-Ramesh Chander
(Samaj Weekly)- Des Raj Kali, born in 1971, a friend of mine, passed away on August 27, 2023 after a brief illness at a young age of 51. It was shocking news on this sultry Sunday. The sad news spread like a wild fire since morning in the social media. If one simply goes by the condolence messages and remarks by the people, one can easily say that Kali Sahib was much liked and accepted son of the soil. I met Kali Sahib, popularly addressed as Kali Bhaji in his friends’ circles,
only after my retirement from my diplomatic career and return to my roots in Jalandhar. He was already a known figure in literary, media and social circles. My friend and a senior colleague, Ambassador Bal Anand who himself was a literary enthusiast, on a visit to Jalandhar, mentioned about Des Raj Kali and his magazine ‘The Lakeer’ and advised me to meet him in the process of settling down and finding a meaningful social space in Jalandhar. Subsequently, I met him several times in the social milieu and made acquaintances with him. I found him an interesting and knowledgeable man but a little ‘haughty’, if I take the liberty of saying so. May be his social background, political orientation (leftist ideology), association with Gadrite movement, understanding and affiliation with the thoughts of Babasaeb Ambedkar and Babu Kanshi and above all his own thought process as a self made intellectual, were some of the attributes which made him a proud man and rightly so. As I said, Kali Sahib belonged to a socially marginalized family of Mithapur, then a village in the outskirts of Jalandhar. Today only I came to know that he was one of my fellow alumni of Jalandhar DAV College. My first one on one interaction held a few years ago when he interviewed me for the mouth-piece of weaker sections of the society, the Apni Mitti run by Ajay Ram Dhan. I found Kali Sahib exactly what I heard of him, full of confidence, professionally experienced, social involvement and commitment. I was impressed by his candid demeanor. Later, I interacted with him quite extensively with regard to socio-political matters of mutual concern in league with my friends, Rajesh Bagha and Inder Iqbal Atwal of BJP and Jiwan Singh of LIC among others. He was not a blind follower of traditions rather stood his ground in holding on his own as he pleased. With the demise of Des Raj Kali, a wide void has come in the intellectual circles of Jalandhar and beyond. His presence will be missed greatly in the days to come.
After this a somewhat personal note, I must salute Kali Sahib for his self earned stature of an astute political commentator, free and fair journalist, a literary genius and communicator, a dedicated social activist and an excellent human being. The Tribune has rightly termed Kali Sahib ‘was best known as a Punjabi crossover writer who took the region’s Dalit ethos to the world’. Kali was a renowned author of story books, novels and literature pertaining to the weaker sections of the society with both national and international acclaim – from the Jaipur Lit Festival to Nottingham Trent University in England, Montpellier University, France and Monash University, Australia, among others. Several of his books have been translated in other languages. Kali Sahib was a consummate broadcaster as an apt interviewer and political commentator with his insights on his Youtube channel Barqtan WebTV on wide ranging issues. He also edited and published a quarterly literary magazine The Lakeer and also did stints at the Nawan Zamana and the Dainik Bhaskar. Des Raj Kali produced hundreds of articles on dalits, culture and literature in various magazines like the Tehalka.
With the passing away of Kali Sahib the literary and intellectual circles in and around Jalandhar has lost one of his vocal and candid spokespersons.
With this as a humble tribute to Kali Bhaji, I stand with the bereaved family in their hour of grief.
न हाथ थाम सके,न पकड़ सके दामन,
बहुत करीब से उठकर चला गया कोई.
