First edition of ‘Payal’Us bewafa di yaad vich roiya karan ki na…Beete dinan di pher tamanna karan ki na…For decades, these lyrics have been synonymous with heartbreak. Popularised in Pakistan by the legendary Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and later sung by artistes such as Akram Rahi, Maratab Ali, Naseebo Lal and Nazaakat Ali, the ghazal became a timeless classic.Yet, for 53 years, the verses were mistakenly attributed to celebrated Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi even as the real author was the late ghazal writer Sukhbir Singh Sandhu of Tarn Taran. Sandhu is finally receiving recognition, thanks to the rediscovery of his ghazal book ‘Payal’ by poet Gurbhajan Gill and its reprinting by the Punjabi Lok Virasat Academy.A former Punjabi Sahit Akademi president, Gill says he received a rare copy of the book from Sandhu’s close relative Col Jasbir Bhullar, a retired Army officer and a renowned Punjabi writer himself.“Several years ago in Kolkata, novelist Mohan Kahlon mentioned a remarkable ghazal writer named Sukhbir Sandhu living in Tarn Taran. Later, I learned about some of his ghazals in England. While I was searching for him, I happened to speak with Colonel Bhullar. Before being commissioned in the Army, the Colonel served as an instructor at the Panchayati Raj Training School in Jalandhar. During that time, he became close to Sandhu. Bhullar told me that Sandhu had published a book and that he held a copy of it,” recalls Gill.He says when he received the copy, he was amazed to discover that the famous ghazal “Us bewafa di yaad vich roiya karan ki na”, widely assumed to be a work by Batalvi, was actually part of Sandhu’s book. “His other ghazals are equally brilliant, though they failed to gain recognition at the time. Sandhu passed away on June 5, 1986. Now, we have republished his book,” adds Gill.Colonel Bhullar says after Sandhu returned to Tarn Taran from the UK, the book was printed by a small press that usually worked on wedding cards. “Only 10 copies were published and one was with me. He died in a miserable state due to alcohol addiction and could never establish himself as a writer. His few ghazals were published in contemporary literary magazines and they eventually reached singers in Pakistan,” he says.Dr Atamjit, eminent playwright, says Sandhu got the book’s first edition self-published under the name ‘Payal Publishers’. “The name piqued my curiosity because the restaurant-cum-hotel he opened in Tarn Taran after returning from England was also named ‘Payal’. It appears that much of his poetry was written after he parted ways with a woman named ‘Payal’. However, despite the heartbreak, Sandhu remains a poet who is deeply devoted, sincere, content and elevated far above any bitterness or grievances,” he adds.Born on August 12, 1932, Sandhu belonged to Kalsian Khurd village in the Khalra area of Tarn Taran. His father Giani Sardara Singh was an educationist who spent his life serving at Guru Arjan Dev Khalsa High School in Tarn Taran.After completing his MA, Sandhu worked as a clerk, schoolteacher, drama inspector for the Punjab Public Relations Department and later as a spray painter in England before eventually returning to run Payal Restaurant on the Amritsar Road in Tarn Taran. His debut poetry collection “Payal” was published on October 20, 1973.