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The Coffee Guest
Bonnie Nish interviews ~
Ashok Bhargava
Ashok Bhargava is a man who believes
that it is because of our dreams that we are able to make incredible things
happen and Ashok is a man who is full of dreams. While browsing the internet one
night searching for information about Korea, Ashok came across a woman who was
wanting to practice writing to someone in English, Though this correspondence
eventually stopped, Ashok found another Korean family, not only with whom he
would form an everlasting friendship, but whose history would mesh with his. His
new book ‘Mirror of Dreams’ which is about to be launched January 31st
at the Vancouver Public Library is a tribute to this friendship and to the
history that Korea and India have celebrated together for thousands of years.
While it is a sort of coming together of his story within the text of another,
most importantly this book is the culmination of many of the dreams that Ashok
has himself amassed over the years
Born and raised in India, at the
age of 11 Ashok began corresponding with a girl named Kathy in Wisconsin (whom
he has never met but still talks to). She had relatives who lived in Thunder
Bay, Ontario and in her letters she would describe Lake Superior and the
surrounding area. Ashok, who always had a great imagination, began to dream
about what this place would look like. He was hooked. He went to the library to
try and get his hands on anything he could about Canada but the literature he
found was disappointing. So at the age of 23 despite his family’s objections, he
decided that he would find out for himself. Flying to Winnipeg he then had an
eight-hour drive to Thunder Bay and to this day he can still visualize this
trip.
“The road was so wide and open. There
were blue skies and green trees and it was beautiful. I thought I would see
igloos and snow but it was September. It was then that I realized just how far
away I was from home.”
While Ashok stayed in Canada,
married a woman from the Philippines, raised two children and became involved in
community work, in so many ways he is still aware of that feeling he initially
had when he first arrived, of being from somewhere else. And thus comes ‘Mirror
of Dreams.’ The conception of this story is in itself amazing.
The premise of the book came from the
story of another immigrant. About two thousand years ago an Indian Princess,
Princess Huh Wang Ock, married King Suro, founder of the ancient Kingdom of
Karack or Kaya.. She was a young girl of 16 at the time and the Korean people
came to love her. Ashok saw in this the story that is that of so many immigrant
people today, those who come to a new country with no language skills and
totally different customs and a different history. Eventually Ashok went to
Korea himself where he both spent time with the Park family, his internet
friends and also was able to seek out the tomb of the Princess. This was an
experience that obviously moved him greatly.
“I stood in front of her tomb and
imagined her as a little lonely girl in a sari, her hair messed up from a long
journey. She is the way she wants to be. There was a feeling of kinship there. I
know nothing of her experience there but we come from the same culture, the same
land. We have both been transplanted into different cultures, different lands.
She was revered by the Koreans.”
While the book in many
ways is a beautiful testament to Korea and it’s way of life, it’s people and the
friends whom Ashok has come to love, it is about something else. Ashok also
believes passionately there is another common thread running through immigrants’
lives -- their dreams. Leaving for a new country, trying to imagine what life
there will be like and making that life work for oneself-- it all takes big
dreams.
“ The book goes beyond Korea. It is
more about our dreams, our desire to meet our God, to have cultural harmony and
the union of two souls. The only thing real is our dreams. Dreaming is
believing. Dreams form the basis of our understanding. It is the human
experience moving from one place to another enduring hardship and then moving
forward. Canada is a country where a lot of people have come with a lot of
dreams and Canada gave them a lot, a humane good life for themselves and their
families.”
Ashok has come full circle. He began
his journey with one letter as a child that connected him to a land far away
that would become his home and became connected through another correspondence
to the discovery of an ancestor who like himself was emerged in a land and
culture far away and far different than her own.
Ashok’s ‘Mirror of Dreams’ is a
beautiful journey through Korea and the discovery of a land and it’s people, but
more importantly it is a discovery of self, and what it means to dream and
discover who we are. Ashok has brought us his dream only to open our eyes to the
possibilities of what life can offer if we all, as he has done, dare to dream.
Don’t miss his book launch. And be sure to keep your eyes open for his next book
as this man has a lot to say to us with depth and beauty that shouldn’t be
missed.
Princess Huh Wang Ock
Queen Suro,
Princess of Ayodhya
I do not know much about you
or your journey to Kaya.
Neither do I know
or your dreams, hopes,
fears and challenges.
Why you were destined
to come here
is a mystery to me.
You don’t know
about me either
my age, face, caste and
my reasons to visit you.
We share nothing except
belonging to
the land of India
yet I feel bonded to you.
I trace
the line
of your blood.
One source
one root.
Today we meet in silence and
say farewell in silence.
I am proud to realize
your seeds remain
in the dirt mound
covered with green grass
growing
as fair flowers of Kimhae.
At the nearby
Jagalchi market
I wish
you could share
a simple meal
with me.
Ashok Bhargava
Mirror of Dreams
2004
Previous Interviews:
Shulamit Joffre
Sean McGarragle and Chystalene Buhler
T Paul Ste. Marie
Ariadne Sawyer ~ Re: The world Poetry Reading Series
Johnny Frem ~ Re: Bolts of Fiction
Liars of Orpheus ~ Re: The intentions of Orpheus
Estelle Bogoch ~ Re: Crosswords for Gardeners
Byron Sheardown ~ Re: Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine
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