The Unbeaten Mind: A Novel based on Historic Event

By B. John Kunthara

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

On September 4, 1907, hatred and intolerance tore Bellingham, Washington, apart at the seams.

A brewing labor dispute over the presence of immigrant workers in the lumber mills boiled into unspeakable violence when Caucasian members of the Asiatic Exclusion League attacked Sikhs, dragging them from their homes and beating them without mercy. These victims were savagely robbed of their possessions, their dignity, and any sense of safety in their homes. In the days following the riots, hundreds of South Asian Indians were driven out of town. Hundreds fled to Canada for safe harbor. Hundreds more were incarcerated “for their own protection.”

None of their white attackers ever saw the inside of a jail cell.

A novel inspired by both these tragic events and the inspirational people who risked everything to start new lives in a new and often unwelcoming country, Unbeaten Mind is the story of one family whose patriarch, Nand Johal Singh, emigrated from Punjab, India, to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. When Nand Singh, his grandson, first learned of his grandfather’s involvement in the Bellingham riots, he was horrified and shocked. That shock inspired curiosity, and soon the young man launched himself into an enthusiastic exploration of his personal family history.

What he discovered is proof that while a body can be beaten, an honorable mind remains strong, proud, and resilient.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491749814

B. John Kunthara

B. John Kunthara has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the State University of New York. He works in the construction industry and is an enthusiastic writer in his free time. The Unbeaten Mind is his first novel. He and his wife live in Richmond, Texas.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Most people living in America today have a story to tell about their heritage, because primarily, this is a nation of immigrants. All of these stories are different, with diverse experiences, both pleasant and not so pleasant.

My name is Nand J. Singh. I consider myself an ordinary person. I am fifty-eight years old and I live with my family in San Jose, California. One day, unexpectedly, I discovered some shocking information about the life of my grandfather, who had been born in India and then migrated to the United States.

The information that I learned bothered me tremendously. I felt as if my understanding of life in the United States had been totally shaken. I wanted to regain my peace of mind. To achieve this goal, I embarked on a physical and mental journey to determine whether the information I had learned was actually true. This is the story of that journey.

My grandfather started his life in the Americas in Vancouver, Canada. Sikh immigrants from India, mainly from the State of Punjab, began leaving India for other countries in the eighteenth century after the British rulers in India took away their land and their freedom. Some of those immigrants ended up in Canada and some in the United States.

The struggle these immigrants faced and how they turned their pain into a meaningful foundation for their success, creating a path for generations to come without harboring any grudges or bad feelings for their host nations, is inspirational. Their hard work, ingenuity, adaptation to different cultures, and persistence have allowed them to establish a vibrant and growing community for themselves and for the future generations in Canada and the United States. They have proven that the body can be beaten, but not the mind.

UNBEATEN MIND

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

CHAPTER 1

The Southwest flight from San Jose to Seattle arrived almost on time. My name is Nand Singh, and I am not a stranger to SeaTac airport. I have been to Seattle several times in the past for job related matters and to attend the weddings of friends.

I’ve always had a special appreciation for this beautiful Pacific Northwest city. It is for example the birthplace of so many wonderful products that people like me enjoy every day. You could even say I have almost a reverence for this wonderful area. The aircraft I came on, a Boeing 737, was built not far from the very runway on which the flight landed. Seattle and the Boeing Corporation have shared a long history. A few years ago, I toured the huge Boeing factory in Everett, Washington with my wife and children. Microsoft, probably one of the reasons for my success in the technology (IT) field; Starbucks, my favorite morning starter; Amazon, my family’s favorite online store; and I can’t forget Costco, my wife’s favorite place to shop, all started in this great northwest city of Seattle and its surrounding area. Looking outside, the sky is bright and sunny. I wonder why people call Seattle The Rainy City; at least it’s not raining today, anyway.

This was my train of thought, as I waited for the shuttle bus to the building where I would pick up my rental car. At SeaTac all rental car companies are located outside the airport.

Although my flight landed in Seattle, my main destination was about one hundred and sixty miles north of Seattle, a city I have never visited before called Bellingham. However, before I visited Bellingham, I needed to travel another thirty miles north of the boarder to Vancouver, Canada. My grandfather began his life in immigration in Vancouver, so I thought that it was only logical that I should start my enquiries there.

Vancouver, Canada is the closest big city to Bellingham, Washington. I visited Vancouver once for a social function, so I knew few people in there. However, I did not intend to contact them on this trip.

Nand, is what most people call me. Some of my close friends like to call me Nan for fun, especially when we are at an Indian restaurant…you know, because of the famous roasted Indian flatbread! I know this much, my father named me Nand J. Singh after his father whose name was Nand Johal Singh. He was the one who came to the United States through Canada so many years ago.

The shuttle bus stopped about ten yards from where I was standing and I began to quickly read the many car rental company signs on the bus. Thankfully, I saw the name of my company, so I got on for the short ride to the rental car facility. Since I had made the booking in advance, it didn’t take very long to get my vehicle. I picked up my Toyota Camry, and following the directions I got form the agent at the rental car counter, I was shortly driving north on Highway I-5.

This trip was neither business nor social, but most definitely had some very personal and emotional components to it. I believe it’s an undeniable fact that there are times, when some sudden events can change a person’s routine activities and general outlook on life altogether.

I consider myself a low-key, rather shy guy and do not engage in activities that are strange to me. You could say I don’t look for excitement. Well, so much for that! Here I am on the road to places not very familiar to me and I am going to be willing to talk to strangers.

As I was driving on I-5 North, I could see the bright rays of sun light reflecting from snow-covered Mt. Rainier, one of the landmarks of the Pacific Northwest. Seeing those tall pine and fir trees is always soothing. Even in the summertime, this area is cool enough that there is no need to turn on the air conditioner in the car. The traffic was somewhat heavy but not as bad as in San Jose. I passed the Boeing field on the left side with so many aircraft of different shapes and colors. I travel a lot by air for business reasons, yet I never cease to be fascinated by different types of airplanes.

Having said all this, let me tell you, where this all began. Ten days ago, I was on a trip to India for work-related reasons. As an IT consultant with my company, I often travel to India to see clients. On most of my trips, the city Poona (Pune) is my destination because our partner company’s office is there. Usually my journeys are anywhere from seven to ten days in length. Very seldom do I go to any place in India other than Poona during my stay. I don’t consider myself as a vacation freak and don’t go in for sightseeing and shopping.

By sheer coincidence, I had been invited to a wedding in the state of Punjab, India, while I was on my last business trip there. I knew that in Punjab I still had second and third cousins from both my father’s and mother’s sides, but I had never met most of them. I have only had contact with one distant cousin, Sarala, my grandfather’s sister’s granddaughter. She lives in a small city in Punjab and we are almost the same age. She visited us in California once a few years back. When my father was alive, he had some contact with Sarala’s mother, his first cousin. However, my father never told me very much about his cousins or their children in Punjab.

I want to tell you how I got to know Cousin Sarala. Some time ago, as I was sorting through papers left to me when my father passed away, I found an old wedding invitation. This invitation had been sent by Sarala’s parents to my family, inviting us to Sarala’s wedding in Punjab. I don’t think my parents went to that wedding, but my father kept the invitation. I still have it with all the other old papers my father left me. From that invitation, I discovered that I had this cousin in Punjab, India. I learned more details about Sarala and her husband from the address on that invitation. When I took Megan, my wife, to India several years ago, we contacted Sarala and visited her family. That was the first and only time I traveled to Punjab.

One of Sarala’s daughters lives in Calgary, Canada. Sarala and her husband, Ashwin Singh, visited their daughter a few years ago and at the end of their stay, upon my invitation, they made a trip to California and visited with us in San Jose for a couple of days. Now, whenever I travel to India, I call her just to say hello and to catch up.

On this last trip to Poona (Pune), I called Sarala to say hi and to chat as always. It was during this conversation that she told me about an upcoming wedding in Punjab. The bride was the daughter of one of my distant cousins from my father’s side. Our little conversation ended in few minutes and we exchanged goodbyes.

Not even an hour had passed after that conversation when I received a call from a person by the name of Gopal Singh. He introduced himself as my second cousin and explained how we were related. He said he was the father of the bride and spoke about his daughter’s upcoming wedding, which was to take place in three days.

I replied, Congratulations! Yeah, that is very good! I told him that I had just heard about the wedding from Sarala.

Uncle Gopal replied, Acha. Acha, (roughly translated from Hindi to English, this means Good, Good. Even though people in Punjab speak in Punjabi; there are many similarities between Punjabi and Hindi).

Sarala called me and told me that you are in India for work, he said.

I replied, That is correct. I thought the conversation would end at that, but to my surprise, Uncle Gopal invited me to his daughter’s wedding with an apology for the short notice.

I admit I tried my best to avoid the invitation by giving as many excuses as I could think of. He wouldn’t budge. I could hear children making noise in the background at Uncle Gopal’s home. I heard him saying beta cupa raho, which means Children, be quite.

When I am at work in Poona, I have to deal with many different people on different occasions and from those experiences, I know for a fact that most Indians will not take a ‘no’ for an answer. They will try their best to change your mind. Sometimes, that can be irritating for people like me who have never lived in India for a long period. Uncle Gopal was not any different. He insisted that I must attend the wedding.

He said, Brother Nand, I am your cousin. This will be a great opportunity for you to meet many of your relatives! As you may or may not know, your grandfather was a well-liked person when he lived in Punjab. When he finished that line about my grandfather, I felt a soft touch on my shoulder by a kind hand from a mysterious person. I became speechless for few moments. I realized that Uncle Gopal was right. I hadn’t met any of my relatives from either of my parents’ sides, other than cousin Sarala. Moreover, Uncle Gopal had such a sweet and poetic voice. How could anyone resist anything he requested?

Without further hesitation, I accepted the invitation. Uncle Gopal was so happy. He even offered his help in arranging transportation from the airport and all that. However, I respectfully told him that I would arrange all that myself. I was confident that I could ask Cousin Sarala to pick me up at the airport.

After thinking more about the conversation I had had with Gopal, I felt that he was right and that the wedding