Shutudri

Writing a book about Jaswant Singh Khalra changed me. Every biographer carries a small part of the heart of the person they seek to understand, and in writing his story, I found myself carrying a fragment of his quiet courage and unwavering compassion.

After watching Satluj, I realized that I could not respond with critique or commentary. I could only respond with a plea to the ancient river Shutudri, witness to both Punjab’s greatest blessings and its deepest wounds, to remember, to heal, and to carry forward the truth that Jaswant Singh Khalra gave his life to uncover.

• Gurmeet Kaur

Satluj,

Ancient river,

Shutudri, the ever-flowing one.

You were born in the lap of the Himalayas where snow becomes prayer and glaciers remember the first dawn.

Before empires named you before borders claimed you You descended, free, pristine, untamed through rock and cedar into the Panjnad valley bearing life to the land of five waters.

You knew only the language of flow.

Then came the age that sought to command you.

They dammed your breath diverted your ancient course measured your pulse in canals and concrete.

Yet no dam was as cruel as the burden they laid upon your soul. They turned your waters into a witness.

You carried the disappeared bodies without names heads severed stomachs cut open fathers, brothers, sons entrusted to your silence.

At Harike, where your waters gather before moving onward they believed you would erase them.

Never identified Never recovered No final rites No mother’s last embrace No farewell No closure

But rivers remember.

Satluj,

Tell me,

How do you still carry life to thirsty fields, to villages that wait for rain when your own cradle weeps?

How do your waters still sing after all they have witnessed?

Perhaps because you carry the heart of the man who refused to let truth become silence.

The gentle soul whose courage sought no revenge, whose love belonged to all, who stood only with justice.

The man from Khalra.

And perhaps you remember the one whose footsteps once blessed the Kali Bein,

whose song taught rivers to see no Hindu, no Muslim only the One flowing through all.

As the Kali Bein finds her way to you at Harike All waters remember their oldest kin.

Shutudri,

Carry them both:

the saint who awakened souls and the son of Punjab who gave the disappeared their names again.

Let them flow as freely as you once did.

Satluj,

Queen of grace,

Be kind to your cradle the land of Punjab.

Carry once again only snowmelt, harvests, prayers, and children’s laughter.

Bear only the names spoken in love.

Never again the whispers of the disappeared.

A children’s author, environmentalist, and champion of the Punjabi language, Gurmeet Kaur strives to weave stories and actions that unite humanity and celebrate our shared responsibility to one another and the planet.

🌐 www.pippal.org | www.folktalesofpunjab.com

ਗੁਰਮੀਤ ਕੌਰ ਦੇਸ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਬੋਲੀ, ਵਿਰਾਸਤ ਤੇ ਵਾਤਾਵਰਨ ਨੂੰ ਸੰਭਾਲਣ ਲਈ ਸਮਰਪਿਤ ਹੈ। ਇਹ ਮਰਜੀਵੜਾ ਜਸਵੰਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਖਾਲੜਾ ਅਤੇ ਸੋਹਣੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀਆਂ ਮੋਹਣੀਆਂ ਬਾਤਾਂ ਪੁਸਤਕ ਲੜੀ ਦੀ ਲੇਖਕਾ ਹੈ। ਇਹਦਾ ਧਿਆਨ ਸੱਚ-ਬਿਆਨੀ, ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਦੀ ਪੁਨਰਜਾਗਰਤੀ, ਪੰਥ ਅਤੇ ਜਗਤ ਵਿਚ ਇਖ਼ਲਾਕ ਤੇ ਇਤਫ਼ਾਕ ਦੀ ਸਿਰਜਣਾ ਉੱਤੇ ਟਿਕਿਆ ਹੈ।