About the Book
My India, My CanadaFinding My Place Between Two Cultures
By Nityanand Sharma
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After you have read the book, please don't forget to leave your honest review on Amazon. This will help me as a new author. Thank you for your support.
The eBook can be downloaded instantly on your device(lap-top, tablet, eReader, iPad, or smart phone) once ordered, and hardcover or paperback can be at your door within days of your order-thanks for an amazing 'print on demand' technology of the day worldwide. I hope this helps you, your friends, and colleagues in getting a hardcover for your coffee table, and eBook for your iPad or eReader.
After you have read the book, please don't forget to leave your honest review on Amazon. This will help me as a new author. Thank you for your support.
Reviews
"The short book spans years and continents. Trips home to India, with children and mountains of gift-laden suitcases in tow, convey the joy of reunion. In Canada, Sharma’s curiosity and eagerness to know his new country bubble with insights. Snow is described with awed delight; lakes and pines prompt family vacations from coast to coast.
The book also recounts the downsides of immigration: Kamla and her children wait two years before following Sharma to Canada, a difficult period spent living with relatives. Sharma is beset by requests from relatives who look on him as a source of funds, but finds himself ostracized when he can no longer meet their demands. Dozens of photographs underscore the book’s themes, first showing Sharma as a young boy with older family members in India, then as a father and grandfather surrounded by a family that’s growing and becoming more multicultural though marriage.
Late in the book, Sharma and his wife embark on an extended religious pilgrimage to India. Here photographs take precedence over text, showing India as a country where gods and goddesses tower above roadsides in colorful tableaux and the Ganges spills from a source high in the western Himalayas. It is a perfect way to honor the long, successful marriage that began in India so many years ago.
My India, My Canada is an absorbing memoir about a life divided between two countries—vast in their differences, but both loved."
- Foreword Clarion Review, 5/5 Stars [READ FULL REVIEW]
The book also recounts the downsides of immigration: Kamla and her children wait two years before following Sharma to Canada, a difficult period spent living with relatives. Sharma is beset by requests from relatives who look on him as a source of funds, but finds himself ostracized when he can no longer meet their demands. Dozens of photographs underscore the book’s themes, first showing Sharma as a young boy with older family members in India, then as a father and grandfather surrounded by a family that’s growing and becoming more multicultural though marriage.
Late in the book, Sharma and his wife embark on an extended religious pilgrimage to India. Here photographs take precedence over text, showing India as a country where gods and goddesses tower above roadsides in colorful tableaux and the Ganges spills from a source high in the western Himalayas. It is a perfect way to honor the long, successful marriage that began in India so many years ago.
My India, My Canada is an absorbing memoir about a life divided between two countries—vast in their differences, but both loved."
- Foreword Clarion Review, 5/5 Stars [READ FULL REVIEW]
Editor's note:
"My India, My Canada is a compelling read about an interesting life in memorable surroundings and circumstances. You have a real knack for telling a story and including just the right amount of description and detail so that the reader feels like he/she has shared in the events you are describing. Canadians will be fascinated by reading about your youth in India1 and intrigued by the cultural differences (both real and perceived) between your new country and country of birth. For instance, I found the list of questions that Canadians asked you about India quite telling of the fact that we have many misconceptions about life in other countries. I also enjoyed rediscovering our country through your eyes as a newcomer. Likewise, your sense of humour helped to reveal your personality and make the experience of reading your story more personal and engaging.
Your poetry, notes about English expressions from when you first moved here, and beautiful pictures are also wonderful additions that make your book vibrant, unique, and highly readable."
"My India, My Canada is a compelling read about an interesting life in memorable surroundings and circumstances. You have a real knack for telling a story and including just the right amount of description and detail so that the reader feels like he/she has shared in the events you are describing. Canadians will be fascinated by reading about your youth in India1 and intrigued by the cultural differences (both real and perceived) between your new country and country of birth. For instance, I found the list of questions that Canadians asked you about India quite telling of the fact that we have many misconceptions about life in other countries. I also enjoyed rediscovering our country through your eyes as a newcomer. Likewise, your sense of humour helped to reveal your personality and make the experience of reading your story more personal and engaging.
Your poetry, notes about English expressions from when you first moved here, and beautiful pictures are also wonderful additions that make your book vibrant, unique, and highly readable."
"In My India, My Canada, Finding my place between two cultures, Nitayanand Sharma details the journey he undertook to Canada, through his formative years as a young boy in the small town of Lotwara, India to the grand adventure of pursuing an opportunity to further his education as an international student at Brandon University, in Brandon, Manitoba in the late 1960s, his subsequent career as an educator and administrator in Manitoba and finishing with his most recent years in retirement in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Sharma’s story is a familiar one to most immigrants; the push and pull of starting a new life in a new country and foreign culture, the balancing act of striving to become part of new country and community while maintaining ties and connection to his birthplace. Sharma writes openly about the mixed emotions of leaving a young family behind as he strove to establish himself as an educator in Manitoba. His preparation for his family’s arrival is interwoven with the difficult burden his wife Kamla had to endure being on her own with two young girls with a husband in a far-off land.
Sharma’s career as an educator and administrator, his years of volunteer work with the Hindu Society in Winnipeg, his dedication and support of his family as they navigated through two cultures as well, are all seen through the lens of a man determined to embrace his life in Canada and to remain faithful to a country and religion that defined his early years.
My India, My Canada is a story that should be read by all Canadians who seek to better understand the lives of those who have chosen Canada as their home and have made the country a better place by embracing all that it has to offer."
- Amazon Customer
Sharma’s story is a familiar one to most immigrants; the push and pull of starting a new life in a new country and foreign culture, the balancing act of striving to become part of new country and community while maintaining ties and connection to his birthplace. Sharma writes openly about the mixed emotions of leaving a young family behind as he strove to establish himself as an educator in Manitoba. His preparation for his family’s arrival is interwoven with the difficult burden his wife Kamla had to endure being on her own with two young girls with a husband in a far-off land.
Sharma’s career as an educator and administrator, his years of volunteer work with the Hindu Society in Winnipeg, his dedication and support of his family as they navigated through two cultures as well, are all seen through the lens of a man determined to embrace his life in Canada and to remain faithful to a country and religion that defined his early years.
My India, My Canada is a story that should be read by all Canadians who seek to better understand the lives of those who have chosen Canada as their home and have made the country a better place by embracing all that it has to offer."
- Amazon Customer
About the Author
Nityanand Sharma
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Nityanand Sharma arrived in Canada on September 9, 1968. He had a Masters Degree in Economics and Public Administration from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India before he was awarded a scholarship by Brandon University to complete an Education 1 Diploma to teach secondary schools in Manitoba. He was granted a two-year visa –one year as a student and a second year as a teacher. He also earned a Pre-Master’s Degree in Education Administration during his career.
He was hired to be a teacher in a high school in Cross Lake by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) in September 1969. He continued working for INAC in various capacities until his retirement as an Education Superintendent after 31 years of public service in October 2000. After teaching in northern communities, Nityanand spent nine years in Thompson, Manitoba before moving to Winnipeg in 1985. His entire “Canadian life” has been spent in Manitoba. He was overwhelmed by the presence of a Hindu community in Winnipeg, and this motivated him to do volunteer work for the Hindu Society of Manitoba and to organize a workshop on Transcendental Meditation for the benefit of the federal school principals he used to supervise. Nityanand Sharma has been a leader in the schools as a teacher and in the Education Office as an administrator and also a volunteer in the community. He loves Canada as his home. |
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