Harjeet Singh Tuktuk

Harjeet was born and brought up in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. His parents Professor Kalyan Singh and Dr. Nirmal Kaur Khanduja were also poets. Harjeet completed BE in industrial technology from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 1996. During his time at college, he founded "Watch Out", campus media body of IIT Roorkee and was also a recipient of Thomson Medal. He completed his management education from INSEAD business school. Right from a young age, he has always been zestful about performing and has participated in several Hasya Kavi Sammelans (Humorous Poetry Slams) and radio shows. Harjeet was discovered by poet Ashok Chakradhar and was given a break on television for the first time in 1997 on Doordarshan, under the moniker of Sardar Tuktuk. In 1997, he also won the poetry reality game show Hansgola, hosted by Arun Gemini. In his early years, he also contributed to various hindi poetry books including Hungama Express, Hansta Khilkhilata Hasya Kavi Sammelan. He has also been a long-time contributing writer for Anubhuti, a hindi poetry website. He was a part of multiple episodes of the famous Hasya Kavi Sammelan show 'Wah Wah', that first aired on SAB TV in 1998. The subsequent reboot of the show, 'Wah Wah, Kya Baat Hai!' aired in 2012, with multiple episodes featuring Harjeet over the course of the year. Harjeet was one of the most popular poets on the show. Harjeet has been awarded with a title of 'Hasya Samrat' (King of Comedy) in the year 2001. In 2016, Harjeet was invited to perform in a series of television, radio and stage shows in the United States where he was felicitated by the World Hindi Foundation. In 2020, he was awarded the Vishwa Hindi Jyoti Bhushan for his contribution to Hindi literature.