A sad love story!

Growing up with Ghosts (Bernice Chauly)

I am Punjabi, a sardarni of the Khalsa. Of the pure, from the tenets sprung from the loins of Guru Nanak. From the plains of the Punjab, and the wheat fields of Amritsar. I am Chinese, from the port city of Canton, from Fatshan, from Lam Soy Chea, from the village of fishermen and of joss stick makers. Bernice Chauly.

I can relate to this story as a good deal of its background is set at a time when I was growing up in RRF. The book is another proof that the country is not only a collection of illiterate low skilled workers but instead they are many who hone literary skills. It also denotes the sacrifices the immigrants of the 20th century in their new found motherland of Malaya towards its development from a backwater nation to what it is today.
Set against a background of forbidden love of second generation Malayans, through a series of love letters, investigative interviews and soul searching expeditions, a daughter narrates the trials and tribulations of her parent's union of love and later rediscover the father whom she lost at a tender age.
The book starts by explaining the origin of her paternal and maternal ancestors from Punjab and China respectively.
After surviving the gruelling times of World War II, the two families (Chauly and Loh) had their roots deeply planted in this country. The Chaulys suffered less than the Lohs under Japanese rule. After the turmoil of WW2, the country prospers. So do the families. Loh with pork business and Jaswant as a petition writer provide well for their large families.
The author further describes her father Surinder's tour of Europe as he studies in Kirby Teaching College in UK from his scrap book. He returns to Malaysia to teach in Kelantan.
Her mother Jane performed well in school to further her education in Melbourne financed by her father. Depression inflicted by jilted love forced her to discontinue her studies there. She returned home, heading aimlessly in life before deciding on a teaching career. She starts her studies in Malaysian Teachers' College. Jane and Surinder meet. Many of Surinder's letters to Jane form the spine and pillar of this book. After a wave of melodramatic showdown taken off numerous Bollywood films in Chauly's home and cold treatment from the Lohs, the duo underwent civil and church weddings when they were posted in Kelantan.
Fast forward, Bernie (the author) is born and bridges are mended. Just things are falling in place in the young family with two girls, a tragedy during a family seaside picnic at Miami Beach in Batu Ferringhi. Surinder, a swimmer drowns. The devastated Jane discovers after his death that she was pregnant with her third child, a boy.
The children grow up in Taiping and Ipoh, being exposed to both Chinese and Sikh cultures.
Bernice later get a chance to study in Canada through a government scholarship. After her mother's death, her desire to know her Punjabi roots grew. More death in the family - grandfather and two uncles. Some priest told the family that the Chauly had a curse from an abandoned Snake God resulting in most male heirs in the family dying young. She makes a kind of pilgrimage trip to her grandfathers' village in Punjab to please the snake goddess and to discover her roots.
A touching story (family events narrated in an interesting manner) with many familiar backdrop. Surinder's parent had their residences in Northam Road (where our grandfather lived once by the seaside) and Cheeseman Road (adjacent to Penang Free School; this road was regularly used to get to Batu Lancang and back to RRF)
This book was written after many years and after much research and exploratory expeditions. Some of the things mentioned in the book may be construed as private and best forgotten, to some of the family members and must have met resistance from various quarters. Some bitter events in life would not to be recollected by some whilst others may find it as treasure chest of experience for us to learn. A good and touching read.