Special Report
Editorial
Op-Ed
Opinion
Columns

Politics
Literature
Music
Art & Culture
Sikh Religion
Rights
1984
Books
Education
Business

Entertainment
Lifestyle
Travel
Health
Heritage
Sports
Kids Corner

Panjab
India
Pakistan
South Asia
US of A
Canada
Asia-Pacific
UK
Europe
Middle East
Africa
World
 

Archives
Newsletter
Advertise

Obituaries

Feedback
Contact Us
About Us
Site Map

Story of a Punjab village in Canada
The novel Paldi is the East-West quest and walks the Canada-Kanada rope
WSN Network 

A cross-cultural narrative celebrates the spirit of togetherness of the heart and mind. The distance is not the divide, for at Paldi in Canada and Hoshiarpur, there is space and time for an intricate interplay of human hearts and minds. Canadian novelist and painter Kathryn Myra Spencer's cross-cultural narrative 'Paldi' symbolizes the unity of the human sprit and the quest for spiritual fulfillment. Essentially, the story of two women and the life and times in the little and unique village Paldi, a few kilometres from Lake Cowichan in Canada, where the author lived. It's the place she and her brother, along with their father, visited often on Sundays. Mayo Singh Manhas, who belonged to Paldi near Hoshiarpur, set up lumber village of the same name in British Columbia in Canada and that both intrigued and absorbed Spencer and is an inspiration for the novel.

Paldi is a symbol of tolerance, of pluralism and multi-culturalism. It is a dream of being free and bound in tradition… a dream of Ella and Prabhjot too.

The novel lives the great Sikh diaspora dream in Paldi, founded in the beginning of the 20th century and beomes the West’s fascination with Indian mysticism. The novel is based on this mutual cultural curiosity, which forms the leitmotif and the crux of Paldi.

At many levels, Paldi becomes an exploration of human life. “It’s important to me because of the friendship between two women from different cultures, because of the successful meeting of cultures, the ability to imagine and create, to go beyond the mundane,” says Kathy.

The novel bears experiences from Kathy’s life. As a child, her interactions with the Sikh children from the Canadian Paldi and her country’s openness to multiculturalism formed the basis of her understanding. The family dynamics, migrants’ challenges – things came easy having seen everything closely.

The migrants’ struggle to keep up with the West’s pace, yet trying to cling on to their tradition; the pronounced gap between India-born and Canada-born Indo-Canadians.

Prabhjot is all for Western traditions and Ella, though believing in her culture, aspires for the Eastern culture. Kathy says Ella finds her culture too cold and seeks warmth and mysticism in Punjab's culture. But, what’s warmth for Ella is Prabhjot’s shackles and in the coldness of Ella’s culture, she seeks her freedom. Mayo Singh’s Paldi becomes the destination, yet it remains a quest.

15 July  2009
 

Bookmark with

Reddit    Yahoo     Furl    Delicious