gathering, and met some very inspiring people on
the way.
Now I live in Ironbridge, near river Severn
that is where the name of my house comes from 'Nadi Kinarey' means
river bank.
I still have a dream to realize, if life
gives the chance; to setup an International Centre for Panjabi
Arts & Literature, so that all that was inspired me to achieve
all this, is not lost in the flood of globalization.
The following
poem says it all.
“I am the same village boy
who ran around bare feet
in those sandy streets;
with lot of dreams in my head.
Life gave me the chance to
travel around the world
lecture at many universities
speak in international gatherings;
my work and my thought are
part of many books.
I still like to walk bare feet
on the sand
and dream more.”
