Toronto. August 6 (Unkarpreet): The July 2026 meeting of the Punjabi Writers’ Caravan Toronto was dedicated to Sardar Nanak Singh, the father of Punjabi novels. The meeting began with a special paper on Nanak Singh by renowned poet Sukhcharanjit Kaur Gill. In her paper, Sukhcharanjit shared the entire personal life of Nanak Singh and also gave a meaningful assessment of Nanak Singh’s literary journey from almost every angle. She presented a comparative thesis of the novels of Bhai Vir Singh, a novelist before Nanak Singh, highlighting Nanak Singh’s novels as full of story-telling and taking the initiative to question every social decline, and called his pro-people approach the one that shaped and built the face of the new Punjabi novel. On this occasion, a special pamphlet prepared by Unkarpreet highlighting the biography, literary works and importance of Nanak Singh was also presented to the public by the convoy. The next part of the caravan meeting was a panel discussion on Baldev Singh Dhidsa’s story collection ‘Dubbede Suraj’. In the panel discussion, Kulwinder Khaira presented a special paper discussing the subject matter and artistic aspects of the stories in the book ‘Dubbede Suraj’. In his paper, Kulwinder Khaira said that the stories are not character-oriented but topic-oriented in which the author makes a topic his focal point and presents a group of small incidents in a single story, adopting the method of telling his point through numerous examples. The main concern of these stories is to highlight social responsibility. To create awareness among the people It seems to be doing. The original form In these stories, the author Through changing areas and multi In social communities Social media is changing. Values, family of woman in the economy Engagement, male to female Weakness, religious And About ideological hypocrisies etc. have discussed It is probably the author’s own The political background has the effect that the characters in many of his stories are related to the Naxalite period, but it is difficult to judge what the author thinks about that period today.
While talking about the construction of the mentality of the characters in ‘Dubbede Suraj’, he also raised this important point that it the mentality of the comrades through a character. Even if we accept this character as a character influenced by the character of the old comrade Ajmer Singh, who has become a Khalistani today, then the question arises whether it is right for a progressive writer to present a heinous character like Ajmer Singh as the weakness of the entire Naxalite movement? Overall, this book by Baldev Singh Dhindsa is a collection of stories that expose the cruel layers of our society. It forces us to look within ourselves and measure the gap between our words and actions. Following Kulwinder Khaira’s paper, story writer Jarnail Singh brought to light the salient qualities of the stories in ‘Dubbede Suraj’ and the potential for further maturity in them. While he appreciated the subject matter of these stories, the author’s knowledge of the subjects, realistic presentation, vocabulary, and story interest, he also noted some shortcomings in the character development left in the stories. Later, story writer Baldev Dhindsa welcomed and thanked the participants for their ideas about the pamphlets and stories, and the caravan presented his book.Special thanks also for the discussion. In the next part of this caravan meet, two books were launched, which included Onkarpreet’s prose book, Kan-Kan Katha and Gurminder Candowal’s book of songs, ‘Sadi Jaan Te Bani Ae’. While a video message of its author Gurminder Candowal was shared with the audience about the book ‘Sadi Jaan Te Bani Ae’, eminent media personality Dr. Balwinder Huran gave a welcome speech about it, Onkarpreet shared a basic introduction about the book ‘Kan-Kan Katha’. Eminent poet Surinder Gill Jaipal and renowned story writer Jatinder Hans were also present at this emotional literary gathering of the caravan. Madam Jaipal presented her selected Poems were shared and Pyara Singh Kuddowal presented his keynote speech on his poetry/essay book ‘Pouna Meel Sarhad’. The initial welcome words about storyteller Jatinder Hans and brief words highlighting his importance as a Punjabi storyteller were presented by eminent poet Paramjit Deol and eminent storyteller Jarnail Singh. Later, Jatinder Hans also addressed the audience and thanked the caravan. The poetry section of the event was dedicated to the warm memory of the recently departed veteran member of the caravan and the distinguished poet Gurbachan Chintak. The poets who participated in the Kavi Darbar included Pyara Singh Kuddowal, Prateek Art St, Sandi Padhanoa, Surinderjit Kaur, Malvin-Dar, Sukhcharanjit Kaur Gill, Lakhvir Singh Kahlon, Hardial Jhita, Paramjit Deol, Kirpal Kanwal, Paramjit Dhillon and Prabhjot Rathore gave poetry to the entire atmosphere with their compositions. A large number of writers, readers, and intellectuals participated in this emotional caravan meeting that lasted for about four hours.