#sanghera

Chief of the Asia Pacific Section at Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jyoti Sanghera. Photo Courtsey: OHCHR KATHMANDU: Chief of the Asia Pacific Section at Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jyoti Sanghera, held a discussion with the officials of the Commission for the Investigation of the Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) including…

New Music: Sanghera – Hold Me

Creating a powerful ballad is a new track from upcoming artist Sanghera entitled “Hold Me.” As the beat continually adds mystery tones, the bars also progress. Listen to the audio below. Big C Twitter/Instagram [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/208642877" params="visual=true&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"…

Since reading Sathnam Sanghera’s autobiography, The Boy with the Topknot I have been hooked by his incredibly real sense of writing.  It comes to no surprise that by being obsessed with British-Asian literature, I wanted to buy my school library’s version of the book some years ago. When refused to re-home this wonderfully enlightening book on my own personal bookshelf, I turned to order my own copy for my A-Level literature study.

I was inspired so much I wrote to Sanghera explaining my admiration for the book and how his success as a writer was my motivation for the future, not to mention the reasons I chose him for my A Level study. I was amazed to learn I had received a reply from a top Times writer! Not only did I receive a reply but got told my letter was now featured on Sanghera’s wall for inspiration – “I’ve printed it out and will put it on my study wall and look at it whenever my motivation flags. Which is often” –  Sathnam Sanghera, December 2009.

For obvious reasons Sanghera is one of my favourite writers. My original email to him is proof of my respect for his work as I continuously embarrass myself by showering him with compliments. However, four years later I found myself fortunate enough to still be on his mailing list. Receiving an email on the release of his first novel, Marriage Material I did not hesitate to order it.

Marriage Material is a wonderful novel which fluctuates from present day to the past hardships of the first generation Punjabis that immigrated to the UK. The main character Arjan Banga reveals his experiences of introducing the Punjabi culture to his English girlfriend – which I can’t help believe is inspired by Sanghera’s own relationship experience which was revealed in The Boy with a Topknot. Not only does Arjan continue to experience the hurdles of a cross-cultural relationship but learns of the history of his broken family hiding behind secrets, betrayals and loyalties presented through the corner shop life in 1950’s Britain.

Sanghera beautifully adapts Arnold Bennett’s The Old Wives’ Tale to address the issues experienced by the first generation British-Asians in a way that mirrors the social confinement and expectations of the Victorian era. Despite entering the modern age of the ‘naughties’ decade, Sanghera relates to how you can claim that Indians still harbour an old-fashioned attitude; in particular to the restrictions given to females of the Punjabi culture, “WEREN’T LONG AGO WHEN GYALS WEREN’T ALLOWED IN GORA PAKORA PUBS” (Marriage Material, p.299). Marriage Material gives modern day British-Asians a flavour of the life that was once a set of strict rules for women not being allowed to talk to boys, eat meat, drink alcohol, and wear Western clothes and always covering their head when in the presence of older relatives.

It was interesting to read this novel so soon after finishing the Jasvinder Sanghera Shame collection and get another perspective on marriage and disownment which also plays a key theme in Marriage Material. Intriguingly, Marriage Material unravels the story behind Surinder Bains’ decision to disown her family by running off with a white man opposed to her family abandoning her as seen in cases in the Shame collection. In addition, Marriage Material addresses the association of caste systems within the Indian Culture and how once upon a time it was an insult to be associated with anyone beneath your own caste.