By Raakhi Jagga | The Indian Express |
The simple act of sipping tea as the dappled sunlight filters into the verandah of their sprawling 300-square-yard house in Ludhiana is set to become a thing of the past for Sadhu Singh, 76, and Manjit Kaur, 68. With their two sons having become permanent residents of Canada a few years ago, the couple are in the process of selling their ancestral property to move abroad permanently.
In the past, landowners divided their time between tending to their fields and businesses in India, and staying with their children abroad. However, many aged farmers in Punjab are now selling their massive parcels of land and shifting abroad — lock, stock and barrel — to stay close to their children who are settled in countries like Canada and Australia.
That’s a significant shift for a population defined by their emotional attachment to their “zameen” (land), even as many of them lived abroad or shuttled between their adopted countries and “home”.
Sadhu, who lives in Ludhiana’s Punjab Mata Nagar, said, “My wife and I became permanent residents of Canada in early 2016, but divided our time between the two nations. While we were in Canada, some thieves broke into our house. We decided to sell the house after that and move abroad. Our sons and their families have no plans to return to India. We plan to shift to Canada in two months. Our children worry about us since we stay alone in India. Whenever we come to India next, we will rent a house for a month.”
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