I’m a very simple person. My name is Surjit Lalli. I was born in Gurdaspur. Punjab, India. My father was a professor and I have 2 brothers and I was the youngest one, the only daughter in my family. My childhood was very happy. I had two brothers and we used to play and even our father played with us in different games. He was a role model for us. He was PH D but my mother never went to school. But they were happily married. She stayed home and he used to work. Our Grandmother also lived with us.We used to laugh a lot and sometimes it was very hard to stop laughing.That’s where I picked up my laughing habits.
In 1947, the partition took place.Lailpur was part of Punjab but it was divided. Half was given to Pakistan. From the very beginning, we were taught that life is an adjustment no matter where you are born. Whatever your background, you have to make adjustment in your life. In 1947, we came to this side and my father, mother and my older brother stayed in Lailpur because there was no agricultural college in the Indian side. He was supposed to stay two years but the situation was so bad and they had to come.My family reunited but it was very difficult, just like for us immigrants.It is hard to adjust to new place.There he had made everything. Whatever he earned was left there. He had to start from scratch. He used to have lots of headache. Now I know it is with the pressure.
Both of my brothers are well educated. The older one had PhD and was happily married though he passed away 10 years back.The other had master in pharmacy then came to Canada and again got a masters. I did my BA and BEd
in India.
We got married in 1954. He was handsome man and also a professor, same background as my father and brothers. He worked hard for 10 years. We had three kids and we were happily settled then he wanted to do his PhD because my father and brother did it. He wanted a foreign degree. He got admission in UBC and he got a scholarship. The difficult time was while he was studying here, my children and I stayed in India. He completed his PhD in 1966 then we joined him. He got job in University of Saskatchewan because it was a farmer area, many things common with us because we belong to farming background. We stayed there for thirty years in Saskatoon. We chose that I stayed home because he was too busy in his research work. Side by side I improved my education again. I did my BEd from the University of Saskatchewan in 1969. I used to do substitute teaching then I had to take care of my granddaughter. I don’t regret that I stayed home. During that time, I did volunteer work in the library and helped teach those very slow in school. I was involved in Indo-Canadian society and I was involved in the temple and I had been working there. All my spare time went to volunteer work but first priority was my children.
When my children got their education finished and married, then I started new life. Time for me to do everything I wanted to do. My three children are well-educated; my daughter, eldest , has a Master in Library Science and is now working at SFU. My older son is an orthodontist and had very good practice. And my younger son also did dentistry and worked 15 years then went back to school to become orthodontist. He is in Australia.
In the 80s, we used to celebrate Folk Fest in Saskatoon.It was started in a small scale in schools. People rom India for example, France, England; they had their own booth and displayed their things, offered their food, had different culture programs. Buses were free for three days. You had a good time. You are living in one place but you have an overview of the whole world.
Then my husband retired in 1995 and he thought it was too cold and said let’s move to Vancouver because we used to come here quite often. We decided that since we were getting older and my daughter is living here, at least one child will be closer to us. We built our house here. When you move to new place, you have to make effort to meet people. I joined the Indo-Canadian Seniors Centre. When I joined there were only 50 members in the ladies side. Men were more than 400. We had different programs in different places and gradually our membership grew up. We had a program “Knowledge is the best medicine”. We translated and gave handouts. We had breast self-examination and South Asian Nutrition Wellness Program. We held 11 workshops and talked about health, recipes because we did research and found out that in our community 35% more diabetes and heart-related diseases. We though that if we had this they can start changing their eating habits, it will be okay for them.
In 1999, that year it was designated senior year - International Year of Older People. Three centres got together. We celebrated that, we put the display there and we took some Indian food and entertainment. We really enjoyed that. It made us closer and opened up. At first people were sitting in separate tables because language was a barrier. Next year we again celebrated Senior Day. At that time there were more mixing up. That shows that if you start mixing you will understand each other and it will become easier for you to do that.
My husband had a by-pass in 1979. Since then, I have been very careful about eating habits. I tried to apply healthy eating in the family and with my husband. We learned in English but had to give workshops in Punjabi in the Sunset Seniors Centre, Vancouver Neighbourhood House, one centre was in Richmond and one in Burnaby. We gave some workshops in our own centre and one in Newton Seniors Centre. I was involved in all these centres.
In 2005, we attendeda multicultural health fair. The next day they asked if I was interested in their community so I got involved in AMSSA, so this year I’m also on their Steering Committee for the last three years. Another interesting this is when we were in the meeting, there so many workshops were discussed and I suggested laughter should be part of health. I suggested two, three names but they were not available so I said don’t worry, I will give the workshop so I gave workshop in multicultural health fair in 2006 and 2007.
First priority should be your own health. It always happens with the women that they care for their husband and children and this and that then they forget about their own health. If you have good health, you can take care of others better. First take care of own health. Eat balanced food and regular exercise will keep you healthy
For multiculturalism, in every culture there are some good things and some bad. If we exchange our views and have common cause, because our needs are the same no matter our background, our human needs are the same and if we work together, we will be more successful and Canada will be the best country.