By Vanessa Broadbent (The Cascade) – Email
When most of us think of Remembrance Day, we don’t think of India, and we definitely don’t think of Indian soldiers fighting in the First World War.
English professor Prabhjot Parmar explained that this is a common situation.
“This is a history many may not even identify with because they no longer are aware,” Parmar said. “In our schools, we were never told that Indian soldiers went and fought … It’s a significant contribution that has been overlooked; largely forgotten by the West.”
Over the past year, Parmar, with the help of Shelley Stefan and Grace Tsurumaru from UFV’s visual arts department, has been working hard to put together India and the Great War, an exhibit that has been on display in Building C of the Abbotsford campus, as well as for nine days at the Reach Gallery Museum, where it has seen 2,000 visitors.
The exhibit features a combination of photographs of Indian soldiers during the First World War, as well as a slideshow presentation of letters they wrote home to their families.
While the photographs provide visual insight into the war, Parmar found that the letters were just as important, being the soldiers’ primary means of communication with their families at the time.
“That was the only way to have any contact,” Parmar explained.
But the photographs also help memorialize soldiers who would otherwise be forgotten.
“These nameless people who are depicted, who are captured in these photographs, I don’t know [their names],” she said. “It’s a small way of remembering them.”
Parmar explained that she personally felt compelled to design the exhibit.
“It has always been a part of me, so to speak,” she said. “I grew up in a military family and I have ancestors who had served in the First World War.”
One of those ancestors was Parmar’s grandfather.
“My sister and I, we thought our grandfather had just made up these things,” she explained. “We used to wonder at seven or eight years old, how does this old man know about Paris?”
Parmar emigrated from India to Canada in 1993. After attending a Remembrance Day parade in which some of the participants were Sikh veterans, Parmar was surprised at the knowledge surrounding the Indian veterans.
“When the parade ended and as the veterans entered the Legion Hall, just as they were about to enter the premises, one of the representatives stopped the Sikh veterans and told them, ‘Please remove your headgear,’” Parmar explained. “In 1993 the turban was already a recognized word and symbol in Canada. Coming from an establishment that has association with military, air force, and navy, I was really surprised. It became a major issue. They didn’t let the soldiers in when they said, ‘No, this is not a hat, this is a turban.’”
It was this response that caused Parmar to begin thinking about bringing the story of India’s involvement with World War I to Canada.
“The level of ignorance was stunning,” she said. “What is happening in Syria these days, all those areas were carved out of existing kingdoms during the First World War, interestingly enough, with the help of Indian soldiers.”
Although the exhibit has been successful, Parmar’s initial goal was to raise awareness about India’s involvement in the war.
“We have a saying in India that knowledge will only increase if you share it with others,” she said. “Students, they are our future. I already know all this, but what good will it do if I keep it to myself and it dies in me? It is better that I share what I have learned from others.”
Parmar explained that despite the involvement of a large number of South Asian countries, they tend to be forgotten when commemorating the war.
“When people commemorate the First World War, or for that matter the Second World War, who do they think of?” she explained. “How many times do we think about the Moroccans, or the Senegalese, or the West Indians, or the Indians, or the Malaysians, or the Singaporeans, or Chinese for that matter, who died, and it wasn’t even their war? No one was knocking on their door. India wasn’t [threatened] at all. It becomes very significant.”
Although remembering our Canadian veterans is very important, Parmar reminded that it is also important to remember veterans from other nations as well.
“When we are remembering, we are forgetting about a large number of soldiers,” she said. “We are not commemorating those 74,000 from India and many, many others from other places.
“It’s important that it is talked about,” Parmar said. “When we say ‘In Flanders Fields’ we think about poppies, but do we think about Sikhs or Muslims?”
