By Acharya S.P.Dwivedi
SURREY – South Asian/ East Asian Canadians are those Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to South Asia which includes countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. But in Canada the South Asian writings also cover the literary works of those writers who have come from Indian -Diaspora -Guyana, Trinidad Tobago, Fiji , Surinam and Mauritius etc. The major languages of South Asians are Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bangla, Gujarati and Tamil.
The South Asian Literary Society of Canada (SALSOC) organized a conference on April 28,2018 at Punjab Bhavan in Surrey in which four research -papers on Punjabi, Hindi, English and Urdu were presented. The theme was “Contribution of South Asian Writers in Enriching the Canadian Literature”.
It is an universal trend that whenever and wherever people migrate from one country to another place they carry with them the cultural, religious traditions and belief systems. Some people from South Asia especially from India- Punjab moved to Canada at the end of 19th century and since then, the number of immigrants gradually increased. Earlier strict restrictions were placed by Government of Canada for immigration but in the year 1947, after India got freedom, voting and other restrictions were removed. 1960 Census stated that 2/3 of South Asians were professionals-teachers, doctors, professors and students.
The Multi-cultural Policy of the Prime minister P. Trudeau in 1971 and the ‘policy to sponsor the family members’ to bring to Canada opened the ‘flood gate’ for immigration. A sizable number of people from India, Fiji, Pakistan, Guyana, Trinidad, Sri Lanka and Uganda immigrated to Canada.
The literary activities started from early 1970s and organizations were slowly formed . South Asians religiously, culturally and linguistically maintain strong bond with their community and heritage while navigating the social convention in this adopted country. Mostly, people settled down in urban centers such as Metro Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. The census of 1994 recorded that 80% of South Asians were immigrants and the 2006 census found that South Asians was the largest visible minority group in Canada.The family duty, identity,cultural and religious clash and contemporary life experience are the recurring themes in their writings with a huge coverage of sounds, smells and sights of past.
Four scholars,- Dr.Rishi Singh, Acharya Dwivedi, Dr Asma Sayed and Balwant Singh Sanghera ,with rich literary knowledge and experience ,were requested to present the research papers.
The program began with the welcoming address by Acharya Dwivedi, chair of the conference who emphasized that significant literary works have been produced by the South Asian writers but it has remained unrecognized. The SALOC has always been in the forefront to promoting the South Asian literature in Canada. It has brought out three anthologies on South Asian Writers. The first two carried the writings of Hindi, Punjabi,Urdu and Bangla writers in their original scripts but recent one “Rainbow” was produced in English language to reach out the main stream readers and young generation of South Asian community.
Ashok Bhargava , a well known writer, was the moderator who introduced the speakers. Dr, Rishi Singh, a scholar of an incredible reputation, spoke on the contribution of South Asian writers in English literature. There are more than 200 writers who produce fiction, non-fiction and poetry; and it is growing rapidly. Some of the writers have gained national and some international fame such as- Rohinton Mistry, M.G.Vassanji, Michael Ondattje, Anita Badami and Cyril Dabydeen etc.; and their books have been translated into foreign languages .
Acharya Dwivedi outlined the development of Hindi organizations and literary activities in Canada since 1970s and now more than fifty Hindi societies are found actively involved in promoting Hindi language and literature. He gave the list of temples, private centers and universities where Hindi is taught. The “Hindi Samvad” was the first printed journal and radio “Rimjhim” both generated enormous interest in Hindi. There are number of magazines, newspapers, radio and television shows which have been relaying the programs in Hindi. The publication includes novels, stories, plays, memoirs ,essays, poetry and anthologies. Actually, more than 90% publications contain poetry. There is high need to get Hindi works translated into English only then the main stream readers and young generations will have access to it. The popular Hindi writers are -Hari Shankar Adesh, Jagmohan Humar, Acharya S.P.Dwivedi, Shyam Tripathi, Ratnakar Narale, Shivnandan Singh Yadav Suman Ghai and Shailja Saxsena.
Dr Asama Sayed, a distinguished South Asian scholar and literary critic, delivered her talk on Urdu literature in Canada. Those who came from Pakistan and India, after getting themselves settled in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver, started organizing Mushaira (Poetry recital sessions) in early 1970s.Ashfaq Hussain started publishing journal from Toronto ”Urdu International” and WAli Alam Shaheen “Urdu Canada” from Ottawa which generated enormous interest in Urdu.A chair in Urdu language was established in Mc Gill University, Montreal. The Urdu associations organize Mushaira and seminars in Vancouver,Toronto,Calgary and Ottawa to promote Urdu. The popular writers are Wali Alam Shaheen,Abdul Qavi Zia,Ashfaq Hussain Zaidi, Shakeela Rafiq, Nadeem Parmar.
Balwant Singh Sanghera was supposed to give a talk on Punjabi literature but he could not make it thus Kulwant Singh Parmar ‘Nadeem’ spoke on Canadian Punjabi literature.Punjabi people,mostly Sikhs have been here since the end of nineteenth century and as of 2016 the Punjabi is third most popular language in Canada. The Punjabi literary work was started in the year 1910 with the publication of Punjabi newspaper but most of the activities took place from late 1970s. Indeed the highest number of books,news papers, radio and television shows in Punjabi language are produced in Metro Vancouver than any other city of the world. There are more than 100 Punjabi literary associations who organize , on regular basis, Kavi Darbars, seminars,conferences and book launch which generate tremendous interest in literature. Some writers have got their books translated in English,Hindi and Urdu to reach out more readers. Jeevan Rampuri,Gill Moranwali, Ajmer Rode, Charan Singh Virdi, Harbhajan Singh Mangat,Jarnail Singh Sekha and Inderjit Kaur Siddhu are some of the popular Punjabi writers.
There is an awfully limited market of South Asian books in Canada, except English books, thus Canadian publishers do not take any interest in publishing the books here.Because of this writers get their books published in their native countries-India,Pakistan,Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Hopefully,with more rapid growth of South Asians and gradual interest in literature, writers will have favorable market and if will get their writings translated in English then it will help them a lot.
The second part of the conference carried the Kavi Darbar and it was successfully conducted by Dr. Suresh Kurl. These writers- Harsharan Kaur, Haedev Singh Sodhi ‘Ashak’, Krishna Bector, Nadeem Parmar, Suresh Kurl, Ashok Bhargava, Inderjit Kaur Siddhu, and Amreek Singh Plahi recited their poems and won the hearts of gathering. At the end, as a token of appreciation, the speakers, moderator and Sadar of the Kavi Darbar were honored with shawl by the Executive members of SALSOC.
