Agriculture

Never call it quits

I was serving in Jabalpur before retirement from army in 1963 and NCC in 1968, but instead of staying in bungalows, my wife, Sardarni Gurnam Kaur, and I moved to the civil locality. Post-retirement, I started a small dairy and bought a small chunk of land for farming with the help of the hardworking and supportive Gurnam. In 1977, my daughter, Parampal, got married to Dr Jasbir S Gill and moved to the USA. My wife’s brother who had studied Engineering from Jabalpur while living with us had already moved to the USA for his job in General Motors. In 1979, Gurnam moved to USA and in 1980 my son, Harbinder, too moved there; I went in the last, in 1981. Parents of US immigrants, who had not worked in the USA and were not entitled to social security benefits, were entitled to and were drawing SSI (a welfare system in the US), some people called it old age pension. When I too was suggested the same, I reluctantly went to the concerned office, was asked a few questions and told to sign an application to start getting SSI. My conscience didn’t allow me to live on welfare in a nation I hadn’t served, especially since I was still fit enough to work hard and earn for ourselves.

And thus, Gurnam and I started working in a plastic factory and then my son, Harbinder, bought an 60-acre farm land. Then while I worked on the farms, she worked at a chicken packing house. Land today has grown to 10,000 acres, where we grow pistachios, almonds and grapes.

My eldest son, Major Manjit S Brar, is a retired Indian Army officer and now settled in Canada. His son, Harry, and daughter, Preeti, are both settled in Canada as well.

Harbinder, a professor of clinical OB/Gyn, Maternal Fetal Medicine and Genetics at Loma Linda University School of Medicine & University of California Riverside, School of Medicine, and his wife Parvinder ‘Barbara’, an anaesthesia director at Glenwood Surgery Centre, are blessed with three children, Sonia, Bobby and Simran. Married to Jasdeep Dhoot MD, Sonia is an ophthalmologist (Vitreo Retinal surgeon) and has two children, Kabir and Lara. Bobby and his fiancé Pooja are doing Ob/Gyn residency at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Simran is pursuing BS/MD programme in New York. Harbinder and Parvinder have bought more land and now we farm about 9,000 acres of pistachios, almonds and grapes.

My eldest daughter, Harbans, a retired Assistant Director of Education, is married to Mukhtiar Bhullar, a High Court Advocate, and the two are settled in Punjab. Their son, Bikramjeet, and daughter, Simerjeet, are leading happy lives.

My second daughter, Narinder Kaur, well-settled in Canada, works with the government.

Parampal and Jasbir, both practicing Ob/Gyn, are blessed with three sons, Chamanjit, Vikramjit and Ranjit ‘Ricky’: Chamanjit, a businessman, and his physician wife, Ruby, have a daughter Kareena. Vikramjit, a physician and administrator at University Medical Centre, Las Vegas, is engaged to Anjena, a physician. Ricky, a Princeton graduate, is Senior Advisor US State Department, Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations appointed by the President Donald Trump.

Gurnam and I once thought having our children was the most beautiful feeling, though, now watching our great-grandchildren growing up, we know what blissful is! It is wonderful to see them absorbing Indian culture and speaking Punjabi after so many years abroad, though they have picked a lot of good from the culture here as well.

My wealth is the immeasurable talent my children and their families own. More than a dozen medical professionals in USA and Canada, advocates, educators, progressive farmers and supporters of governments. Not just a wealth, but my pride.