ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Goswami’s dear friend Amrita Pritam’s creative enterprise and her close bond with Indira Gandhi. In Pakistan Goswami came to know about the popularity of the film Pinjar which was an adaptation of the classic novel, Pinjar by Pritam. Amrita Pritam’s Pinjar was a heartbreaking document of the Partition. The story traces the time of Partition when the protagonist Paro was forcibly taken away by Rashid, her father’s old enemy. But the attachment to her own country, India, kindled Paro’s hopes of return. But unfortunately on her return, because she was forced to elope by a Mohammaden, her Hindu parents refused to keep her at their house. Pinjar is timeless in Goswami’s views. Also, Indira Gandhi was a devout admirer of Amrita’s verses. She savoured listening to Amrita’s poems in her own voice. It is amazing that just three days before her death, she had Amrita called and listened to her recitation of her own poems. This turned out to be the last meeting as Indira Gandhi was assassinated after that.
