Singapore NRI alleges land
grab by brothers in Punjab
NRI's daughter said "Blood is not thicker than water"
India is no
longer what it used to be. Or should I say, Punjab and its people
was just never like what my father described it to be. Love, family-bonding,
sacrifice for other’s happiness, hospitality, kindness and
caring were the adjectives my father would use to explain how
was, back in India. Ever since we came to our senses, me and my
siblings have been visiting India every year. And I must add,
that we did feel and experience all the love and care we could
have felt in the world from our relatives and friends, back ‘home’.
I was born
and bred in Singapore, yet i have always felt a strong correlation
between me and Punjab. I liked every thing about Punjab. Dad would
tell us stories every night, about how great Punjab is and more
importantly how great his family is.
Because we
lived in Singapore and earned more in currency, my father probably
felt a need to continuously support his family back home. Thank
God he was into the labour supply business and he managed to bring
my uncles(his two younger brothers) to Singapore on a work permit
basis. My uncles worked here and savoured every good moment in
Singapore.
They went
back and settled down. A few years later, my dad's younger brother
begged my dad for help to send him to New Zealand. He felt he
could rise as a singer there. My father slogged even if it meant
we (my brother and sister) had lesser tuitions, so could he pay
for his brothers PR application for New Zealand.
My uncle
was cheated of S$20,000 and he went back shamelessly to India
without even thinking of working and slowly repaying my father.
Despite all these ungratefulness, my dad’s love for his
younger brothers never faltered. Infact, he kept providing more
for them. My poor mother’s cries to my dad to be cautious
never made an impact. My dad built a huge house, which they are
now living luxuriously in.
Things began
changing out of the blue and my uncles ganged up against my father.
Greed probably seeped into their minds and I wont be surprised
if our neighbours made an influential contribution. My dad’s
second brother started gossiping behind my father’s back
and TODAY, these two unfaithful souls have usurped all the land,
even my fathers share. Needless to say, being a landlord or farmer
by birth and having deep attachment and a sense of belonging to
his ancestral land, my father is devastated.
His condition
worsens day by day. Every night now, he mumbles to himself in
his drunken stupor, “What am I going to pass down to my
son?” Not that my brother is too keen on that piece of land,
but he feels strongly for my dad but regrets that he is unable
to help much.
The past few
days have been tough. My dad he gets up early and starts making
calls to relatives to in India, for help. Suddenly everyone is
unkind and unhelpful and his pleas fall on deaf years. He calls
his sisters daily, hoping they would make a quick trip down to
our village to speak to the ‘Sarpanch’. “Sorry,
we can’t get involved.”- is the reply he gets.
The contemporary
side of me tries to explain to my father to let go and forgive.
After all, it’s just some piece of land. There is no logic
to drink to your ill-health over land disputes.
But there
is something deeper here. It’s about betrayal and it’s
about fighting for your rights. Fighting for rights is something
that has been preached even in our religion.
So, we have
vomited out our true love and care for our family in Punjab and
have decided that we are going to fight for our land, no matter
what it takes. Blood is not thicker than water, so we have heard
and now we have felt.
India, I guess
is always putting a façade. In reality, all that happens
there is killing over land disputes, rapes, disgusting dowry tactics,
female infanticide, etc. India has no law and no system and definitely
no conscience. Even if someone wants help, they need to pay first
or bribe first. It’s sad because India is a land when the
purest and holiest have come and left only for conditions to be
in dire states today.
submit:
Singapore, Feb.26, 2008
H.K.Bhullar
(Contact
in our File)