The Everlasting Fragrance of the Bond of Amrita Pritam And Imroz

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February 19, 2024

I carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)I am never without it(anywhere

I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

-e.e. cummings, from “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]”

Though applicable to many lovers, the aforementioned lines are almost perfect for capturing the endearing bond of Amrita Pritam and Imroz, one of the most loved couples in India. Their bond of more than 45 years is known not only by their artistic tributes to each other in the form of poems, paintings, and letters but also by the rather unconventional dynamics of their live-in relationship which was not much appreciated in Indian society, back in the day. This article explores the timeless bond of Amrita Pritam and Imroz using some interesting anecdotes, poems, and letters.

Known for her free-spirited nature, Amrita Pritam both, in her words and her actions, fought against the restrictive societal norms for women as she aspired for self-reliance, freedom, and equal respect both at work and at home. Her desire for freedom and her depiction of women’s oppression in societal institutions such as the family, and the state amongst several others, was unparalleled in the literature preceding her work. Her feminist spirit was unmatched except for a few, of whom one was Imroz. Born Inderjeet Singh, Imroz was an artist and a poet seven years younger than Amrita Pritam, who loved Amrita despite knowing that she was in love with Sahir Ludhianvi, a famous Urdu poet and married to Pritam Singh in a loveless marriage. Amrita loved Sahir deeply and longed for him even after the latter fell in love with the playback singer Sudha Malhotra. Not only did Imroz make peace with Amrita’s love for Sahir but he even embraced it and respected it. As one anecdote goes, when Sahir died of a sudden cardiac arrest in 1980, it was Imroz who had supported Amrita while she kept longing for Sahir’s love. Imroz’s actions stood true to his description of his bond with Amrita: “We made no promises, no commitments. There were no questions, no answers. But love flourished without any formal expressions.”

Not only was their love for each other very pious but it seemed even more difficult to sustain considering the very difficult circumstances of its being. In a time when the concept of live-in relationships was not even known to most Indians, let alone accepting it, Amrita and Imroz managed to stay in such a relationship for more than 45 years. Despite all the social ostracisation that the couple would have faced for their unconventional decision, they continued to love each other the way they did, if not more. The selfless love of Imroz once even made Amrita ask him, in a letter:

Raahi, tum mujhe sandhya bela mein kyun mile, milna tha toh dopeher mein milte, Uss dopeher ka sek toh dekh lete

(O passerby, why did you meet me during life’s dusk, if you had to meet me, it should have been in the afternoon, at least then we would have seen the afternoon’s warmth)

A photograph of Amrita Pritam and Imroz

Source: “In the Times of Love and Longing” Amrita and Imroz, Full Circle, Hind Pocket Books

Imroz first met Amrita Pritam in All India Radio Delhi where the latter had taken up a job as an announcer post-Partition as she came to Delhi from Lahore. Not only did Imroz fall in love with Amrita then, he also dropped her at work and at home with his bicycle due to which Pritam Singh became grateful to Imroz, as Amrita started cooking food by herself. Later, Imroz even bought a scooter and a car to drop to work and home as well as to drop her kids to school. The two also settled together in a live-in relationship in the famous K-25 bungalow of Hauz Khas which Amrita wanted to become a memorial after death and for Imroz to continue living in it. However, merely 5 years after her death, the house was sold to the builders by her son Navraj and bulldozed to death as a heartbroken Imroz witnessed the destruction of the home. Not only was the house a testimony of their love and togetherness but also an important cultural space open to all and frequently visited by literary stalwarts such as Sahir Ludhianvi, Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Gulzar amongst many others. K-25, like many other sites of heritage and cultural importance in Delhi, has become one more space lost to the evils of carelessness and greed for money.

Of the many poems that Imroz wrote for Amrita Pritam, Ek Zamane Se (Since an Age), remains particularly beautiful as it pays a tribute not only to Amrita but also to the written verse that both of them mastered throughout their lives and used to express their love for the other. In the poem, Imroz imagines the life of Amrita to be a tree and a poem.

एक ज़माने से

तेरी ज़िंदगी का पेड़ कविता

फूलता फलता और फैलता

तुम्हारे साथ मिल कर देखा है

और जब तेरी ज़िंदगी के पेड़ ने

बीज बनाना शुरू किया

मेरे अंदर जैसे कविता की

पत्तियाँ फूटने लगी हैं

Since an age

Your life’s tree poem

Blossoming, Growing and Spreading

I saw together, with you.

And when your life’s tree

Started making seeds,

Within me, like a poem’s

Leaves have started to grow.

-trans. Vedant Nagrani

A painting of Amrita Pritam by Imroz

Source: Hindustan Times

The last love poem of Amrita Pritam, Main Tenu Phir Milangi (I Will Meet You Yet Again), captures the everlasting fragrance of her bond with Imroz which she feels would transcend even the bonds of mortality and life. In a striking parallel with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet How Do I Love Thee?, Amrita Pritam is hopeful that she will meet Imroz yet again, “where and when” she does not know but all that she does know is that there is more to their love, something that time cannot restrict in its but finite reach. There exists something about their love which cannot be put into words, cannot be expressed in the best of films about them but can only be felt. Like Imroz describes it as a timeless tree of life, it shall continue to be celebrated and carried down the generations as one of the most memorable, liberating and endearing romances of India.

References

Rawat, Surabhi. ” ‘Main Tainu Pher Milangi’: Amrita Pritam and Imroz’s timeless love story.” Times of India, 25 Dec. 2023,

https://m.timesofindia.com/life-style/relationships/love-sex/main-tainu-pher-milangi-amrita-pritam-and-imrozs-timeless-love-story/articleshow/106270433.cms

Khurana, Suanshu. “How Imroz’s love built Amrita Pritam, as a woman and a poet.” Indian Express, 29 Dec, 2023,

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/how-imrozs-love-built-amrita-pritam-as-a-woman-and-a-poet-9084955/

Gupta, Anukriti. “Amrita-Imroz: Journey of their Letters between Delhi and Bombay.” Zikr-e-Dilli, 31 Mar. 2021,

https://zikredilli.com/f/amrita-imroz-journey-of-their-letters-between-delhi-and-bombay

Narayan, Madhavan. “No stereotypes, no ‘lady of the house’: What Imroz and Amrita taught me about feminism and journalism.” Newslaundry, 25 Dec. 2023,

https://www.newslaundry.com/2023/12/25/no-stereotypes-no-lady-of-the-house-what-imroz-and-amrita-taught-me-about-feminism-and-journalism