Dear Friends from far and wide

He was 97 and a half, with pride.

Till the elders from the village confirmed

That, in fact, a century he had turned.

Reducing his age to marry his bride,

Champa, the beautiful, by his side.

The earliest memories of we his children,

Wide-eyed, pouring over the family album.

Paris, Rome, Berlin and more

Where had Daddy been before?

The 1936 Olympics he explained,

His hockey days, India, a gold obtained.

Then in his modern printing press absorbed,

Chug, chug, whoosh, whoosh we endured.

But in Jeewan Preety he did immerse

His passion for Punjabi literature, ethics and verse.

A faithful readership did emerge

For Daddy’s writings on subjects diverse.

He once met a lobster on a plate

What is this “dadoo” in my Chakkar phase?

Then Tokyo, Singapore, Soviet Union too

He must survive this dream come true.

The insatiable traveller he

Finally settled down to write his opus free.

Come on, come out with us please...

Oh no, he said, let me be at ease.

Writing, writing all day long

He inscribed the Guru Granth Sahib in English song.

Eight years later at 84,

He finished the epistle to cheers galore.

Sikhs worldwide acclaimed the scribe

Washington D.C. conferred the prize.

But his silent work, human to the core

Quietly done for ever more

The Narinderpura Trust to help the poor

Get medical care through a doer.

We will strive to follow his principles dear

Holding “sarbat ka bhalla” * ever near.

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*welfare of all mankind

27th June 2008