Ajmer Rode Biography
Ajmer Rode is a Canadian author writing in Punjabi as well as in English. His first work was non-fiction Vishva Di Nuhar on Einstein's Relativity in dialogue form inspired by Plato's Republic. Published by the Punjabi University in 1966, the book initiated a series of university publications on popular science and sociology. Rode's first poetry book Surti influenced by science and philosophical explorations was experimental and in words of critic Dr. Attar Singh 'has extended the scope of Punjabi language and given a new turn to Punjabi poetry'. His most recent poetry book Leela, more than 1000 pages long and co-authored with Navtej Bharati, is counted among the outstanding Punjabi literary works of the twentieth century.
Rode is regarded the founder of Punjabi theater in Canada. He wrote and directed the first Punjabi play Dooja Passa dealing with racism faced by minorities. This was followed by his full length play Komagata Maru based on a significant racial incident in British Columbia's history. Though it lacked professional direction the play generated considerable publicity inspiring theatrical interests in the Indian-Canadian community. His most recent English play Rebirth of Gandhi was produced at Surrey Arts Center Canada) in 2004 to a full house.
Among Rode's significant translation is The Last Flicker an English rendering of a modern Punjabi classic novel Marhi Da Diva by Gurdial Singh who recently won the Gyan Peeth, India's highest literary award. The translation was published by the Indian Academy of Letters in 1993. Currently Rode is member of an international team of translators rendering Sufi songs from Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi into English; the project based in Los Angeles aims to produce a large multilingual book of original and translated songs sung by late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the legendary Sufi singer of the twentieth century.
An active member of the Writers' Union of Canada, Ajmer Rode was on its national council in 1994 and later chaired its Racial Minority Writers Committee; Currently he is co-ordinator of Vancouver's Punjabi Writers Forum, the oldest and influential Punjabi writers association in Canada. He has been founding member of several other Indian-Canadian literary and performing arts associations including Watno Dur Art Foundation, and India Music Society founded to promote classical Indian music in North America. He was the first secretary of Samaanta, an organization to oppose violence against women and is now on the advisory board of Chetna, a Vancouver based organization promoting minority rights and opposing Casteism. He has served on Canada Council and British Columbia Arts Council juries to award literary grants.
Rode was given the Best Overseas Punjabi Author award by the Punjab Languages Dept, India in 1994. Guru Nanak Dev University honored him with the "Prominent Citizen (literature)" award and the G.N. Engg. College with the "Poet of Life" award the same year. In Canada he has been honored with awards for Punjabi theater and translation.
- for Michael Wiegers
If you can find
a path into it
there is enough
space in this particle
to stroll for a lifetime.
Translated by the author
...
The baby
just born into this
world has been greeted well
and well taken care of.
Already a variety of
labels have been
etched on him.
One for race.
One for color.
One for religion, and maybe
one for a caste too.
At the same time he
is told
you are born into a free world
Congratulations!
The baby smiles and
accepts everything in
good faith.
One day when he grows
into a boy and the boy
into man it will suddenly
dawn on him:
nobody knows me
but the labels.
Translated by the author
...
Try a redhot coal on your palm
your hand may not burn
The sun that rose faithfully
for a billion years
may not rise tomorrow
The table in front of you
stuck by gravitation
may fly to the ceiling
any moment.
Absurd?
Maybe
but my imagination has refused
to circle the sun forever.
No, not impossible
to defy Nature, much less man.
Try a redhot coal on your palm.
Translated by the author
...
Human mind
is essentially qualitative.
As you know
we are easily excited by
pinks and purples
triangles and circles
and we endlessly argue
over true and false
right and wrong.
But the quantitative
rarely touches our soul.
Numbers were invented mainly
by men to trick each other.
Women likely
had nothing to do with them; they
had more vital tasks, survival for example,
at hand.
Yes, numbers are often shunned
by our souls
but playing with big numbers
could be real fun.
Say if I were to sit on a gravel pit and
count one billion pebbles non-stop
it will take me some 14 years.
or if I were to count what Africa
owes to rich foreigners - some 200 billion
dollars (more infact) - it is impossible.
I will have to
be born 40 times and do nothing
but keep counting 24 hours.
Although things could be simpler on a
smaller scale. Suppose as a result
of the debt, five million children die
every year, as in fact they do,
and each dying child cries
a minimum of 100 times a day
there would be a trillion cries
floating around
in the atmosphere just over a
period of five years.
Remember a sound wave once
generated never ceases to exist
in one form or the other,
and never escapes the atmosphere.
Now one fine morning, even if
one of these cries suddenly hits
you, it will shatter your soul into
a billion pieces. It will take
14 years to gather
the pieces and put them back
into one piece.
On the other hand, may be all the
trillion cries could hit your soul
and nothing would happen.
Translated by the author
...
If you have forgotten
your recent dream don't worry.
I saw it with my eyes.
The figure that stood before you
with a bunch of white roses was
not me
The arm that wrapped around your waist
tenderly
was not mine
The umbrella that suddenly escaped from
your hand and disappeared in the sky
was me
leaving you free
and naked in the rain
to walk laugh run and slip before you wake.
Translated by the author
...
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
3/16/2026 2:04:19 PM # 1.0.0
