Kids Corner

Above: An archival photo of Nanak Jahaz steaming out of Vancouver Harbour.

Poetry

Nanak Jahaz

A Poem by JASPREET SINGH

 

 

 




NANAK JAHAZ - 101 YEARS ON …

Jahaz’ is the Punjabi word for a ship.

On the 23rd of May, 1914,
Nanak’s Ship, also known as Komagata Maru, made it all the way to Canada.





In Japanese (a friend told me)

Koma Gata stands for ‘horse-shaped’

and Maru

means a ‘circle’

From left to right

from top to bottom

a sketch done in red ink.

Hoon tah 

memorial wee

bun gaya


(my aunt tells me)

A wee memorial

exists now un-

oblivioning the past wrong.

Unsteadily

I walk

towards Vancouver’s Coal Harbor

My feet disturb

deep wounds of an  archive

Paper cuttings wake up

Needle like whispers

and screams of sepia —

Over 350 were denied

entry (The passengers

merely wanted

to expand the world)




Today

at that precise spot

Sea Princess

is anchored. And

the Memorial Maker

(happy and satisfied)

plays bare-feet

(on lemony pearl-grey beach)

with his children

and their children. 

Do the little ones know? 

About the fate

of those sent back? 

The kids glitter as they make sand-

castles and give names to long

shifting clouds

Once in a while tiny-

squinty-sad-and-happy eyes

do wander towards big words

inscribed on a Georgian steel

panel

next to the rusty cast-iron slab 

     with

     over

     350

loonie-sized holes. At times

dogs urinate there.




Even children notice —

no grownups read the thing

other than a few

tourists out of an Alaska-bound

cruise ship.

The writing on the wall 

is not about righting

the wrong. But

wronging it further. Often 

power is 

euphemized. Or it lies

through its teeth

Like that limpid

polite white-wash

of a catalyst—

The “incident was a 

catalyst

for change to …

citizenship 

and immigration laws
.”

And not a single word 

mentions the popular 1914 

song (or was it a jingle?)—

White Canada Forever




Weather-permitting

one may stand in front

of this 21st century Forget-orial

or Proud-orial forever.

The corridor 

after-all is officialdom’s right

to free speech, a Venn-diagram

of positive spins.

By the Coal Harbor

I found a few ghat-like steps

sat down and wept.

The Sea Princess

wobbled

in fading light. And

soon grit and smell

took over

as if the ocean

was baring its bottom. A thick hydro-

carbon breeze emanated from Chevron’s

shadow in throaty

Pacific. In my be-cupped

ears rang the Japanese

translation

horse-shaped circle

horse-shaped skull-cle

HORSE’S SKULL

And I near enough

lost my mind




*   *   *   *   *

Jaspreet Singh is the author of the novels Chef and Helium.

May 22, 2015
 

Conversation about this article

Comment on "Nanak Jahaz"









To help us distinguish between comments submitted by individuals and those automatically entered by software robots, please complete the following.

Please note: your email address will not be shown on the site, this is for contact and follow-up purposes only. All information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sikhchic reserves the right to edit or remove content at any time.