{"product_id":"the-past-is-never-dead-a-novel-9789354474989","title":"The Past Is Never Dead a Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e'I don't know. It's always been like this, son. Your father knew. But we got to survive, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edidn't we? Can't fight the whole village!' she'd say...whenever Kalu asked her how she\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand Udho coped with [the] insults.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the year 1952, Kalu escaped Banjhan Kalan in Punjab's Hoshiarpur for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBedford in the British Midlands, hoping to find a life of dignity that he had been\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edenied because of his caste. He was in his late teens and had grown up believing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein Sikhism's tenet of equality preached by Guru Nanak and Ravidas, a principle\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe villagers never sincerely practised.They had maimed his father, accusing him\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof stealing a zamindar's ox; they had thrown father and son out of a Quit India\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erally; they had mercilessly thrashed young Kalu himself for daring to enter a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etemple. He had never been allowed to forget-even by his schoolmates-that\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehe was a Chamar, destined to skin dead cattle like his ancestors.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEngland promised a new life of respect and opportunity. But Kalu's fellow\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eexpatriates had brought caste along when they came to that country, and he\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewould be forced to adhere to its degrading rules just as he was in Banjhan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDetermined not to bend-as he had refused to do back home-Kalu fights back, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebut his resoluteness in the struggle will put him and his family at serious risk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Past Is Never Dead is not only the story of a rural Punjabi family's search for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ea better life, it is also a powerful depiction of the stranglehold of caste over\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSikh immigrants in Britain. But even as it exposes the horror and obstinacy of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecaste, the novel pays tribute to the courage and tenacity of the human spirit\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand its capacity for hope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speaking Tiger Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50509699383570,"sku":"9789354474989","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0ef2e300-064e-4ad2-af98-ec5396d89dd6.jpg?v=1730905076","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-past-is-never-dead-a-novel-9789354474989","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}