It’s 6am in the Gupta residence in South Burnaby.
Satinder Kaur is starting her day the same way she has for the past 40 years, with a prayer reading.
Each day she and her husband Rachhpal, the elders of their large three-generation home, spend their mornings in reflection and meditation.
The house reverberates with the sounds of Sikh hymns – starting their morning feeling balanced has always been a way of life for these active grandparents.
The couple shares their home with their two sons – Jagdeep, a doctor who works in Vancouver and Toronto and their eldest Gurmeet, who is married with two young children.
Breakfast is much like it is in all Canadian households, Gurmeet and his parents preparing for work while Gurmeet’s wife Amarjeet gets the kids, Harsimran and Manvir, moving through their morning routine en route to school. She speaks to them in a mix of English and Punjabi, a language the family continues to speak after 30 years of living in Canada.
As the kids head off for school, Rachhpal and Satinder along with their eldest son, Gurmeet, head downtown to open the doors to their busy restaurant.
Gurmeet has been working in the family business for over a decade. “We have the opportunity every day to educate people on our culture by serving them Indian food. I find people tend to ask more questions about your faith and culture when they are in your environment and made comfortable enough to have an open dialogue. I get asked about my turban and why I wear it. People also ask if different turban colours mean something different and on and on.
Just don’t ask me about cricket,” he punch-lines jokingly. “I’m born and raised in Canada - I am perfectly happy being a hockey fan.”
The Guptas, like all families living in Canada’s multicultural mosaic, find their cultural identity is constantly growing.
They confess that even though they run an Indian restaurant, meals at home have become more westernized over the years. Pizza and pasta, for example, are favourites among the kids and a regular staple.
The cultural mix is also notable when the television is on: programs range from North American talk shows and soap operas to Punjabi news.
While bhangra classes are extremely popular with many South Asian parents, the Gupta kids have been enrolled in ballet, tap and piano lessons for many years.
This mix is strongly encouraged by Satinder, the family matriarch. “When we migrate to another country, our culture starts to evolve and take on our new country’s culture so we have taken the best of both worlds and are very lucky to be able to do that.”
But at the same time, she feels that being in Canada is an opportunity for Sikhs to share their celebration of Vaisakhi, the start of a new harvest season that also marks the birth of Khalsa. “There is an equal share of prayers, parades and religious rituals. It is the one time of the year when our culture and religion are both celebrated on the same day.” But as for this night, the kids have something else they want to mark – the Canucks are playing and the game is about to start. And so what’s for dinner? The dish that belongs to everyone – pizza of course.