In my attempt to be in touch with my own roots, I try to read Hindi and Punjabi literature. One of the often-read authors is Amrita Pritam, hence Ishq Allah Haq Allah. Can’t claim that I totally understand her as a writer, but there is a certain mysticism about her, which I like. She has multiple generations living within her at the same time. She has great imprints of Sufi saints and Darveshes in her. And she is probably living her life like them to this day.
Ishq Allah Haq Allah by Amrita Pritam
In this book, she touches upon love stories right from the time of Ramayana until the late 1990s. The stories are from every era, every stratum of society, and various cultures eastern and western. The most common element is the streak of love you feel for someone when you see them for the very first time. And how it continues to live with you forever.
The way people have responded to that strong emotion has changed over the ages. There was a time when people turned into stones waiting for their loved ones. And then when they did acknowledge the love but could not do more than that due to prevailing social conditions. And then came a time when there are no bindings. People see this as a very momentary attraction, live it for the moment, and move on. We all exist somewhere in our emotional makeup on this continuum, and this position directs the way we react to our emotions for others.
A feeling of ‘Ishq’ for anyone has always been the most elating feeling that one can go through, and this feeling can give you the strength to do anything in life and withstand anything that life makes you face.
Buy this book by Amrita Pritam at Amazon.
Recommend you read the following review of the book by Amrita Pritam.
alas if one can jus feel elated becoz they think they got ‘ishq’…one has to go thru it all, may be for many lifetime won’t get them to the elation part..i guess. If ishq is a journey elation is it’s destiny…a continous journey,a journey without breaks…no chill out time..it’s a continous self-struggle.
nice thoughts..though.