Musiciens Sikhs en Angleterre

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Flight of the pigeons
Avirook Sen
Jalandhar, October 12

On a one-kilometre stretch of the Grand Trunk road, as it cuts through Jalandhar, you could learn the names of practically every international airline that flies to India. Travel agents have pasted stickers over their doors and windows disproportionate to both the volume of their business and the size of their offices. But competing for space on the façade of, say the Hotel International building, are other adverts: money transfer agencies, English tutorial schools and, on top of the building, a choice of musical troupes. 'Kaybee Dhindsa' heads one, as does Palwinder Dhani. Down the road, Jalandhar's runway or take-off point, are neon signs belonging to K.S. Makhan, Sarbjeet Cheema, the list can run into hundreds.

So what do musical troupes have in common with travel? In the Doaba, the connection has been obvious well before Daler Mehndi and his brother's alleged involvement in an immigration racket. It's this: if a straight plan doesn't work, why not try singing and dancing your way to Canada or the USA?

From his pigeon-hole office an insider explains: "We call them kabootars (the ones that fly once they land). They are usually desperate, and uneducated. The kind who walk into office and say they want to buy tickets to Southall."

But once contact is made with a 'promoter', there's a set plan. Limit the number of 'non-musician' members in a group to three or four. Train them either to be part of the chorus, or to play simple percussion instruments. Set up a few performances with the trainees in them. Take pictures. Have something published in a small local magazine under, typically, a heading like "Punjab's latest dholak sensation". Your supporting documents are now ready.

At current rates, a client pays (usually by selling land) between Rs 15-20 lakh for a US visa. (A UK visa comes for about half that.) The troupe leader keeps about a third of this. He gets from one kabootar what he might have got for a month on stage in India.

If folk and pop work, so does devotional music. Two years ago, 25-year-old Rocky's flowing beard impressed a raagi (Sikh devotional singer) who had taken quite a few groups before — and left a few people behind. "A singer, a tabla player and a harmonium player are musts on these trips, but I couldn't sing or play an instrument so I was taken on to do the granth paath (reading).We got ‘invited’ by a Chicago gurdwara to perform during Baisakhi”, said Rocky. Rocky was eventually denied a visa, but his raagi contact is still doing good business.

Because it's a matter of chance. So hockey 'teams' have been known to practice for months in preparation for a tournament they will never play. Kids sign up to learn Karate. Young men familiarise themselves with the hospitals of Delhi for a fortnight before their visa interviews, in order to appear convincing as medical equipment suppliers. And in Jalandhar's DAV College students keep re-enrolling to stay on, primarily to become part of the institution’s excellent bhangra team. It's a platform for the future. “And if one door closes,” says Dinkar Gupta, DIG Jalandhar range, they always know how to open others.”