Diverse Dimensions of Immigrant Experiences in the Select Poems of Surjit Patar

The meaning of migration for Punjabis is radically different from that of a person from Europe. It appears to be a significant arena for Punjabis, as they willingly undertake numerous risks and employ every possible means to achieve success. Surjit Patar is highly feted Punjabi non-immigrant writer though his poetry effectively articulates the diverse dimensions of immigrant experiences. The immigrant consciousness embedded in Patar’s writings can be divided into three distinct sections: the nostalgic recollections of immigrants and their yearning for their homeland, the portrayal of the accomplishments that immigrants have achieved in their adopted nations, and the depiction of the experiences of migrant labourers who travel to Punjab from various regions in search of work. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate each of these three distinct components of Patar’s poetry by anchoring it in the theoretical framework of the postulates given by Homi K. Bhabha and Salman Rushdie. It also examines the migrants’ dilemma of assimilation or alienation, as portrayed in Patar’s poetry, as well as their nostalgic recollections of the motherland in the light of J. W. Berry’s theory. These aspects are analysed using the methods of close reading and textual analysis.