NRIs are often misunderstood thinking that they don’t pay attention to their roots. That is not always the case as an NRI family has decided to develop a memorial in their home village to keep their family name known. The same is going to have the name of their living and dead people from the family.

Bahadur Singh, who is an UK based NRI has asked a villager named Lakhwinder Singh to get the process done on his behalf. Lakhwinder, who is an acquaintance of Bahadur stated saying that the ancestors of the NRI had left India a number of decades back.

He further stated saying that he got the memorial constructed in 1966 memorial site on Raikot-Jagraon road.

Further addressing this situation, Lakhwinder stated saying, “However, as new members have been added to the family, they are getting two more such structures built with 2020 written on top. The structures have names of around 70 persons from the family, most of whom are abroad. While the names of the dead are being painted in black, those of the living are in white. We have been getting the work done for the past one-and-a-half months and it will take us a few more days to complete.”

He also said that they are planning on creating a parking around the memorial along with getting some of the necessary ornamental decoration around. The same is going to be done for the aesthetics as Bahadur Singh comes visit at times.

Harkaran Singh, who is a relative of the family stated saying that majority of the family members stay abroad but do have a very strong bond to their roots.

Another member of the family said that this memory will bring together the past and the present day scenario together.

Sukhminder Singh, who is 65 years old and part of the family said that he was a bit skeptical with adding the name of the living people but later got along with it when it was said that it will have the name of his father too. The memorial is expected to be constructed across the land that they own. They have 7-8 acres of land around the memorial and 3-4 acres around the village.

The memorial will come with three cemented structure with two additions of 2020. Two statues of lions are also present around. The memorial will also come with a boundary, to keep everything protected.

By Somapika Dutta