Amrita Pritam’s 100th Birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates Amrita Pritam, one of history’s foremost female Punjabi writers, who “dared to live the life she imagines.” Born in Gujranwala, British India, 100 years ago today, Pritam published her first collection of verse at age 16. She is most remembered for “Ajj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu,” her poem lamenting the traumatic 1947 partition of India and Pakistan. The work’s title translates as “I Call upon Varis Shah Today,” referring to the 18th-century Sufi poet Waris Shah.

Widely considered the greatest 20th-century Punjabi poet, Pritam also published 28 novels including Pinjar, a dramatic tale set during the time of partition which was adapted into a movie. Her autobiography Kala Gulab (Black Rose), referenced in the Doodle art, revealed many details of her personal life, allowing other women to speak more openly about their experiences with love and marriage.

Known for her mastery of the Punjabi language, Pritam lived in Pakistan after the partition, but also wrote many works in Hindi and Urdu, as her work was admired on both sides of the border. Pritam also worked for All-India Radio and edited the literary journal Nagmani. In 1986, she was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the Indian parliament.

Throughout a six-decade career, Pritam received many prestigious awards including the Bharatiya Jnanpith literary award in 1981 and one of India’s highest civilian awards, the Padma Vibushan, in 2005. That same year a French translation of her novel, The Skeleton, was awarded the La Route des Indes Literary Prize. 

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Early concept sketches by artist Vrinda Zaveri

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Fong Fei-Fei’s 66th Birthday

• Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of the beloved Taiwanese singer Fong Fei-Fei. Born Lin Chiu-luan on this day in 1953, she grew up in Dasi Township and went on to become one of Taiwan’s biggest pop stars, known for her melodic love songs and appealing personal style.

  After winning a televised singing competition at age 16, she began a prolific 40-year career, during which she released more than 80 albums, sang over 100 movie theme songs, and starred in several films and TV variety shows. She’s remembered for hit songs like “Wish You Happiness,” “I am a Cloud,” and “The Wild Goose on the Wing.” Many of her songs were popularized in films based on romantic novels by prolific Taiwan-based writer Chiung Yao.

  Nicknamed the “Queen of Hats,” the singer once estimated that she had over 600 hats in her collection, joking that she needed a computer database to organize them all.

  Although she spent her later years in Hong Kong, she recorded many traditional Taiwanese ballads, along with Mandarin songs. She won Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards in 1983 and 1984, and the nation’s Culture Minister hailed her as “Taiwan’s national singer.”
  

  生日快樂, 鳳飛飛 !
  

  
  

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  Early concept sketches by artist Olivia Huynh

  

• This Doodle's Reach

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