‘Super’ by Lindsay Pereira traces Punjabi migration hopes and struggles abroad

Journalist midday columnist and novelist Lindsay Pereirarsquos below third novel Super Fourth Estate HarperCollins traces the life of Sukhpreet Gill a young Punjabi from the village of Chukhiara who lands up in Jalandhar and carries a dream of a better life in Canada As he prepares to leave we are made privy to the lives of his cousin Deepanshu who works as a food delivery boy in Toronto and Harneet who is looking to apply to universities in Canada and the United Kingdom Meanwhile in Toronto Maynard Wilson an unemployed Caucasian is on the brink of facing evictionA view of Bartan Bazaar in Jalandhar Pic CourtesyTravel2Pro on YouTubeThe four lives are connected by the fear of an uncertain future With a startling opening chapter Pereirarsquos book deals with the stark distinction that lies between the illusion of prosperity promised by a foreign land and the reality that pushes one to their limitsHe reveals ldquoI stumbled upon a report about a funeral home based in Toronto in 2018 They work with the repatriation of bodies of Indians who passed away in Canadardquo These belong primarily to the Punjabi community ldquoIn 2018 they sent eight bodies back by 2022 that number had risen to around 33rdquo he tells us Having worked as a journalist for over two decades he says ldquoThis felt like an important story and no one was talking about it There are stories about violence perpetrated on immigrants and an antiIndia sentiment in multiple countries but this felt very tragicrdquoHe recalls watching a documentary on the CBC around the same time where a Punjabi spokesperson of the Naujawan Support Network estimated that it can take 74 years for the average Punjabi family to pay off a yearrsquos tuition ldquoI thought there was something wrong with that figure It was a bit of a shock because it meant that there were a large number of Indians who were making this move mortgaging their family homes and land primarily for economic migration and what they thought was a better liferdquo Additionally he had been reading about the difficulty of survival in North America if one were not financially welloff These collectively triggered him to write the novelThe choice of Jalandhar as a location is crucial as a large section of the immigrant population comprises Punjabis They make up 26 per cent of the total population of Canada ldquoI was born and raised in Mumbai While growing up we didnrsquot see a significant amount of advertising pushing us to migrate to Canada or the UKrdquo he says This however isnrsquot the case in Punjab and Haryana A large sum of marketing funds is spent towards targeting communities comprising young individuals trying to make their way through life Commenting on the predatory nature of such schemes Pereira argues ldquoWhen yoursquore vulnerable everything starts to look like a really good ideardquoLindsay PereiraTwo voices stand out Sukhpreet and Maynard While Sukhpreetrsquos offers a gentle and poignant perspective Maynardrsquos stands in sharp contrast The latterrsquos anger about a changing Canada erupts from microaggressions into larger consequences However Pereirarsquos perceptive eye allows the reader to sympathise with Maynardrsquos situation without condoning his actionsHe reflects ldquoI have nothing in common with any of these people Because itrsquos so challenging to write them you can step away as a journalist When I was 19 I was on the crime beat for a short time There yoursquore not trying to engage with what yoursquore seeing you have to offer a neutral perspective and let the reader deciderdquo For the four characters in the novel Pereira adopted a similar approach He believes that when multiple points of view are presented without judgment the reader has a participatory role and does the heavy lifting that the writer leaves for themAt the same time Pereirarsquos novel is a testament to the hard work done by the writer in connecting disjointed links distilling onersquos research and humanising a storyAvailable Leading bookstores amp estoresCost Rs 699