A Girl in a Whirl

By Prof. Avtar S. Virdi

A virgin innocent girl from Punjab, India, gets married to a pretty handsome boy from Canada. The couple goes to a famous hill station for their honeymoon. The boy compels the girl to have a drink with him before starting their sex life. The girl refuses to do so. This brigs a kind of storm in the girl's life. The boy turns a beast when he is drunk, but nice while sober. The girl goes under utmost depression. The boy makes physical-relationships with her although she desperately wanted not to happen so. The boy completely fails to realize girl's feelings. The novel here reflects a great insight into indian cultural values and social stigmas. The boy comes alone to Canada and sponsors his wife. The girl and her mother get stuck in Hindu astrological treatments to solve life problems. An astrologer tells that she doesn't have a happy married life but some treatments can help her a lot. Eventually the girl reaches Canada and joins her husband and in-laws. She is mistaken for putting a charm under her husband's pillow. Domestic violence rages havoc in girl's life and she takes ultimate refuge in god's name. She gets some relief but fails to avoid her divorce. The pregnant girl is invited to a church and taught a lot to change her religion and become a christian. She is impressed by their teaching and converts. Now her true love comes into her life. Now parental and sibling responsibilities have their role in her life. The exchange-marriages system among Asian communities to settle in North America is another highlight here. The girl remarries, but does she get her true love? Will there be a family reunion of the protagonist? What role her old husband plays in her remarried life after learning how nice his wife was? What religion will the girl follow eventually? Will the girl reach a conclusion for leading a happy life? There is a question to the education policy makers of all countries, and a very feasible solution has been given too. Readers will be on tenterhooks to read until the end of the story; This novel will also very informative for new comers to Canada as well as quality readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514478691

Prof. Avtar S. Virdi

Thousands of new immigrants from non-English speaking countries are moving to North America almost every week. After reaching here, they face several problems due to lack of knowledge of English. This book has been prepared for those people who want to learn English properly and assimilate into North American culture and society. This book has been written to help new comers in many ways. This book first teaches the readers the basic grammar in a very simple and interesting way. A new chart for learning simple tenses is the research of Prof. Avtar S Virdi, the author of this book, which has made English pretty easy for learners and thousands of learners attest that this chart had been a big help for them. There are several hundreds of question-answers for preparing for various interviews and personality development. Besides this, readers can learn how to tell their daily routines, give road-directions to someone and communicate with doctors, nurses, and tradesmen. There are five IELTS speaking modules explained for IELTS students. Those who want to prepare for Canadian or the U.S. citizenship tests can get great help from this book. That’s why this is book is very rightly titled “Marvelous English Multi-purpose Guide”. Prof. Virdi who is the director of GTP Marvelous College, Surrey, BC, Canada, has also written “Marvelous English Grammar” and “Marvelous English Essays”, and he claims if any one shows and proves any books better and helpful than his books he would award him or her $ 10,000. What a confidence! Wouldn’t you try to accept his challenge and read his books? Either you learn great things or you can win this grand award. You will be in win-win situation. For any feedback, you can contact the author at 1-604-727-3340 or email at [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2016 by Prof. Avtar S. Virdi.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5144-7868-4

                eBook           978-1-5144-7869-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Note: This story and all characters in this novel are imaginary and any link to a dead or alive person can only be coincidental. The names of businesses and people used in this story have nothing to do with the story. The purpose of this novel is not to promote any superstitions; rather the author wants to promote humanity despite several religions and beliefs prevailing in the world. The author knows no such person who has gone through such situations. The author and publisher won't be responsible for any related incidents with any one -- alive or dead, as this is an original fictional work of the author.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/20/2016

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

1 My marriage

2 Off to Shimla for honeymoon

3 On the way to Shimla

4 It was not the same Sam

5 The next morning

6 Eating out

7 Height of Sam's idiocy

8 My hospitalization

9 Returning home

10 A very bad day

11 My first kitchen at my in-laws

12 I made food for all

13 At my parents' house

14 Meeting my best friends

15 My parents' worries

16 My best friends and their moms

17 Sam left for Canada

18 Meeting an astrologer

19 My visa for Canada

20 Papa preaching

21 Reaching Canada

22 At my in-laws' in Canada

23 Beautiful Vancouver

24 Tide turned against me

25 I took to God

26 My new responsibility

27 Canada Police

28 Training to be self-dependent

29 Working at finding a job

30 Adam and Eve

31 My baby's birth

32 Ties on the worst trot

33 How nice bhua was!

34 My first love

35 Ill-fated turn in life

36 Second marriage, another shock!

37 IELTS exam preparation

38 Is love marriage better?

39 Don't educated couples fight?

40 My visit to India

41 Baljit's visa

42 Meenu and Canada

43 Meenu in peril

44 Spiritual knowledge

45 Frustrated Baljit

46 Meenu and her son

47 Another trying time for me

48 Unlimited knowledge

49 God and the size of the universe

50 Didi's Canadian Citizenship test

51 Knowledge and spirituality

52 Prof. Virdi's interview

53 My mom's demise

54 Clearing the IELTS

55 Sam in Guildford mall

56 Old ties, new vistas

57 Hail the Lord!

58 From three to four

59 An evening in Whistler

60 Final Devastation

61 Omg!!!

62 A new me

Thanks

I t occurred to me on 'Raise a reader' day in 2013 that I should write such an interesting novel that people read it more than once. And I could help people develop the hobby of reading further. After writing the Punjabi version of this novel, I asked many scholars and my students to give their feedback on this novel. Dr. Satish Verma (Dean and professor, Punjabi department, Punjabi University, Patiala, India), Mohan Gill, Manjit Kang, Harpreet Singh, Sukhjinder S. Ghotra, S. Iqbal Singh (former SSP, Punjab Police) Kulwinder K Lehal and Meera Virk are eminent personalities who went through this novel and highly appreciated it. S. Mohan Gill, an eminent Punjabi writer from Surrey, spared lots of his precious time to polish it.

I am very fortunate that Dr. Satish Verma, a world-renowned eminent linguist, guided me to give it the final touch. He found the Punjabi version of my novel informative and valuable enough to prescribe it for his students of M. Phil. in Punjabi University. This has highly motivated me to bring out more quality books in future with the able guidance of my mentors.

I am extremely thankful to all of them who helped me in the accomplishment of my dream project.

Prof. Avtar S Virdi

Dedicated to

Late Mr. S.S. Khosla

Ess Ess Kay Engg. Co. Ltd.

Kapurthala, Punjab, India

(My dad's employer & a big support

and inspiration for my education)

A Girl in A Whirl; a reflection of Canadian culture

'A Girl in A Whirl' is the translation of Punjabi novel 'Aaee Canada Viahee', the maiden one authored by Prof. Avtar S. Virdi. The author has written several books on English which have been selling worldwide online besides hard copies in North America as well as India. But it was author's first big attempt to reach high in the field of Punjabi literature. The Punjabi version of this novel has been approved and accepted by the Punjabi University of Punjab, India for the students of M.Phil. And this is indeed a great achievement for the author. I congratulate the author for his tremendous success.

Sonia, the protagonist in the story of this novel, narrates her story how she gets married to a boy from Canada and goes through various ups and downs before settling in life. Actually it is the story of almost every girl who comes to Canada on marriage base and makes several sacrifices so that her parents and siblings can be financially comfortable and come to Canada for a better future. The author has also made very valuable suggestions providing solutions to some problems of new comers to Canada. The Punjabi version has impressed the scholars very much, and the novel has left an indelible impression on its readers. I congratulate the author for his brilliant multi-purpose effort.

I am sure this version of novel will help readers to learn the values of Punjabi culture that will enhance the image of Punjabis further worldwide.

Mohan Gill, Surrey, BC, Canada

Preface

I had a chance to meet Avtar S. Virdi during my visit to Canada in 2014 when my student Devinder S. Pali took me to his residence. Avtar is also Pali's English teacher and Pali is studying Ph.D. under my guidance. Avtar presented me his six books on English. He and wife have been running their GTP Marvelous College Inc. in Surrey for teaching non-English speakers how to speak English fluently. I read Avtar's books and I was quite impressed. A week after my returning from Canada, Avtar gave me another surprise when he sent me his 1 st Punjabi novel for proofreading.

I learned that he had a clear vision while writing his novel. He was evidently focused on two things; highlighting women's social problems and his loyalty towards Canada, his adopted country. What I like in this novel is that author hails Canada, emphasizes on the importance of Canadian laws and entails the details of geographical and historical facts of Canada. He created an imaginary character of his own in the story who presents the facts and figures pretty forcefully besides other valuable information about Canada that would have appeared a lecture otherwise. I wonder how he has brought such writing techniques under his control in his very first novel! He has used his brilliant introspection and retrospection while building up various characters and the story of the novel. The beauty of the novel is that despite a variety of characters, the author doesn't make any hotchpotch. The story is well-balanced and interestingly directed. He has used his micro and macro visions in the novel very dexterously.

Actually this novel is a socio-psychological journey of a girl's mind. Besides taking refuge in Christianity, Sonia tries various astrological treatments prevalent in our society for the welfare of herself and her family. How she helps herself find a perfect balance between society and her mind as well as to lead a peaceful life is a her beautiful analysis of scientific and spiritual aspects of life. She rises to be a true human being praying for the welfare of everyone.

After reading and analyzing author's maiden novel, I can confidently say that his future is safe as a novelist in Literature. I wish him all the best. I am sure that readers will accord a warm welcome to this novel and critics will do their best sincerely.

Amen!

Author's views

G ood books are the best friends of a man. If anyone develops the passion of reading them, he or she starts feeling capable of doing anything constructive over a period of time. When I applied this in my life, my world entirely changed and it became extremely beautiful. But, it is sad that a very few people have the hobby of reading quality books and this trend is falling day-by-day; courtesy to social networking. I assure you that the best way to lead a happy life is to read good books, learn from them and apply the knowledge in your life. By doing so, you can achieve great heights and also become a useful part of our society. This can even help you to carve a niche for yourself in the world. And this is a universal fact.

I want to share some of my sincere opinions and views with readers through this novel. And I also want to bring some major issues before you such as that who can decide what is right or wrong for the whole world? Canada is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. People from more than one hundred and fifty countries have immigrated and settled here. Canada's two founding principles are 'supremacy of god' and 'rule of law'. Everybody has been entitled great freedoms and rights irrespective of one's caste, creed and gender. Anybody can do anything in this country provided he or she doesn't legally bother others. This is great to lead a human life. So I would say Canada is no less than a heaven for nice and creative people.

At present, the major part of the world is marred by various problems of gigantic proportions. Drugs have ruined millions of precious lives. Poverty, corruption and criminalization of politics especially in developing countries have made people's life so miserable. Marriage is a natural phenomenon and How to find a right life partner has always been a big issue. Even worldwide researches in various universities have failed to conclude whether love marriage is a better way to get a right spouse or an arranged marriage is. In many Asian cultures, women face several odd family circumstances. They sacrifice their personal happiness for the sake of their family welfare and values. This novel is a fiction and most scholars have highly appreciated the story. One female reader commented that the protagonist should have gone for her own interest instead of those of her parents and siblings. I agree with her to some extent that there are several nice people who worked very hard, bore several challenges and paid huge amount of taxes to sponsor their loved ones to Canada. But after coming to Canada, the same loved ones showed little respect for their sponsors and hurt them the most. So sad!

And more, I have never tasted drugs in my life and I am a teetotaler. I have always tried to become a role model for my family. I urge everybody that all of us attain a great deal of worldly and spiritual knowledge, apply that in our life to become mentally strong, see our lord in every human being, steer clear of drugs, shun vices, pray for everyone, stop proving ourselves superior to others and lead our life with a positive thinking. Let's all endeavor to live a useful life and try to bring the required reforms in the society to make this world a better place to live in.

Prof. Avtar S Virdi

1

My marriage

I was getting married in Marvelous Banquet Hall of Ludhiana, India. Because of the 1 st week of November, it was neither hot nor cold. Sam was a handsome boy from Canada. Moreover, I was twenty three and Sam was twenty seven years old. I was not getting married to any old man; my match had come to marry me.

"Budhe Canada de India ch ghorhi charde (pretty old men from Canada marry young girls in India), a funny song by Gurpreet Ghuggi was coming to my mind. I was feeling proud of my luck. All were saying that the bride looked like a piece of shining moon. My so called bhua, my father's sister, who lived in Surrey, had brought me this nuptial tie. She knew the groom's mom and his whole family for the last fifteen years. She also knew us well how nice we all were. I wanted to become a teacher, but my parents had compelled me to take nursing course, as there was a huge demand for nurses in Canada. After completion of my nursing course, my aunt arranged my engagement and marriage in a flash. My marriage was solemnised amid great celebrations. My in-laws were also from Ludhiana. It was only about one-hour drive by car from our house to theirs. It was Sam's parental house where his chacha, chachi (father's younger brother and his wife) and their children were living.

Our marriage reception party continued until about 2 A.M. We were to go to Shimla on our honeymoon the next morning. Sam was very happy with his friends. None of them was stopping from dancing. The DJ was playing hit songs one after another. Meenu, my younger sister, and I were avid listeners of Punjabi and Hindi songs. We also used to watch TV programs and movies with great passion. I was extremely happy that day. I was feeling like dancing and showing my best to all. Gosh!... It wasn't my day. I had danced with Sam just once and that too shyly. All of a sudden, I started feeling very sleepy. My mom saw me dozing and she, along with my mother-in-law, brought me to my in-laws'. They also dropped Meenu to stay with me there. I lay on the bed and fell asleep in a jiffy.

My friends and I were performing gidha and singing folk songs so-called Punjabi bollian on the college stage.

"Bari barsi Khatan gaya si khat