Sardarni Inderjit Kaur recently passed away in Chandigarh at the ripe age of 99 years. Wife of illustrious savant-scholar Giani Gurdit Singh, she was a person of innumerable capacities and abilities. On her 98th birthday on September 1, 2021, a Festschrift honouring her life and times was launched virtually by Sahit Parkashan, Chandigarh.  Recently, they published the second edition of the same. World Sikh News publishes the editorial note of her senior journalist son Roopinder Singh, which gives a bird’s eye view of her life and also expresses gratitude to all those who made her life fruitful, meaningful and joyful.

SHE IS A WOMAN EXTRAORDINAIRE. Inderjit Kaur Sandhu has led a full and fulfilling life. In her journey, she has been a student, teacher, Principal, Vice-Chancellor and Chairperson, but to my mind, her most essential and immediate role is that of Mama, as my brother Ravinder and I called her.

She was the first woman Vice-Chancellor of a university in North India, one of the three women VCs in the world in 1975. Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi, also had her as its first woman chairperson. As I spent over six decades watching her navigate a male-centric world with rare grace and aplomb, I grew to admire her. In this, I am far from alone. Her colleagues, students and many others who came in contact with her, often spoke of how their life changed for the better, at some point or the other, after her intervention.

The book –An Inspiring Journey is a collection of the accounts of some of her closest associates. I am grateful to Mrs Gursharan Kaur, who has kindly written the Foreword. She is always gracious; once again, she has been generous. Since I lived at home for a significant part of my life, many of my friends knew my parents well. They, too, have contributed articles to this festschrift.

Bibi Inderjit Kaur flanked by her two sons-Roopinder Singh and Ravinder Singh on her 97th birthday

Mama was educated in Patiala and Lahore. Her love for the Punjabi language and culture led her to be in the first batch of students who earned an MA degree in Punjabi. She would marry Giani Gurdit Singh, a leading Punjabi journalist and author, and become Vice-Chancellor of one of the rare universities named after a language, Punjabi University, Patiala. It is only fitting that a significant part of the volume comprises articles written in Punjabi, which gives them a unique flavour.

Angad and Ravneet stand behind their grandparents. Ravinder, Mona and Roopinder bring up the rear.

At 98, she has weathered many a crisis but kept her indomitable spirit alive. She has shown remarkable forbearance as this book evolved. The journey was challenging-delays, glitches, loss of data, and above all, my inability to devote the necessary chunk of time-all contributed to the delay in publishing the book.

Invitations for contributions were sent in 2011 and many of the articles were written soon thereafter. They have not been revised. Some of the pieces, however, were.  The writers were requested to select the language they wanted to express themselves in. These have not been revised. Some of the pieces, however, were commissioned recently. They all capture the flavour of my mother’s life through various stages. The book is heavily illustrated with pictures. They will undoubtedly reignite many memories among readers. Birthdays were significant events for the family, and we have many shots that reflect the time. I have endeavoured to give detailed captions, and, in subsequent editions, I will make every endeavour to correct them, if necessary.

Unfortunately, during the time it took to produce the book we lost eminent people who had written for the book-historian Professor Kirpal Singh; former Registrar, Punjabi University, Patiala, Tirath Singh; the well-known author, Sahitya Akademi Award-winner Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana; journalist Niranjan Singh Sathi; and writer-critic Dr Kuldip Singh Dhir.

Capturing the essence of Inderjit Kaur is difficult. Doordarshan Jalandhar endeavoured to do so in its Dhian Punjab Dian episode in 2009. The BBC recently (August 2020) featured her in a series of 10 most influential women in India for a web series that ran in Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. In this volume, we see her through the eyes of those who mattered so much to her.

As we look at the accomplished women of today, Mamma and I see how well women have done, a far cry from the time when she started her education in Patiala in the 1920s. Even as we celebrate the accomplishments of women in fields that did not even exist when my mother started her journey as a professional, I still think that ensuring that her memory stays alive is essential. This volume is an endeavour in that direction.

At the inauguration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Vidya Kendra, Mehrauli, Delhi, Bibi Inderjit Kaur, Giani Gurdit Singh Ji and others

My gratefulness to the contributors knows no bounds. Through their accounts, the image I had of my mother was greatly enriched and became multi-dimensional. They have also shown patience even as the book took a long time to come to fruition. My wife, Jaspreet, gave me the necessary support and inputs as the book went along. R M Singh has always risen to the occasion to provide covers, and he outdid himself this time. His sketch portrait has been widely used and appreciated.

We launched the book on September 1, 2021. The shadow of the Covid pandemic ensured that it was a hybrid event, largely online. The speaker at the zoom meeting included Sardar Tarlochan Singh, Ex-MP, Dr Arvind, Vice-chancellor Punjabi University Patiala, who brought in a personal note in his address, as did another predecessor, Dr S.S. Boparai IAS, Ex-vice chancellor of the university. Dr Nikky Gurinder Kaur Singh, Crawford Prof. and Chair of the department of religious studies at Colby College recorded her message from main. MI.USA, Dr. Neelam Maan Singh Choudhary, the eminent. Theater Director, was with us in Chandigarh, as was Dr Ranjt Powar. The edited launch video is on Facebook st https://fb.watch/7Nh2BVvv90/

Bibi Inderjit Kaur being greeted by her colleagues after taking over Principal, Government College for Women, Patiala

The book and the event received extensive coverage in the medical and we ran out of copies of the First Edition. We are now presenting the Second edition. It has a new article in Punjabi, by Prof. Gurinder Singh Mann of the Global Institute for Sikh Studies, New York. Also included in this edition is the message we received from Captain Amarinder Singh and selections from the media coverage. The flipbook version of the book (http://fliphtml5.com/homepage/bxrmw) has been read extensively, pointing at changing preferences and needs of the post-pandemic world.

Birthday Time: from right to left -Bibi Inderjit Kaur with Harcharan Kaur, Tejinder Kaur and standing from right to left -Roopinder Singh, Jatinder Singh and Jaspreet 

I am deeply grateful to my dear friends who took out the time and went through various iterations as the book progressed; to the designers who gave it a format that evolved; the computer specialists who sorted out problems that seemed insurmountable at the time, and the final pre-press expert who has prepared the book for us.

Above all, naturally, I am grateful to God, who gave me parents whose multifaceted lives and accomplishments are for the world to see. I am so glad that my labour of love, the tribute to my mother is resonating with readers.