EXPERIENCES OF DESERTION: LOCATING THE WORKS OF HARINDER SINGH MAHBOOB

Abstract

This article introduces the work of the contemporary Punjabi poet and thinker Harinder Singh Mahboob. A prequel to a closer reading of Mahboob's work, this article examines the nihilistic undertones that have come to suffuse recent Punjabi poetry through its interaction with the modernist thought process. This is examined by exploring the experiences associated with the 1947 partition of Punjab and the events leading towards it. Starting with a biographical account of Harinder Singh Mahboob, the article attempts to contextualize his poetical/philosophical experience. Mahboob's sense of desertion, in his earlier poems, and the metaphysical transformation in the experience are discussed in light of prominent trends in modern Punjabi poetry. An analysis of his positioning in contemporary Punjabi literature provides a way to understand some of the ambivalent trends in the development of Sikh studies. His writings incorporate a strange combination of Western metaphysics, Sufism, and creative imagination that distinguishes his work from that of mainstream contemporary Punjabi poets and writers. The nihilistic suggestion of his work provide a fresh perspective on his creative impulse, simultaneously revealing a broad vision as well as unresolved inner conflicts.