Deepak Jaitoi, also spelled as Deepak Jatoi, was a

British-Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. Currently, the British Indian population exceeds 2 million people in the UK, making them the single largest visible ethnic minority populatio ...

Punjabi-language Ghazal-writer as well as songwriter. He worked for

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

for about six decades of his life.

Early life

Jaitoi was born as Gurcharan Singh on 26 April 1919, to father S. Inder Singh and mother Veer Kaur, in the village of Jaitu in the Punjab Province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now in

Faridkot district Faridkot district is a district lying in the South-Western part of Punjab, India with Faridkot city as the district headquarters. Etymology The district is named after its headquarters, Faridkot city, which in turn is named in the honor of ...

). His father was also a poet. He started writing poetry in early age then became a disciple of Harbans Lal Mujrim Dasuhi and learn Ghazal writing from him.

Work

When he entered the world of writing, Ghazal writing in Punjabi was considered impossible. He accepted Punjabi Ghazal writing as a challenge and published many books. He also wrote songs in

. His songs, ''aah lai maae saambh kunjian, dhian kar challian sardari'' and ''jutti laggdi haania mere, ve putt na pulanghan lammian'', recorded by singer Narinder Biba got very popular.

Selected publications

* ''G̲h̲azala dī adā: g̲h̲azalāṃ'' * ''Dīpaka dī loa: g̲h̲azala saṅgrahi'' * ''Coṇawīāṃ ghazalāṃ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaitoi, Deepak 1919 births 2005 deaths Punjabi Sikhs Indian emigrants to England Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom British people of Punjabi descent English people of Indian descent English people of Punjabi descent English Sikhs Punjabi-language lyricists Punjabi-language writers Punjabi-language songwriters