Yes, I know I'm behind on posts for
Who Do You Think You Are (and I really do intend to catch up, but I've been in training since February 27, which has played hell with my schedule). And I know that this was the eighth episode of
Finding Your Roots, and I haven't commented on any of the earlier ones. So why am I jumping into the middle like this?
This episode of
Finding Your Roots touched me in a very unexpected way. The focus was on experiences of first- and second-generation Americans. One of the aspects discussed was how these children born in America have felt cut off from much of their family histories. One thing in particular that was mentioned was the belief that no records existed that could help them learn more about earlier generations of their families.
My stepsons' grandfather, Karm, was from Khatkar Kalan, Punjab, India. Along with researching the rest of their family on both sides, I have tried to research Karm's family in India. One thing I was quickly told by many people, both native-born Indians and people married to Indians, was that there simply aren't records for natives from the period during which India was ruled by Great Britain. The British barely did any record-keeping for their own people; they totally ignored records on natives.
The only thing close to "records" I had heard of previously were for Hindu families. When someone in the family died, you went down to the river and spoke to the man who was your family "chronicler" about the death. He would then remember it and add it to the history of your family, but it was all oral. He passed on the oral history to his son, who became the new "chronicler." I even spoke with a professor who was born in Rajasthan about this lack of documentation. He went back to India years later to try to find some record of his own birth. Even with the resources available to him at that time, he found absolutely nothing. He learned that his brother had arbitrarily chosen a birthday for him.
But the researchers for Finding Your Roots found something! Apparently not all the family histories are oral only. Two brothers are responsible for Gupta's family chronicle. The records are only for the men in the family, but they are written and they go back eight generations. When I saw the book I was in tears.
Karm was Sikh, not Hindu. I have no idea if similar books might exist for Sikh families. But just learning that written records from before
Partition exist for any native Indians gives me hope. Karm's family is said to have been prominent (Karm's grandfather was supposed to have been the last "headman" of the village before the British took over). Important families in other cultures are more likely to leave records documenting their history; why not in Punjab?
And I promise that as soon as I can I'll get back to
Who Do You Think You Are? ....
