Fruits of Migration: Seeing Punjabi Diaspora through its Stories

Abstract

Displacement for survival, perhaps since the inception of life on the earth, has been a marked feature of the animal kingdom—be it birds, mammals, reptiles, or human beings. However, these are only human beings who migrate not just for survival but also for a better life. In this very context, the present paper deliberates on the migration of Punjabis to England, America, and Canada through some of the short stories in Punjabi produced by the migrants settled in these countries. The stories have been taken from an anthology titled Punjabi Parvasian Dian Kahanian (The Stories from Migrant Punjabis), edited by Jinder and Baldev Singh Baddan. The selected stories bring forth the diasporic people’s desires, sometimes lust also, to enjoy the riches and the glamorous life of the western countries and their struggles for success in foreign lands. This literary response is a collection of mixed experiences. On the one hand, it exhibits bewilderment at the incompatibility with the new culture, a sense of alienation, and the sacrifices of health and ethics to reach prosperity; on the other, it brings forth how the migrants learn to explore themselves, gain independence (especially women) and shed their weaknesses and narrow attitudes in the new liberal environments. This study also includes the problem of illegal migration, the vice of greed behind it, the resultant fear and frustration, and how it results in turning humans into not-less-than-beasts.