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Poonam Khaira Sidhu, a former Indian Income Service (IRS) officer, has worn many hats in her life—from dealing with numbers and legalities within the tax division to now writing her personal ebook Chuckles and Cherished Moments, an anthology of her articles, principally revealed in nationwide dailies. She started assembling the gathering a number of months in the past. As she unpacked containers and sifted via recollections, she got here throughout newspaper clippings of her revealed works, reminding her of the journey she has traversed.
Her writing profession started whereas her husband, KBS Sidhu, an IAS officer, was posted in Amritsar and their sons have been nonetheless younger. Even with the calls for of household and her personal profession, Sidhu’s ardour for writing by no means wavered. “I’ve all the time been drawn to tales,” she shares, admitting her fondness for romantic classics like Gone with the Wind and Colleen McCullough’s novels. “I’m an enormous romantic,” she provides with a smile, hinting on the theme that runs via a lot of her work.
Her time within the IRS supplied her loads of alternatives to hone her abilities with phrases. She believes the position calls for not only a sharp command of numbers but in addition a mastery of language. “Within the tax division, your orders should converse for themselves, whether or not it’s a search, survey, or evaluation,” she explains. “In case your order isn’t judicial and doesn’t comply with the ideas of pure justice, it falls aside. It’s a must to be a wordsmith.”
This emphasis on precision and readability in language is mirrored in her articles, the place she tackles topics with wit and perception.
Veteran editor Rahul Singh, who wrote the foreword for Chuckles and Cherished Moments, highlights Sidhu’s distinctive tackle Punjab and its individuals. Although Punjab could also be small in measurement, Singh notes, it has an outsized presence within the Indian creativeness, with Punjabis identified for his or her grit and enterprise. Sidhu’s writing challenges the stereotype that Punjabis solely perceive agriculture. She explores the nuanced variations between Punjab’s areas, the colourful life round Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake, and the peculiarities of the Indian paperwork. Singh praises her for balancing humour with depth, concluding that Sidhu’s actual calling might need been writing or journalism somewhat than authorities service.
One of many highlights of the ebook is Sidhu’s satirical tackle bureaucratic life. She sketches a scene acquainted to anybody who’s tried to achieve a public servant throughout workplace hours: the elusive officer perpetually “in a gathering.” Whereas offers are brokered on Shatabadi trains between Delhi and state capitals—over croissants and enterprise discussions within the Govt Class—the day-to-day workings of governance appear to stay in limbo. By way of humour, Sidhu captures the irony of the paperwork’s inefficiency, the place extra time is spent in conferences than making precise selections that affect individuals’s lives.
Her Chandigarh Chronicles part brings town to life via vivid character sketches and social observations. Sidhu dissects the snobbery of town’s sectors, from outdated cash and nouveau riche circles to the altering dynamics of Chandigarh’s elite. She additionally paints a captivating image of town’s “gents farmers,” who straddle the urban-rural divide, sustaining each sprawling farmlands and polished drawing rooms within the metropolis. For Sidhu, these farmers characterize a bridge between trendy Chandigarh and its agrarian roots.
One other amusing chapter, Malwa Versus Majha, dives into the cultural and linguistic divide between two areas of Punjab. After her wedding ceremony, Sidhu remembers her father’s comment that “We Majhails don’t marry our daughters to Malwais,” a sentiment she solely got here to grasp after years of marriage to a Malwai. The linguistic quirks of Malwa have been significantly placing: a “window” turned a “taqi” in her new residence, whereas in Majha, it was nonetheless a “khirki.” Over time, she realized to understand the deeper variations between the areas—Malwais, identified for his or her practicality and strategic considering, contrasted with the impulsive and idealistic Majhails.
Sidhu’s love for storytelling doesn’t finish along with her articles. “I’m engaged on a romantic fiction trilogy,” she reveals, a mission that appears like a pure development for somebody who grew up with a set of Mills and Boon novels. Writing, it appears, runs in her household. Her grandfather, fluent in Urdu, English, and French, left behind a wealthy literary legacy, together with a library she inherited. Her father, a military officer, all the time inspired her to learn and write.
Now dividing her time between Chandigarh, the place she enjoys being a grandmother, and america, the place her elder son resides.
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