Navtej Bharati

Study across Punjab and Canada

The Academy of American Poets places Navtej Bharati’s birth in Punjab in 1938 and records a master’s degree in Punjabi before his move to Canada during the 1960s. Its bibliography spans poetry and prose in Punjabi and English. One identified English publication is Endless Eye, issued by the Canadian Poetry Association in 2002. Language and literary form both matter in this record: Bharati wrote in Punjabi while also publishing poetry for an English-language readership.[1]

His University of Victoria thesis, An Analysis of Evolutionary Ethics, names Navtej Singh Bharati and identifies an MA in philosophy. Its title page dates the submission to April 1973.[2]

Leela and a shared citation

A joint Anad Foundation citation dated 28 November 2010 honours Bharati and Ajmer Rode for Leela. It draws attention to a book design that foregrounds poetry, and to Bharati’s long poems reworking Indian myths in contemporary settings. In its assessment of Bharati, the document connects lyricism and simplicity with philosophical range. It also credits Endless Eye with extending the reach of his writing. These are the Foundation’s judgments in an honorary document, identifying the qualities it valued in the collaboration.[3]

A Lahore visit in 2016

Zubair Ahmad’s May 2016 report places Bharati in Lahore lecture halls, visiting Punjabi Adabi Sangat, Punjab University’s Punjabi Department and Government College University’s Punjabi Majlis. Recalling childhood lessons, Bharati described his fascination with the formation of Urdu and Gurmukhi letters, linking writing to careful observation of the hand. His remarks also gave the poet a wider remit than a specialist discipline: psychology or economics could isolate an aspect of life, whereas poetry addressed the human being as a whole. Ahmad heard the later writing as a celebration of ordinary existence, and recorded the visit through lectures and conversation.[4]