Writer: SukhinderCanadian Punjabi novelists presenting the lives of the migrants on realistic level in their novels are not in a big number yet.
Canadian punjabi novelist Jarnail Singh Sekha has attracted the attention of the punjabi readers by presenting the life of migrants in a very interesting and realistic manner in his novel ‘Bhagora’. Happenings continue to happen very naturally and the reader never feels that anything in this novel is extra or it has no purpose.
Character development of this novel has been done in such a way that none of the characters seems to be extra in the novel. Every character appears in the novel at the right moment and talks according to the need of that moment.
Diction of the novel creates such a good feeling in your mind that at no place the characters of the novel become boring.
In developing the plot of the novel, problems related to immigrant life have been presented in a realistic manner.
In his effort to make ‘Bhagora’ novel more interesting Sekha has made use of theatrical elements. On such theatrical moments characters present their views on social, cultural, economical, political and religious matters. In this way through the characters of the novel the beliefs of the novelist also become obvious.
After reading this novel one also becomes aware that thousands of people after selling their houses, fields, property and after paying thousands of dollars to the immigrant agents want to reach Canada through illegal means. On their arrival in Canada, they want to get rich within a couple of years. But when after their arrival here they have to work hard, day and night, sometimes, even 18 hours per day and when they are also exploited by the businessmen of their own community they realize the realities of the immigrant life. They start feeling that they have wasted bigger parts of their lives merely in paying mortgages of their homes, hydro bills and installment fees of their immigration lawyers. Then they realize that the kind of life they had dreamed they would be living here in Canada is no where to be seen. They found that the life here is very tough. They don’t even get the time to think about the life they are wasting in this way.
Novelist Sekha also brings out this thing crystal clear in this novel that no single community or culture has all the good people. He also emphasizes that every culture has some bad things along with good things. The same way among the followers of any culture there are always some bad apples too. This is the reason, the novelist Sekha wants to remind us that if anything bad happens in a culture you should not blame everyone who believes in that culture to be responsible for this.
In the novel ‘Bhagora’ the main female character Dressler who being from German culture and Christian religion genuinely falls in love with the main male character of this novel Sukhbir who comes from punjabi culture and believes in Sikh religion. Dressler helps Sukhbir in everyway to reach Canada and get settled there. Though Sukhbir doesn’t care for Dressler’s sacrifices she had made for him and always dreams of getting married and living his life with his first girl friend Surekha he had left behind in India.
People belonging to many cultures and religions are living in Canada. In this novel ‘Bhagora’ novelist Sekha also speaks in favor of this thing that if the people belonging to different cultures and religions in Canada will marry their sons / daughters with women / men of different cultures and religions it will give strength to the multiculturalism in Canada. In this way people of Canada will be able to live with each other with more love and affection. However, narrow minded people will keep themselves imprisoned in the limits of their own religions / cultures / castes and as a consequence keep on bringing new crises everyday for their family members.
Canada is a country of immigrants. Except Canada’s Native people who are the native Canadians, everyone has arrived in Canada as an immigrant one way or another.
Novel ‘Bhagora’ has been developed around its main male character Sukhbir who arrives in Canada from punjab, India through illegal ways with dreams of becoming an immigrant.
Most of the immigrants have arrived in Canada mainly due to two reasons.
First reason for immigrants to come to Canada is the corrupt politics in their homelands. As a consequence of corrupt politics lives of such people were in danger either from the oppression inflicted on them by the police or by the agents of the secret spying agencies or their lives were in danger due to the religious fundamentalist terrorism.
Second reason for the immigrants to come to Canada is to live a better life as compared to the kind of life they were living in their previous countries they had left behind.
India’s province of Punjab was suffering from the effects of the Khalistani Terrorist Movement from 1978 to 1995. As a consequence, the people of Punjab were living in a continuous state of fear of becoming victims of violence at the hands of the Khalistani terrorists. At the same time people were also facing oppression at the hands of the Punjab police who was torturing and terrorizing innocent people in the name of controlling the Khalistani terrorist elements. To put a halt to the increasing influence of the Khalistani terrorists in Punjab India’s government had given a free hand to the Punjab police and the Central Reserve Police to shoot anyone who was a suspected terrorist or was posing a threat to their security. During this period, the Punjab police butchered thousands of Punjabi young men calling them suspected Khalistani terrorists. In the name of getting information from them about the Khalistani terrorists they were taken to the police interrogation centres where they were tortured so much that they were left like living dead bodies. Police broke their legs, their arms or they were given so many electric shocks that they lost their mental equilibrium forever. Thousands of innocent Punjabi young men were killed by the Punjab police by making fake encounters. In this way, these corrupt Punjab police officers filled their pockets with the prize money which was announced by the government of India for killing top Khalistani terrorist leaders and their army commanders.
During these days period of the Khalistani Terrorist movement emergence in Punjab the main character of this novel Sukhbir was a student of a university in Punjab and was living in a student hostel in the university campus.
The novel begins with the romantic flirtation of the main character Sukhbir with a woman named Surekha.
Thus, ‘Bhagora’ could also be called a romantic realistic novel. The novel begins with happenings connected with the romance of the main character Sukhbir and ends with the happenings related to his romance. Novelist Sekha has ended the novel ‘Bhagora’ in a very interesting way. Novelist tells us that many Punjabi immigrants spend their whole lives in this illusion that their culture is much better than other cultures. By becoming victims of such an illusion, they miss many golden opportunities of developing better relationships with people of other cultures. Sukhbir too as a victim of such illusions loses friendship of his best friend German woman Dressler:
“Dressler had walked away leaving him behind. Surekha had not shared even a single word with him. Madam Pal had also rejected him. At that time, he was considering himself alone. This loneliness was result of his own wrong thinking. What he had considered as just a minor thing had taken away everything from him. Both sides were hating him...”
Sukhbir had to leave India for the fear of the father of his first girl friend Surekha and he had to leave Germany for the fear of his second girl friend Dressler. Hanging like a ‘Threshenku’ (hanging between Heaven and Earth) between his two girl friends Sukhbir loses trust of both of them at the end of the novel. Because as an immigrant, in his new adopted country Canada, the glitter of life makes him selfish person and his girl friends do not remain as his first priority; even his girl friend of German background Dressler who had helped him in everyway in his tough days.
After keeping her like a mistress Sukhbir makes schemes to leave her. He is not ready to trust her because she was a woman who grew up in the western culture. It is a big problem among the migrant Punjabi’s that their children born in Canada feel at ease with children of other cultures and do not consider it a big thing if they decide to get married to them. But Punjabi parents still stuck with traditional values feel it tough to do so. Novelist Sekha has presented this confrontation of cultural and social values through the dialogues of the characters of his novel very effectively:
“Sukhe your thinking is very wrong, very wrong. Many white women have married our boys and have they gone anywhere after deserting them? I can see all those white women who have married our boys all of them are living very happily in their homes....similarly all those our women who have married white men they are also living happily in their homes...Cindi Hakins M.L.A. is an example before you...do not call white men and women untrustworthy...”
In this novel while it has been shown that the immigrant agents are exploiting those ones who are eager to go to other countries; at the same time in this novel it has also been shown that such immigrant agents are only concerned about as how they can make thousands of dollars from these would be immigrants. So many people lose their lives while trying to travel from one country to another through illegal means with the help of these travel agents. The following dialogue of this novel ‘Bhagora’ presents this truth before us:
“All of your clients arrive at their destinations?”
“O yes, we try our best that every one reaches at his destination, but we cannot guarantee it. For example, a few days ago some men lost their lives by drowning in a river with their own fault. Some times, they are caught by the police.”
Similarly in this novel one more aspect of the lives of the immigrants has also been presented very beautifully. It tells how businessmen of our own community exploit those people who come here using illegal means and force such people to work in conditions which are only suitable for animals. By always putting a continuous fear in their minds that as illegals they could be arrested by the police; and they as the owners of the factories and businesses were making them feel that by giving them work these traders were showing kindness towards them:
“Sukhbir had always in his mind the fear of getting caught by the police and the anger against those business owners who were paying him less money. By this time, he was also aware of this fact that his co-workers were earning from two and a half thousand marks for the same amount of work but in comparison he was only making six hundred marks...”
Because majority of the characters in this novel are from Punjabi culture, hence, the novelist has also focused on many problems of the Punjabi culture as well. Those problems have been broughtforth by novelist Sekha through the exchange of views by the characters. The following words spoken by the German woman Dressler, the second girlfriend of the main character Sukhbir, draws our attention towards the problem of the followers of the Punjabi culture:
“You cannot judge the greatness of a religion from the existence of its principles engraved in its religious scriptures. You can only make judgments by observing the character of the followers of that religion.”
In the beginning of the novel the main character Sukhbir had to leave Punjab, India due to the emergence of the movement of the Khalistani terrorism as well as an increase in the police oppression. After reaching Canada Sukhbir feels that a sort of stagnation has come in the thinking of the Punjabi migrants. They were mentally still trying to live in those times which they had left behind so many years ago in their old country. After so many years, now, in Punjab, India, though there are no more Khalistani terrorist activities seen and the oppression of the police has also subsided; but in Canada, at a distance of thousands of miles, Khalistani terrorists are still getting importance. During the Baisakhi Khalsa Day parade in the celebration of the Baisakhi festival the supporters of the Khalistani terrorists still make slogans in favor of Khalistani terrorists. Sikh Gurdawaras of Malton, Brampton & Vancouver are still exhibiting big photographs of the Sikh Khalistani Terrorists in the food courts (Langar Halls). After reading in the novel ‘Bhagora’ the description of the feuds taking place in the Sikh Gurdawaras in Canada in which Sikh Khalistani terrorists have been shown swinging their swords and injuring men, women and children one feels sad to realize that even after coming at a distance of thousands of miles from India, we have not been able to get rid of our bad habits:
“First they had a scuffle, then they brought out their swords. The head of the daughter of the president of the Sikh Gurdawara was injured. Someone’s arm was cut. Turbans of Sikhs were rolling under the feet of the Sikh hooligans shouting Khalistani slogans. It seemed as if Sikh Gurdawara was not a place of peace, rather it was a battlefield.”
Only at one or two places in the novel, one feels as if fake theatrical situation has been created. For example, the novelist shows that Surekha, the first girl friend of Sukhbir, is still waiting for his comeback in India. In the present day world educated women instead of getting into such confusion and waiting so long for someone who has gone to a foreign country find someone they really like and get married and enjoy their lives.
‘Bhagora’ can be considered as a successful romantic realistic novel written about the lives of the Punjabi migrants.
For writing such a fine novel, my best wishes are for Jarnail Singh Sekha.
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