Background
Originally from village Sandawala in District Jallandhar, Punjab
(India), Basant-ji spent most of his adult life in Africa and
then in UK. He was the oldest of seven children born to Rattan
Kaur and Inder Singh Dhanjal. Childhood illness claimed the
lives of all but one of his siblings, which had the effect of
making him very protective of his youngest surviving brother,
Pritam Singh Dhanjal. Pritam Singh followed in the steps of
his older brother’s and has become an esteemed poet in
his own right (http://www.dhanjal.com/).
Basant-ji married
Baljit Kaur, and together they had four sons and three daughters.
By the time he passed away, he was the proud grandfather of 11
grandsons and 8 granddaughters.
Poetic
Education
Basant-ji was denied formal education beyond standard 5 at a local
village school, but had a yearning for learning that drew him
towards poetic expression. Raised in pre-partition India, he had
the benefit of being exposed to Urdu in his early life, which
was an important building block for his poetic aptitude and recitation.
He had a very trusting
internal persona, which meant that all who met him were drawn
to his charm and good nature. Perhaps the biggest impact on his
poetic life came from his relationship with his Ustad-ji, Giani
Kidar Nath Baghi, originally of Layalpur (Faislabad, now in Pakistan).
They had a father-son relationship that Basant-ji remembered with
great fondness to his last days in Birmingham, UK.
Poetic
Style
Basant-ji’s poetry was always in keeping with his positive
outlook in life, and was characterised by his writing name ‘Basant’,
meaning the season of spring and blossom. His work was strongly
inspired by people he had come into contact with. He was renowned
for his passion, memory and his ability to make a serious point
in a humorous way. He used clever, well constructed verses that
showed great balance, and took great pain to avoid using any rhyming
word more than once in his poetry.
