Punjab-born German writer Rajvinder Singh passes away in Berlin

Award-winning Rajvinder, who was born in Kapurthala and spent his initial years in Chandigarh and Jammu, occupied a prominent place in German literary circles and was translating Punjabi novel Parsa by Gurdial Singh into German

Kapurthala-born German writer Rajvinder Singh died at a hospital in Berlin after a brief illness, his family said on Saturday. He was 66. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.

Punjab-born German writer and four-time poet-laureate Rajvinder Singh passed away at a hospital in Berlin after a brief illness, his family said on Saturday. He was 66 and is survived by his wife and a daughter. (HT file photo)

Rajvinder, who had been staying in Berlin since 1981, aimed at showcasing Indian literature in world literary circles. A three-time German poet laureate, he wrote his PhD thesis in semiotics at Berlin’s Technical University and was translating Punjabi novel Parsa by Jnanpith Award winning author Gurdial Singh in German. He admitted that it was not an easy task as both languages have different dictions. Besides Punjabi and German, he also wrote in English, Hindi and Urdu.

Rajvinder, a former national fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) in Shimla, spent his initial years in Chandigarh and Jammu.

His poems are inscribed in stone, and displayed at four public places, which include the city park and three senior schools in Trier, one of the oldest German cities where Karl Marx was born and brought up.

“The Sikh social worldview teaches us to go beyond our personal ‘self-ness’ and care about the ‘other-ness’ as well,” the poet and dubbing actor had said in an interview.