Writing in a land away from home
By Baldev Singh Dhaliwal

THE immigrant Punjabi story is hardly three decades old but due to its different thematic parameters and new linguistic idiom, it deserves a place in the history of Punjabi story. The Punjabi story by immigrant writers is being written in its first centre England, besides other European countries. It is also being written in African and Arabian countries.

The journey started in England with the description of hardships faced by Punjabi immigrants. They were trying to establish themselves in a foreign land and had to tolerate racial discrimination for this purpose. They had to forge their historical enmity and compromise with the colonial power. The story gives glimpse of memories of the past, sorrows and pleasures of the present and the dreams the future of immigrant Punjabis. Aesthetically, however, the story was not of a high order.

The first generation of the immigrant Punjabis had the illusion that they would return home after earning a lot of money. This illusion was shattered when their own kith and kin (and even parents) did not approve of their return. This experience has been depicted in Tarsem Neelgiri’s story ‘Do Kinare’ and in Shivcharan Gill’s story "Kamai’.

The immigrant Punjabis tried their best to settle down but in their heart of hearts a wish to go to "the land of the stars" remained. The main character Gurdeep in Ravinder Ravi’s story Tarian Wala Desh, thinks: "I am habitual of sleeping either on the roof of outside in the open fields. I am deeply in love with the stars. To leave this love to buy a life and that too for money.... No....no it is not possible for me, But..."

Preserving this wish in the depths of their hearts, the immigrant Punjabis asked their families to join them. Consequently, their lifestyle changed. On the one side their confrontation with the natives increased and on the other, economic competition with their own near and dear ones began. Raghbir Dhand’s stories Navin Kisam De Naag and Dirty Colour and Shivcharan Gill’s stories Bedakhal and Badrang portray different aspects of racialism Swaran Chandan’s stories Dal Khan Wala and Pachhan depict details of mutual competition between immigrant Punjabis.

The Punjabi women improved the financial conditions by working in the factories outside their homes. They stepped on the road to women’s liberation. This gave a shock to the Punjabi men who had faith in the Eastern morality. Consequently, tension entered immigrant families. Shivcharan Gill’s story Bann-Subb and Baldev Singh’s story Churatil described this sort of tension.

Financially self-reliance was such an experience for the immigrant Punjabi woman that it inspired her to seek self-recognition. Kailash Puri’s story Bachani depicts this new feminine consciousness. Balbir Kaur Sanghera, Surjit Kalsi, Rani Nagendra, Veena Verma, Shashi Samanduia, Parvez Sandhu and N. Kaur also depict this new found awareness of the Eastern women. Veena Verma has been the most successful in this direction. Seen from the point of view of subject matter and structure, her stories are full of repetition and are the formula type. But as far as, the depiction of women’s consciousness is concerned, she expresses it with intensity. For the first time, a woman is portrayed as bubbling with a desire to be the lord of her own body and soul. This woman not only refuses to become an object of enjoyment for others, but herself wants to enjoy the pleasures of life. Indu, a character in her story Kacheel says, "Women belong to them who use them properly — bodily as well as spiritually. Some of them pass unnoticed, leaving not even a trace of their foot-steps."

This transformation, a result of the thought and behaviour of the Western women encouraged Indian couples to reject their marital obligations. Consequently, the married life of the immigrants developed serious cracks.

Jarnail Singh, a Canadian resident has depicted the married life of the immigrants in this story Taapu. In this story a matriculate Canadian resident, Balraj, marries Pashi a Punjabi girl who is an MSc. Despite some economic problems, they lead a happy life. With the arrival of Pashi’s parents in Canada, tension enters the family. Inspired by western individualism and women liberation. Pashi demands equal rights. Balraj expects to be treated as an Indian husband and son-in-law so he does not tolerate Pashi’s attempts at assertion. This results in the wreckage of their marriage. The children function as a bridge between the two islands. In reality, they can not be tension-free either by remaining separate or by remaining together. Though Pashi suffers the consequences of the breakdown of the family more, she also enjoys the pleasures of liberation.

A new aspect of this family crisis appeared in the form of generation gap. The new generation of the immigrants who have been brought up in the western way of life are free of the taboo ridden thinking of their parents. The confrontation between the parents and their young daughter in Swaran Chandan’s story Free Society, describes this generation gap. Seema, the daughter wants to move around as freely as her English girl friends. Her parents don’t approve of her behaviour but when they try to control her, she revolts. Out of revenge, she indulges in a physical relationship with her boy-friend. This creates extreme tension in the family.

The ‘open society’ of the West and the ‘closed society’ of the East remain at a distance from each other. Apparently, though the immigrant minority of Punjabis lives according to the traditions of majority population, yet it remains worried about its elimination. Immigrant families don’t have any significant access to the inner circles of the western families. That is why, the immigrant Punjabi story very rarely speaks about the western common people.

Ravinder Ravi and Raghbir Dhand consciously attempt to compare the norms of western and eastern cultures in their stories. Ravinder Ravi thinks about an average person who is free of all constants. He creates a norm of inter action between man and man as human beings. In his story Jithe Diwaran Nahin, Ravi advocates the seed for assimilation in the foreign culture, instead of creating a different Punjab in isolation, contradictory to the culture of the natives. His story creates a logic of co-existence of western and eastern societies.

Raghbir Dhand’s concept of human relationship is more realistic in comparison to that of Ravi. In the light of his progressive point of view, he differentiates between the racial capitalist and the common white man. In his story Keera, he (ironically) depicts the fundamental approach of the Punjabis. He creates a norm of cooperation for the exploited classes on the basis of their economic interest. His story Ukhali presents this norm followed by the Punjabis and the Negroes. His story Valadi mayor Dolan shatters the myth of ‘Democracy’ believed in by the neo-colonial countries of the West.

The immigrant Punjabi story, from the beginning has been dealing with the question connected with the existence and fate of the immigrants. Artistically, it has not progressed much. Since it acquaints us with a new experience, its place is significant.

It is also believed that since the immigrant Punjabi story has already attained its climax and the new generation is ignorant of the Punjabi culture, the future of this genre is dark. However, the recently published stories of the Canadian residents Jarnail Singh and Amanpal Sara appear as rays of hope. With the advent of these writers, the centre of the Punjabi story had shifted from England to Canada. The appearance of Veena Verma has also given fresh impetus to the Punjabi story in England.