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Hard times

1/10/2002

A PAINFUL heartbreak and the love of Jeffrey Archer novels has inspired a Rochdale man to pen his debut novel - "Sons of Jabir".

Supply teacher Raja Miah, aged 28, had fallen in love with the wrong woman and suffered a broken heart. Not knowing how to handle the pain he drowned his sorrows in Archer's books. Then, realising that he too had a story to tell, Raja made his first attempt at writing.

Said Bangladeshi born Raja: "I don't go out very much and prefer to stay home with my family so after suffering from a broken heart I didn't now what to do or who to turn to. People from the wider society would probably go out, get drunk and party with friends but that wasn't me.

"At the same time I was involved in network marketing and had attended a seminar where the guest speaker was Jeffery Archer. He talked a lot about himself and I was really impressed by him so I decided to go out and get his books.

"The first one I read was "Not a Penny More not a Penny Less", I thought he was really good and went to the library to get more books. Reading helped me get away from all the pain and misery and I soon decided that I wanted to write. I think everybody has a story to tell and I wanted to tell mine."

That was three years ago and now Raja has completed his first novel which was taken on by small publishing house Hyena.

The novel itself centres on the main character Raja who is partly based on his real-life namesake, and the real Raja's twin brothers, Bassha and Suna. It follows the journey of Raja's parents Jabir and Rukhsana who leave their hometown of Bishwanath, Bangladesh after the country's independence in 1971 to come and settle in Rochdale which was then a working mill town. Raja's father becomes ill and is diagnosed with schizophrenia and Rajas' mum has to earn extra money by sewing at home.

Raja is the youngest son who is always falling in love with the wrong woman. His first love Kajol cannot marry him. His second love does marry him but then leaves him and his third love, a woman from Bangladesh also marries him but then betrays him with an affair. Bassha and Suna are however opposite to their brother - they are only interested in making money, partying and listening to Tu-Pac.

Readers can relate to many of the characters. The twins are typical, of many young Asians in this country who are torn between two entirely different cultures.

Raja is also like many young Asians who are constantly trying to make their families happy because their other siblings have gone in the "wrong" direction. This sometimes leads to them sacrificing their own chance of happiness. For example the fictional Raja pleases his parents by marrying someone in Bangladesh only to find that they are not compatible. There are plenty of Rajah's among the Asian communities in the North West.

The mother in the book, Kholsuma, is also a reflection on many UK Asian women who have had to work hard at home chained to an industrial sewing machine. Not an easy job to cook, clean, look after the family and sewing up 100 garments a day to earn a miserable £2.

Although times have changed now, "Sons of Jabir" is an echo of what toady's young Asians' parents had to go through when they first arrived in Britain. Even the second generation had it hard. They stared in schools where there were no other Asian students in sight.

They were not given many opportunities but have paved the way for the third generation - the "lucky ones".