Surjit Singh Virdi's short story "Sapp'an Wali Raat" (Night of the Serpents) leads the reader on to a precipice and then leaves them hanging - did Taari, or didn't he? What were, after all, the dimensions of the tension/s between Paal and Taari? The story is unlike any other in Punjabi Literature in terms of lyrical quality and imagery.

Surjit Virdi was born in village Shankar, Nakodar in 1935, and he passed away in 1972 in London, England. He published two collections of short stories in Punjabi - Insan Bhukha hai ਇਨਸਾਨ ਭੁੱਖਾ ਹੈ (1963) and Cancer te Phull ਕੈਂਸਰ ਤੇ ਫੁੱਲ (1972). His writing was influenced by Dostoyevsky, Camus and Beckett. Surjit Hans, writer and literary critic, wrote about him: "Virdi's writing art challenged traditional story-telling rules, and sought new rules which we do not have. Our response to his stories, therefore, is of bewilderment. Only time will decide whether he was a genius, but with his untimely death the Punjabi tradition of master story teller has ended." - Nilgiri-13

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