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Issue 7 Vol I, January 15, 2006 Culture Jarnail
Singh's Towers of Triumph and Doom Diaspora literature is rich in many ways. It is not only the subject matter, treatment, language or diction or even portrayal of characters, but it often touches the alienation from which the immigrants suffer. It reflects the struggle, contradictions, hopes and aspiration as well as disappointments. It accepts western influences, moulds these to suit the subject matter and in turn is also influencing the genre of the literature in those countries. Interestingly all Indian languages are enriched b the contributions of these parvasi writers. Queerly, while English writers dominate the market place, writers from other languages struggle to reach audiences. Here Associate Editor, Dr Jaspal Singh, a keen student of literature discuses the literary merits writer Jarnail Singh. Jarnail Singh from Brampton, Canada is one of the leading parvasi short story writers from Punjab. Indian academics have given a new name to this genre called 'diaspora writing'. Five collections of his short stories have appeared so far, the latest being Towers. His earlier collection of stories Do Tappu has been translated into Hindi as well besides being put to 'Shahmukhi' transliteration. The stories in this collection are a vivid portrayal of the family turmoil leading to fragmentation and alienation of the individuals in the country of their adoption. They also dilate on the trials and tribulation of the Punjabi immigrants in Canada in the process of making desperate efforts to carve a living space for themselves in a daunting alien world. The first story 'Towers' begins with the events of 9/11 in America that brought the most powerful nation of the world to its knees. This very first story that lends its name to the collection is like a live film of the blowing up of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on that fateful day that has gone down in world history as a mile stone. Angela and William, the protagonists in this story lose their very bright daughter Stacy in these blasts. The life-like scenes of death and destruction are so horrible that the entire American nation is stunned perhaps for the first time in their history. The impact of these blasts is almost as shocking to the American nation as that of the atomic bombardment on the twin cities of Japan at the fag end of II World War. Then the cruel sequence of events further intensifies the grief of Angela and William when their son Denis goes to Afghanistan to fight America's war against terrorism as a soldier. After having devastated the land-locked beautiful mountaineous country, a large part of American army withdrawn from Afghanistan, but their aim of capturing or doing away with Bin Laden, the 'fountain head of Islamic terrorism' is not realized. Consequently the American craze for power and glory spills over other regions of the world and now Iraq comes in the firing line. And, poor Denis is now dispatched to the 'shifting sands' of Middle East to 'neutralise' a 'barbaric dictator' so that 'democracy' is restored and the last vestiges of 'weapons of mass destruction' are eliminated once for all. The poor boy is lost in the 'sand dunes' of Iraq and is listed as 'untraceable'. With the disappearance of Denis his mother literally goes crazy. A visit to the Tim Horton Coffee Shop run by Jamila and Hanif a favourite haunt of Angela and William explodes their illusion of America's infallibility and self-righteousness. Now the things appear in a different light and the American establishment is held no less responsible for the disaster of the epoch. The story 'Pani (water) is about constructing a swimming pool in the specious house built by Baldev Singh and his wife Sukhjit Kaur as proposed by their son Raju and his Canadian wife Sharan. The young people have suggested Sukhjit Kaur to sell the land that she owns in her native village in Punjab so that requisite funds are raised for the construction of the pool in the backyard of the house. The old woman is so emotionally attached to the village land that she out rightly rejects the proposal. But in the village Sukhjit's cousin Bhupi who looks after the land has an evil eye on it and wants to grab it by hook or by crook. This story brings forth two kinds of problems. One related with the family tensions in Canada and the other with the fate of the non-residents, property in India. As of now there are thousands of disputes and clashes going on in Punjab over the NRI property. "Guache Lok" (the lost generation) is about the destiny of Shamsher Singh a very successful Indian immigrant to Canada whose sons make it big by devious means. The old man is now totally ignored by the family including his wife. Consequently he resorts to heavy drinking leading to his liver failure. He needs an immediate liver transplantation for survival for which he is in the waiting line of the hospital. A socially committed co-worker James Benjamin who is killed by a maniac ultimately proves to be the donor. The story revolves around fragile moral fiber of the new generation, neglect of the aged and the ailing and at the same time around the purposeful life of those individuals who are committed to social causes. Religious swindling, financial trickery and political chicanery are also foregrounded in this story. "Baref de Darya" (the rivers of snow) is again about a cunning builder Dean Saunders who wants to develop an entertainment park on the beautiful hills near the town where a perennial river flows in its natural glory. The construction of such a park for the affluent section of society is bound to pollute the natural and moral environment of the town. Therefore, the Pollution Control Association of the town led by Shaun and Sophia opposes it. Incidentally Dean Saunders turns out to be a school days seducer of Sophia from whom she has a grown up child. Now she forgets about the collective protest against the developer but decides against the wishes of her husband Shaun to sue Saunders for deception in the hope that she might get a large maintenance sum for herself and the child. This story displays another dimension of the depraved ways of life of the western world. The last story "Sarhkan" (roads) is about a transporter Ajit Singh and his business partner Jack Harrison. Ajit and Jack raise a big transport company but Ajit's elder son parts company with his parents after his marriage and the younger son Karan is killed in a road accident while trying to save the lives of other trapped people. He is posthumously awarded Medal of Bravery by the Canadian Government. All these stories open out to the reader a world of conflicts, crises and contradictions that the immigrant Punjabi and native Canadian communities are now facing in this highly complex world made worse by the pangs of cultural assimilations, alienation of the marginalized and the avarice of the crooked and corrupted young generation. There is a faint silver lining on the dark horizon which appears in the character of people like James Benjamin, Jack Harrison and Shaun. Jarnail Singh may not be very prolific but whatever he writes, he does it with commitment and sincerity that makes his stories instantly popular with responsive readership. | |||||||||||||||||
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Origin of Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture
The British rulers retained the name `Punjab' for the province which included the erstwhile dominions of Maharaja Ranjit Singh without the territories of Jammu and Kashmir (and later on the territory across the Indus) but with territories upto the Jamuna. The princely states of the plains and the hills were also attached to the province for over seventy years. The British Punjab covered nearly all the Punjabi-speaking area, and extended in a sense the Punjabi identity. The Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of the province became more conscious of their Punjabi identity. A popular Muslim poet could affirm his concern for the welfare of the Punjab as his des, his preference for Punjabi over Persian, Urdu, and English as his language, and his love for a Punjabi maiden as his beloved. In the political sphere, the Unionist Party professed to be the common party of the Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs of the Punjab. Histories of the region began to be written consciously as histories of the Punjab during the period of British rule. The creative writers of the period took to new forms of literature in Punjabi, notably novel and short story, drama, and secular poetry. Essays and biographies began to be written. Shardha Ram Philauri wrote a history of the Sikhs in Punjabi, which was translated into English later by Henry Court. Punjabi journalism began to flourish after the introduction of the printing press. Even in religious debates Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus made use of the Punjabi language. Indeed, Punjabi began to be taught not only in Sikh schools and colleges but also in the Oriental College at Lahore. Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha's Mahan Kosh, called the Encyclopaedia of Sikh Literature, was not confined to `Sikhism'. A dictionary of Punjabi was published by a Sikh author before the end of the nineteenth century, improving upon the work of the Christian missionaries. There can be hardly any doubt that Punjabi language and literature took a long leap in the period of British rule and secular Punjabi literature came to the fore in its major literary forms. This, however, was only one side of the story. For their own purposes, the British rulers of the Punjab classified its people in terms of castes, clans, and religious communities, obliging the Punjabis to think in these terms. If humanistic English literature, and natural and social sciences, made for secular and humanistic outlook, the presence of the Christian missionaries and their activities obliged the Punjabis to think of religious reform through a fresh interpretation and propagation of their religious traditions. Along with the politics of the empire, the province, and the municipalities, and concern for service in government and administration, education and professional careers, appeared the politics of language, widening cultural differences among the Punjabis. Increasingly, the Hindus stood for Hindi in devanagari script; the Muslims championed the cause of Urdu in Persian script; and the Sikhs stood for Punjabi, preferably in Gurmukhi script. In this process, relatively speaking, Punjabi literature became less and less a concern of Punjabi Hindus and Muslims, and more and more a concern of the Sikhs. The partition of the Punjab in 1947 did not retard this process. The politics of languages in the Indian Punjab is better known to us. We are familiar with the arguments used for and against the creation of a linguistic state on the basis of the Punjabi language. The demand for the creation of a Punjabi-speaking state was politically motivated but the argument was genuine: if linguistic states were being created in the Indian Union why not a Punjabi state. The opponents of the demand contended wrongly that it was a 'separatist' demand, a sort of prelude to Khalistan or a sovereign Sikh state. Even Jawharlal Nehru declared that he did not wish to have another `partition'. The protagonists of Hindi declared that Punjabi was not their mothertongue. It was also contended that Punjabi was not a literary language or even a distinct language. The way in which the Punjabi-speaking state was created left many a bitter legacy, and some of the major problems are still there. Nevertheless, a Punjabi-speaking state, that is, a state in which Punjabi is the official language, is a reality of great important. This is the only part of the world in which the future of Punjabi as a language is secure, at least in theory. The global Punjabi community must give due recognition to this vital fact. However, even the Punjab governments appear not to have fully realized their responsibility towards the Punjabi language and literature. It is true that Punjabi language and literature are the creation of the people. Even under Sikh rule, Punjabi was not the language of administration. Colonial policies in the Punjab had very little directly to do with the encouragement of Punjabi language or literature. Yet the language and the literature flourished due primarily to the commitment of the Punjabi peoples to their culture. The politicization of languages under colonial rule and its accentuation after 1947 has changed the situation. Matters related to language, literature, and culture cannot be left to individuals alone. Corporate thought and action have become necessary. The state has an important role to play in this context. The work of the universities, colleges, and schools of the Punjab has to be constantly kept in view. The work of the Languages Department of the Punjab, and of its Department of Culture, should remain in focus all the time. The attitudes of senior administrators, both Punjabi and non-Punjabi, and even of the political parties and politicians of the Punjab are relevant for the development of Punjabi language, literature and culture. Without going into specificities, or causes, it may be safely stated that all the agencies relevant for the promotion of language, literature, and culture could have done better, and can do better, than their performance so far. It is an essential part of their performance to make people aware of the importance of their cultural heritage so that they can enrich it further through interaction with others. The Punjabis in Pakistan have been dominant in its politics. They have upheld the national language that is Urdu, much more vehemently than the Sindhis, Baluchis or the Pathans. Their pre-partition attitudes, thus, have been reinforced. A little lightly, or perhaps not so lightly, an advocate of Punjabi language and literature in Pakistan can be referred to as 'a Sikh'. The fate of Punjabi language and literature in Pakistan, therefore, has been far worse than in the Indian Punjab. The protagonists of Punjabi language and literature in Pakistan have faced, and are facing, greater hurdles and difficulties than their counterparts in India. Ironically the opposition comes from Punjabis themselves who, apart from political considerations, have looked upon Punjabi as a low cultural and social index. Punjabi literature of Pakistan is all the more valuable for being the product of a creative talent swimming upstream. The script used is generally Persian but there are scholars who try to learn Gurmukhi so that the literature produced on this side of the border becomes accessible to them. This laudable effort can be emulated on this side by learning Persian or Urdu script. There was a time, a short time, when a working knowledge of Persian was necessary to get a Master's Degree in Punjabi Literature. It was not easy to continue with the practice but a knowledge of Urdu or Persian is still of great advantage to a student or scholar of Punjabi literature. By reading and studying Punjabi literature produced in Pakistan we can enrich our own cultural heritage. | |||||||||||||||||
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SOUTH ASIA POST INC. |
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