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
