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Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?
Set against the tumultuous backdrop of a fragmenting Punjab and moving between Canada and India, Can you Hear the Nightbird Call? charts the interweaving stories of three Indian women – Bibi-ji, Leela and Nimmo – each in search of a resting place amid rapidly changing personal and political landscapes.
The ambitious, defiant Sikh Bibi-ji, born Sharanjeet Kaur in a Punjabi village, steals her sister Kanwar’s destiny, thereby gaining passage to Canada.
Leela Bhat, born to a German mother and a Hindu father, is doomed to walk the earth as a "half-and-half." Leela’s childhood in Bangalore is scarred by her in-between identity and by the great unhappiness of her mother, Rosa, an outcast in their conservative Hindu home. Years after Rosa’s shadowy death, Leela has learned to deal with her in-between status, and she marries Balu Bhat, a man from a family of purebred Hindu Brahmins, thus acquiring status and a tenuous stability. However, when Balu insists on emigrating to Canada, Leela must trade her newfound comfort for yet another beginning. Once in Vancouver with her husband and two children, Leela’s initial reluctance to leave home gradually evolves.
While Bibi-ji gains access to a life of luxury in Canada, her sister Kanwar, left behind to weather the brutal violence of the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, is not so fortunate. She disappears, leaving Bibi-ji bereft and guilt-ridden.
Meanwhile, a little girl, who just might be Kanwar’s six-year-old daughter Nimmo, makes her way to Delhi, where she is adopted, marries and goes on to build a life with her loving husband, Satpal. Although this existence is constantly threatened by poverty, Nimmo cherishes it, filled as it is with love and laughter, and she guards it fiercely.
Across the world, Bibi-ji is plagued by she is unable to have a child. She believes that it is her punishment for having stolen her sister’s future, but tries to drown her sorrows by investing all her energies into her increasingly successful restaurant called the Delhi Junction. This restaurant becomes the place where members of the growing Vancouver Indo-Canadian community come to dispute and discuss their pasts, presents and futures.
Over the years, Bibi-ji tries to uncover her sister Kanwar’s fate but is unsuccessful until Leela Bhat – carrying a message from Satpal, Nimmo’s husband – helps Bibi-ji reconnect with the woman she comes to believe is her niece – Nimmo. Used to getting whatever she has wanted from life, Bibi-ji subtly pressures Nimmo into giving up Jasbeer, her oldest child, into her care.
Eight-year old Jasbeer does not settle well in Vancouver. Resentful of his parents’ decision to send him away, he finds a sense of identity only in the stories , of Sikh ancestry, real and imagined, told to him by Bibi-ji’s husband, Pa-ji. Over the years, his childish resentments harden, and when a radical preacher named Dr. Randhawa arrives in Vancouver, preaching the need for a separate Sikh homeland, Jasbeer is easily seduced by his violent rhetoric.
Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? elegantly moves back and forth between the growing desi community in Vancouver and the increasingly conflicted worlds of Punjab and Delhi, where rifts between Sikhs and Hindus are growing. In June 1984, just as political tensions within India begin to spiral out of control, Bibi-ji and Pa-ji decide to make their annual pilgrimage to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines. While they are there, the temple is stormed by Indian government troops attempting to contain Sikh extremists hiding inside the temple compound. The results are devastating.
Then, in October of the same year, Indira Gandhi is murdered by her two Sikh bodyguards, an act of vengeance for the assault on the temple. The assassination sets off a wave of violence against innocent Sikhs.
The tide of anger and violence spills across borders and floods into distant Canada, and into the lives of neighbours Bibi-ji and Leela. Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? weaves together the personal and the political – and beautifully brings the reader into the reality of terrorism and religious intolerance.
Bibi-ji turned to gaze out at the street. They could become far more prosperous, she was sure of that. Opportunities lay around them like pearls on these streets. But they were visible only to people with sharp eyes.
“What are you looking at, Bibi-ji?” Lalloo asked, coming around to the front with a box full of pickle jars. He lowered it carefully on the floor and stared out the window.
“What am I looking for, Lalloo, for,” Bibi-ji corrected. “I am looking for pearls.”
“I don’t see anything there, Bibi-ji,” Lalloo remarked after a few moments.
She laughed. “Neither do I, but I will. I know I will.” The war had left the whole world why had Pa-ji not thought of opening a used-clothing store instead of this Indian grocery shop? She wondered whether the shop would do better in Abbotsford...
The ambitious, defiant Sikh Bibi-ji, born Sharanjeet Kaur in a Punjabi village, steals her sister Kanwar’s destiny, thereby gaining passage to Canada.
Leela Bhat, born to a German mother and a Hindu father, is doomed to walk the earth as a "half-and-half." Leela’s childhood in Bangalore is scarred by her in-between identity and by the great unhappiness of her mother, Rosa, an outcast in their conservative Hindu home. Years after Rosa’s shadowy death, Leela has learned to deal with her in-between status, and she marries Balu Bhat, a man from a family of purebred Hindu Brahmins, thus acquiring status and a tenuous stability. However, when Balu insists on emigrating to Canada, Leela must trade her newfound comfort for yet another beginning. Once in Vancouver with her husband and two children, Leela’s initial reluctance to leave home gradually evolves.
While Bibi-ji gains access to a life of luxury in Canada, her sister Kanwar, left behind to weather the brutal violence of the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, is not so fortunate. She disappears, leaving Bibi-ji bereft and guilt-ridden.
Meanwhile, a little girl, who just might be Kanwar’s six-year-old daughter Nimmo, makes her way to Delhi, where she is adopted, marries and goes on to build a life with her loving husband, Satpal. Although this existence is constantly threatened by poverty, Nimmo cherishes it, filled as it is with love and laughter, and she guards it fiercely.
Across the world, Bibi-ji is plagued by she is unable to have a child. She believes that it is her punishment for having stolen her sister’s future, but tries to drown her sorrows by investing all her energies into her increasingly successful restaurant called the Delhi Junction. This restaurant becomes the place where members of the growing Vancouver Indo-Canadian community come to dispute and discuss their pasts, presents and futures.
Over the years, Bibi-ji tries to uncover her sister Kanwar’s fate but is unsuccessful until Leela Bhat – carrying a message from Satpal, Nimmo’s husband – helps Bibi-ji reconnect with the woman she comes to believe is her niece – Nimmo. Used to getting whatever she has wanted from life, Bibi-ji subtly pressures Nimmo into giving up Jasbeer, her oldest child, into her care.
Eight-year old Jasbeer does not settle well in Vancouver. Resentful of his parents’ decision to send him away, he finds a sense of identity only in the stories , of Sikh ancestry, real and imagined, told to him by Bibi-ji’s husband, Pa-ji. Over the years, his childish resentments harden, and when a radical preacher named Dr. Randhawa arrives in Vancouver, preaching the need for a separate Sikh homeland, Jasbeer is easily seduced by his violent rhetoric.
Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? elegantly moves back and forth between the growing desi community in Vancouver and the increasingly conflicted worlds of Punjab and Delhi, where rifts between Sikhs and Hindus are growing. In June 1984, just as political tensions within India begin to spiral out of control, Bibi-ji and Pa-ji decide to make their annual pilgrimage to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines. While they are there, the temple is stormed by Indian government troops attempting to contain Sikh extremists hiding inside the temple compound. The results are devastating.
Then, in October of the same year, Indira Gandhi is murdered by her two Sikh bodyguards, an act of vengeance for the assault on the temple. The assassination sets off a wave of violence against innocent Sikhs.
The tide of anger and violence spills across borders and floods into distant Canada, and into the lives of neighbours Bibi-ji and Leela. Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? weaves together the personal and the political – and beautifully brings the reader into the reality of terrorism and religious intolerance.
Bibi-ji turned to gaze out at the street. They could become far more prosperous, she was sure of that. Opportunities lay around them like pearls on these streets. But they were visible only to people with sharp eyes.
“What are you looking at, Bibi-ji?” Lalloo asked, coming around to the front with a box full of pickle jars. He lowered it carefully on the floor and stared out the window.
“What am I looking for, Lalloo, for,” Bibi-ji corrected. “I am looking for pearls.”
“I don’t see anything there, Bibi-ji,” Lalloo remarked after a few moments.
She laughed. “Neither do I, but I will. I know I will.” The war had left the whole world why had Pa-ji not thought of opening a used-clothing store instead of this Indian grocery shop? She wondered whether the shop would do better in Abbotsford...
432 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2006
24 people are currently reading
2416 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
August 1, 2023
Why I chose to read this book:
1. I bought it at my local library's book sale after reading the interesting synopsis;
2. the story is mainly set in the Indian region of Punjab as well as in Vancouver, BC;
3. even though author Anita Rau Badami was born in India, she has lived in Canada since 1991; and,
4. July 2023 is my "O' Canada Month"!
Praises:
1. this well-researched novel was a real page-turner for me! It helped me understand what the average Sikh woman experienced during various historical moments, such as Partition, the storming of the Golden Temple, the rule and eventual assassination of Indira Gandhi, the "revenge killings" of thousands of innocent Sikhs, what fundamentalist Sikhs in India and in Canada were fighting for, and why Air India Flight 182 was targeted;
2. this story was told through three female POV: Bibbi-ji (Sharan) and Leela, both of whom emigrated to Canada, and Nimmo (Nirmaljeet), who lived in New Delhi. Badami successfully develops these characters throughout the story. We follow their intertwining lives as they navigate through their homeland's violent history with tragic results;
3. I highly recommend reading Badami's Historical Note prior to the story itself. She writes a brief yet insightful history of Punjab, Sikhism and Partition. It enlightened me as to why tensions between India's Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims still exist to this day; and,
4. I had recently reviewed The Sorrow and the Terror : The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy. I'm pleased to see that Badami referenced this book in her Acknowledgements.
Niggle:
Badami focuses too much detail on some minor plot lines but not enough on others that should have been more deeply delved.
Overall Thoughts:
This book, although fictional, answered so many questions in a narrative manner. It is not a "happy ending" story, and in reality, it still continues to be a tragic tale in which innocent lives are deeply affected by politics and religion.
1. I bought it at my local library's book sale after reading the interesting synopsis;
2. the story is mainly set in the Indian region of Punjab as well as in Vancouver, BC;
3. even though author Anita Rau Badami was born in India, she has lived in Canada since 1991; and,
4. July 2023 is my "O' Canada Month"!
Praises:
1. this well-researched novel was a real page-turner for me! It helped me understand what the average Sikh woman experienced during various historical moments, such as Partition, the storming of the Golden Temple, the rule and eventual assassination of Indira Gandhi, the "revenge killings" of thousands of innocent Sikhs, what fundamentalist Sikhs in India and in Canada were fighting for, and why Air India Flight 182 was targeted;
2. this story was told through three female POV: Bibbi-ji (Sharan) and Leela, both of whom emigrated to Canada, and Nimmo (Nirmaljeet), who lived in New Delhi. Badami successfully develops these characters throughout the story. We follow their intertwining lives as they navigate through their homeland's violent history with tragic results;
3. I highly recommend reading Badami's Historical Note prior to the story itself. She writes a brief yet insightful history of Punjab, Sikhism and Partition. It enlightened me as to why tensions between India's Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims still exist to this day; and,
4. I had recently reviewed The Sorrow and the Terror : The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy. I'm pleased to see that Badami referenced this book in her Acknowledgements.
Niggle:
Badami focuses too much detail on some minor plot lines but not enough on others that should have been more deeply delved.
Overall Thoughts:
This book, although fictional, answered so many questions in a narrative manner. It is not a "happy ending" story, and in reality, it still continues to be a tragic tale in which innocent lives are deeply affected by politics and religion.
January 25, 2010
The author captures the various inflections points in India’s political history: the partition from Pakistan, the conflicts with its neighbours China and Pakistan, the separation of Bangladesh, the military invasion of the Golden Temple, the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the brutal killings of Sikhs that followed, and finally the blowing up of Air India flight 182.
Entwined in these events are the stories of three women whose own lives are woven together by quirks of fate and twists of history: Bibi-ji who steals her older sister’s intended husband and moves to Vancouver before partition, Nimmo, daughter of that older sister and the only survivor after the mob kills her parents during the painful birth of India and Pakistan, and Leela, half Indian and half German, who is perennially in a half-way house both in her native India and the country she follows her husband to, Canada.
These characters wear their Indian-ness like a badge, never quite integrating, destined to be on the margins, be they wealthy like Bibi-ji or poor like Nimmo. This remoteness comes home even when the omniscient narrator refers to white people as Goras. In fact, I had difficulty with this narrator who kept indiscriminately popping in and out of the heads of the characters, both principal and minor alike, reducing them to cardboard cut-outs in places. This was the one flaw in an otherwise well crafted novel with slices of Indian life and dialogue that is fresh, humorous and insightful.
The span of the action covers the greater part of the 20th century and many time periods and events in the lives of the characters are skimmed over to zero in only on key ones. Hence we do not hear much of the birth of Nimmo’s daughter Kamal, but we get a drawn out scene of Bibi-ji and Pa-ji’s visit to the school principal to discuss their adopted son Jasbir’s misbehaviour.
The private tensions in the lives of the three women are reflections of the wider conflicts facing the newly independent India, both internally between its diverse citizens, and externally with its neighbours, even between its distant exiles in Canada. The indiscriminate loss of life in this conflict also comes home sharply when key people start dropping like flies from chapter to chapter.
In the end, the survivors are left bereft and horribly changed and the only person finding redemption from the conflict is Jasbir, the bad apple in the family who left to join the Khalistan rebellion, and finds his way back home after seeing the damage that the movement, its actions and consequences wreak on his own family.
When I put this book down, I couldn’t help but feel that as much as the author was humouring me with scenes of domesticity and social intercourse in Indian society both at home and abroad, she was hammering me with some brutal lessons of history that I never got to read about from the inside.
Entwined in these events are the stories of three women whose own lives are woven together by quirks of fate and twists of history: Bibi-ji who steals her older sister’s intended husband and moves to Vancouver before partition, Nimmo, daughter of that older sister and the only survivor after the mob kills her parents during the painful birth of India and Pakistan, and Leela, half Indian and half German, who is perennially in a half-way house both in her native India and the country she follows her husband to, Canada.
These characters wear their Indian-ness like a badge, never quite integrating, destined to be on the margins, be they wealthy like Bibi-ji or poor like Nimmo. This remoteness comes home even when the omniscient narrator refers to white people as Goras. In fact, I had difficulty with this narrator who kept indiscriminately popping in and out of the heads of the characters, both principal and minor alike, reducing them to cardboard cut-outs in places. This was the one flaw in an otherwise well crafted novel with slices of Indian life and dialogue that is fresh, humorous and insightful.
The span of the action covers the greater part of the 20th century and many time periods and events in the lives of the characters are skimmed over to zero in only on key ones. Hence we do not hear much of the birth of Nimmo’s daughter Kamal, but we get a drawn out scene of Bibi-ji and Pa-ji’s visit to the school principal to discuss their adopted son Jasbir’s misbehaviour.
The private tensions in the lives of the three women are reflections of the wider conflicts facing the newly independent India, both internally between its diverse citizens, and externally with its neighbours, even between its distant exiles in Canada. The indiscriminate loss of life in this conflict also comes home sharply when key people start dropping like flies from chapter to chapter.
In the end, the survivors are left bereft and horribly changed and the only person finding redemption from the conflict is Jasbir, the bad apple in the family who left to join the Khalistan rebellion, and finds his way back home after seeing the damage that the movement, its actions and consequences wreak on his own family.
When I put this book down, I couldn’t help but feel that as much as the author was humouring me with scenes of domesticity and social intercourse in Indian society both at home and abroad, she was hammering me with some brutal lessons of history that I never got to read about from the inside.
September 15, 2022
I really enjoy the writing style of Anita Rau Badami and will read more of her books. I read the background first, found at the back of this book, which helped to understand the historical events that prompted this story. Although it is sad, and even more so than a regular novel, because this could and did happen to far too many people, I am glad I read this book. I learned much about the history, religions and cultures of India. The setting includes Vancouver Canada, which really hits home, of how we are not so distant or immune from the horrors of the world and mankind.
March 22, 2021
“It was maps that caused countries to exist and expire; maps caused bitter wars, maps erased people and landscapes as effeciently as they created them” - Anita Rau Badami
Although Badami’s novel was already on my TBR list, I had attended Nalini Iyer’s talk on diaspora and the Partition recently and began reading the novel coincidentally as the Partition unit had also started in my classes where I teach Cracking India and it’s film adaptation, Earth. I loved the novel and couldn’t recommend it more to everyone.
Reading Nalini Iyer’s essay while teaching Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India and reading Anita Rau Badami’s novel has given me new perspectives on how the silences of our homeland continue to haunt us through generations and directly or indirectly affect us as we are surrounded and grow up informed by the perspectives often prejudicial views that surround us. While we focus primarily on the event of the Partition itself, we tend tto often not focus on the aftermath, but it haunts our daily lives whether we are in India or outside of it. It was only recently that I remember my dad telling me that one of his neighbor’s parent refused to live in a newly built home as the staircase was outside to enter the second floor in the building in Dehradun, but growing up, such stories were never shared with me. In fact, I remember during my undergrad years, I did a brief study on the Partition for my India Studies minor requirement, but never pursued it until I took my advisor’s graduate class back in 2012 that my interest sparked again. As a child and pre-teen, I always wanted to know more, but the Partition traditionally is eclipsed by the independence narratives that dominates this conversation on Modern India.
I am so deeply affected by what I had read but also of the rosy eyed view I had of the world that I was raised in that told me to not judge anyone based on their race, religion, caste, sexuality, but see them for who they were as human beings first and treat them the way you want to be treated. The female protagonists, Sharanjeet/Bibiji, Leela, and Nimmi are compelling and how their lives were intertwined together in the aftermath of this cataclysmic event. They are represented as complex and nuanced characters who continue to deal. All of them have gone through a major loss and grief always hangs like a dark cloud around them through the novel.
The 1947 Partition, the tragic events and violence of 1984, and the Air India tragedy all indicate how these major events are only mourned for by the people who are directly affected by them and memorialized selectively in India and in the diaspora.
To conclude, the night bird has never stopped calling, but it is us who should heed her call and learn about these historical events which shape our everyday.
Thank you so much, Nalini, for introducing this text to me and sharing your article with me.
Although Badami’s novel was already on my TBR list, I had attended Nalini Iyer’s talk on diaspora and the Partition recently and began reading the novel coincidentally as the Partition unit had also started in my classes where I teach Cracking India and it’s film adaptation, Earth. I loved the novel and couldn’t recommend it more to everyone.
Reading Nalini Iyer’s essay while teaching Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India and reading Anita Rau Badami’s novel has given me new perspectives on how the silences of our homeland continue to haunt us through generations and directly or indirectly affect us as we are surrounded and grow up informed by the perspectives often prejudicial views that surround us. While we focus primarily on the event of the Partition itself, we tend tto often not focus on the aftermath, but it haunts our daily lives whether we are in India or outside of it. It was only recently that I remember my dad telling me that one of his neighbor’s parent refused to live in a newly built home as the staircase was outside to enter the second floor in the building in Dehradun, but growing up, such stories were never shared with me. In fact, I remember during my undergrad years, I did a brief study on the Partition for my India Studies minor requirement, but never pursued it until I took my advisor’s graduate class back in 2012 that my interest sparked again. As a child and pre-teen, I always wanted to know more, but the Partition traditionally is eclipsed by the independence narratives that dominates this conversation on Modern India.
I am so deeply affected by what I had read but also of the rosy eyed view I had of the world that I was raised in that told me to not judge anyone based on their race, religion, caste, sexuality, but see them for who they were as human beings first and treat them the way you want to be treated. The female protagonists, Sharanjeet/Bibiji, Leela, and Nimmi are compelling and how their lives were intertwined together in the aftermath of this cataclysmic event. They are represented as complex and nuanced characters who continue to deal. All of them have gone through a major loss and grief always hangs like a dark cloud around them through the novel.
The 1947 Partition, the tragic events and violence of 1984, and the Air India tragedy all indicate how these major events are only mourned for by the people who are directly affected by them and memorialized selectively in India and in the diaspora.
To conclude, the night bird has never stopped calling, but it is us who should heed her call and learn about these historical events which shape our everyday.
Thank you so much, Nalini, for introducing this text to me and sharing your article with me.
August 16, 2020
5 stars for the historical aspect of this book. The only thing keeping this from being a 5 star book was the middle of the book was a little sluggish and ended up taking me a while to get through. Overall though it was still a fantastic read and informative.
March 27, 2011
I picked this book up knowing very little about it, thinking that it was the story of families coming to Canada from India, and their struggles to belong. I admit I didn't exactly research it, it was given to me by a friend, and I thought, hey, free book!
I was surprised to find out that it is primarily a historic account of the turbulent history of Punjab since the beginning of the 20th century. I know very little of the history of India's turmoil, I have heard pieces here and there but have not followed up. The last major plot point occurs the year I was born, so this history has never been something that has surfaced in my lifetime. Having read this novel, I found myself interested and intrigued by the events of the past as well as by the fictional aspects. The characters though, at times, somewhat trying and distant, evolve (or, as the case may be, remain the same) throughout an ever changing backdrop of tribulations and instability. We follow Sharan-jeet (Bibi-ji), Leela, and Nimmo as they struggle to belong, integrate, hold onto the past and in some cases, survive. The stories of the three women are interwoven neatly and rather predictably, but the draws of the novel need not be plot twists. The draw, for me, is the picture painted for the reader of women holding fast to their families and their beliefs (be those religion, or the belief that one must belong) as the world sweeps past them without care.
At times hopeful and just as often, frighteningly tragic, this book is reminiscent of the theme of Leela's life: half and half. One foot in malleable fiction, the other in the harsh, unchangeable portrait of reality.
An interesting read for those who want to learn about the modern history of India without having to peruse textbooks full of paragraph after paragraph of dull script. Nightbird allowed me a view into a world I knew very little of. It allowed me a history lesson wrapped up in the package of a fictional story about women, family and change.
I was surprised to find out that it is primarily a historic account of the turbulent history of Punjab since the beginning of the 20th century. I know very little of the history of India's turmoil, I have heard pieces here and there but have not followed up. The last major plot point occurs the year I was born, so this history has never been something that has surfaced in my lifetime. Having read this novel, I found myself interested and intrigued by the events of the past as well as by the fictional aspects. The characters though, at times, somewhat trying and distant, evolve (or, as the case may be, remain the same) throughout an ever changing backdrop of tribulations and instability. We follow Sharan-jeet (Bibi-ji), Leela, and Nimmo as they struggle to belong, integrate, hold onto the past and in some cases, survive. The stories of the three women are interwoven neatly and rather predictably, but the draws of the novel need not be plot twists. The draw, for me, is the picture painted for the reader of women holding fast to their families and their beliefs (be those religion, or the belief that one must belong) as the world sweeps past them without care.
At times hopeful and just as often, frighteningly tragic, this book is reminiscent of the theme of Leela's life: half and half. One foot in malleable fiction, the other in the harsh, unchangeable portrait of reality.
An interesting read for those who want to learn about the modern history of India without having to peruse textbooks full of paragraph after paragraph of dull script. Nightbird allowed me a view into a world I knew very little of. It allowed me a history lesson wrapped up in the package of a fictional story about women, family and change.
April 12, 2022
4.5 Stars
Likes:
- I enjoyed how it followed several different women, both in Canada and India, and how their lives are intertwined.
- Such a tragic ending! I was very emotional and it felt like bad thing after bad thing kept piling on and would never end. I definitely felt teary at the end of the book
- Was initially really interested in the immigration aspect of the book and the setting partially taking place in Vancouver, however, I ended up getting really interested in the historical aspect of the story as well.
- Spotlighted some really important historical issues (of which I only really knew anything about the Komagata Maru). Opening my eyes to the partition of India and Pakistan, Air India Flight 182, the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi, the murders of Sikhs
- I knew that the ending was leading up to bad events (Air India Flight 182 specifically) but I was unsure what was going to happen. I was unsure if Jasbir would become radicalized and become involved somehow, and was very interested to see what would end up happening.
- There are so many interesting topics that are explored through this book, including but not limited to: immigration struggles, choosing to educate your child overseas, loss, feminism, nationalism, etc.
Dislikes:
- Sometimes it felt like a lot of characters and in the middle, I had some trouble keeping track of who was who.
- I felt that the middle section was a bit long and somewhat uneventful. My interest in the story was lowest at this part.
Likes:
- I enjoyed how it followed several different women, both in Canada and India, and how their lives are intertwined.
- Such a tragic ending! I was very emotional and it felt like bad thing after bad thing kept piling on and would never end. I definitely felt teary at the end of the book
- Was initially really interested in the immigration aspect of the book and the setting partially taking place in Vancouver, however, I ended up getting really interested in the historical aspect of the story as well.
- Spotlighted some really important historical issues (of which I only really knew anything about the Komagata Maru). Opening my eyes to the partition of India and Pakistan, Air India Flight 182, the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi, the murders of Sikhs
- I knew that the ending was leading up to bad events (Air India Flight 182 specifically) but I was unsure what was going to happen. I was unsure if Jasbir would become radicalized and become involved somehow, and was very interested to see what would end up happening.
- There are so many interesting topics that are explored through this book, including but not limited to: immigration struggles, choosing to educate your child overseas, loss, feminism, nationalism, etc.
Dislikes:
- Sometimes it felt like a lot of characters and in the middle, I had some trouble keeping track of who was who.
- I felt that the middle section was a bit long and somewhat uneventful. My interest in the story was lowest at this part.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2019
Oh my god!
I would never have read this if it wasn't for a customer who lent this Interesting book to me.
This is a work of fiction that has real events within to educate readers the horror that many don't know about.
I love how this story connects the three women together and the knowledge it holds.
I was heartbroken and admittedly cried a few times reading the sad parts, and was even sadder to find out that this is based on real events.
The only negative is that it took me awhile to get into reading this.
Thank you for writing such an interesting and heartbreaking novel.
I would never have read this if it wasn't for a customer who lent this Interesting book to me.
This is a work of fiction that has real events within to educate readers the horror that many don't know about.
I love how this story connects the three women together and the knowledge it holds.
I was heartbroken and admittedly cried a few times reading the sad parts, and was even sadder to find out that this is based on real events.
The only negative is that it took me awhile to get into reading this.
Thank you for writing such an interesting and heartbreaking novel.
February 18, 2020
A different kind of historical fiction, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Although the stories presented are quite sad, because of all the losses and injustices, the characters are likable, and their stories intertwine and converge to link them in the readers' eyes.
I didn't know anything about the history of India presented in the book, and reading about that period was very emotional, thinking a bout what people went through. ARB did a very good job in getting the reader to empathize with the victims of that period and their families.
Although the stories presented are quite sad, because of all the losses and injustices, the characters are likable, and their stories intertwine and converge to link them in the readers' eyes.
I didn't know anything about the history of India presented in the book, and reading about that period was very emotional, thinking a bout what people went through. ARB did a very good job in getting the reader to empathize with the victims of that period and their families.
June 7, 2013
Follows 3 women from the partition of India in1947 to the Air India bombing in 1985. From India to Vancouver their loves, family, hate, and the seeds of terrorism are explored without judgement. I gained an understanding of Sikhs especially that I wish I had been aware of before I visited India. The characters are fascinating, and their journeys, often heart-wrenching.
November 2, 2016
A sweeping narrative of the lives of three Indian women whose lives in Punjab, Delhi and Vancouver gather within the embrace of family, faith, community and friendship yet shatter beneath the fist of hatred and violence. An imperfect, at times somewhat disjointed novel that throbs with feeling. I was heartbroken open.
February 4, 2024
Heartbreaking. A beautiful portrayal of home and belonging.
September 22, 2021
A friend recommended this book to me randomly one day and said that I might like it so naturally I decided to check it out myself. It took me a while to read but I'm glad to say I finally finished it. Anita Rau Badami's book spans a very interesting time line from the partition of the South Asian subcontinent in 1947 all the way to the horrific events of 1984. Historical fiction has recently been a guilty pleasure of mine and this book is def up there when it comes to that genre for me. The story tells the tale of three women, Sharanjeet Kaur, Leela Bhatt and Nimmo Kaur and how their lives are forever changed by the social and political turmoil surrounding them. Their stories and adventures intertwined beautifully yet also tragically as well. The story opens up with Sharan's point of view, a mischievous teenager whose vanity and attention seeking ways indirectly destroys her sister's life and also future generations of her own family. She marries a guy who initially came to visit her older sister and emigrates to Vancouver Canada where she and her newly wedded husband start their own retail business and become a pillar among the South Asian community of Vancouver by providing homes and help to other immigrants. This in turn introduces readers to Leela Bhatt, who coming from her own troubles back home in India, begins a new life in Vancouver where she kindles a pretty good relationship with Sharan Kaur. After a while she reveals to Sharan a number a taxi driver in India gave her that might be her long lost relative and this introduces the reader to Nimmo Kaur. Nimmo Kaur is the daughter of Sharan's older sister who unfortunately was brutally raped and murdered during partition. The story continues and gives the reader a glimpse into their sad lives. Unfortunately without giving too much away the characters in the story all have a common tragic end where happiness alludes them and their lives are put into despair despite living in different corners of the world. Kind of like real life, happiness is only a temporary state but sadness is forever.
The author does a really good job at detailing the horrific events of 1984, a year that is blacked out by the Sikh community as a year of death. She writes about the fear and tragedy among the innocent people killed in the invasion of the Golden temple and also the subsequent riots that occurred after the Indian prime minister was gunned down in retailation to that invasion. The scenes of the riots where thousands of innocent Sikh men and women were brutally murdered, raped and maimed was written really well by the author I felt. She really got down to the grittiness of the event like describing how someones scalp and eyes melted when the psychopaths threw a tire around their neck and burned them alive. These events all happened and the people who did it are still out there enjoying life while those killed and their family members are left in the dust. Interestingly a lot of notable Bollywood stars, one in particular, was found to be rallying up people to rape and kill people yet he's still allowed to host game shows, so there's that.
Overall the book was a great read but one of the things that didn't make it a perfect 5 for me is that there were a lot of parts in the book that were slow and honestly felt like filler. I would still recommend it though!
The author does a really good job at detailing the horrific events of 1984, a year that is blacked out by the Sikh community as a year of death. She writes about the fear and tragedy among the innocent people killed in the invasion of the Golden temple and also the subsequent riots that occurred after the Indian prime minister was gunned down in retailation to that invasion. The scenes of the riots where thousands of innocent Sikh men and women were brutally murdered, raped and maimed was written really well by the author I felt. She really got down to the grittiness of the event like describing how someones scalp and eyes melted when the psychopaths threw a tire around their neck and burned them alive. These events all happened and the people who did it are still out there enjoying life while those killed and their family members are left in the dust. Interestingly a lot of notable Bollywood stars, one in particular, was found to be rallying up people to rape and kill people yet he's still allowed to host game shows, so there's that.
Overall the book was a great read but one of the things that didn't make it a perfect 5 for me is that there were a lot of parts in the book that were slow and honestly felt like filler. I would still recommend it though!
January 27, 2015
There are plenty of plot summaries available here, so I'll skip the details. The book covers the lives of three women, beginning in the 1920s in pre-Partition India and culminating in the mid-80s, with the explosion of Air Indian Flight 182, an event that most American readers likely don't know about or will have forgotten; I'd say the equivalent is Pan Am disaster over Lockerbie. So, this isn't a book with a happy ending, just in case you were wondering.
With three lives, two continents and sixty-some years, the book might feel superficial to some readers. Badami constructs the story around specific moments in history, but she never sacrifices character to the larger story. With surprising economy, she manages to invest the reader in all three of the characters--SharanJeet (who becomes Bibi-ji in Vancouver), Leela, and Nimmo. Bibi-ji is the main character; her deepest flaw, desire for things/people which she has no right to, sets the story in motion. The other women are not as well-defined, though they have their weaknesses. But it's Bibi-ji who inflicts the most hurt on others.
I was curious to see how the writer would tie all the events together; I expected something contrived, but the ending was surprisingly moving. While I'm unlikely to read the book again, it was a quick and enjoyable read.
With three lives, two continents and sixty-some years, the book might feel superficial to some readers. Badami constructs the story around specific moments in history, but she never sacrifices character to the larger story. With surprising economy, she manages to invest the reader in all three of the characters--SharanJeet (who becomes Bibi-ji in Vancouver), Leela, and Nimmo. Bibi-ji is the main character; her deepest flaw, desire for things/people which she has no right to, sets the story in motion. The other women are not as well-defined, though they have their weaknesses. But it's Bibi-ji who inflicts the most hurt on others.
I was curious to see how the writer would tie all the events together; I expected something contrived, but the ending was surprisingly moving. While I'm unlikely to read the book again, it was a quick and enjoyable read.
August 5, 2022
Beautiful and utterly heartbreaking. Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? has easily become one of my favourite reads of the year, maybe even of all time. Anita Rau Badami's writing is incredible, making this novel one that is nearly impossible to put down. Every Canadian should read this novel. I seriously can't recommend it enough.
July 29, 2024
The aptly named 'Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?' is a story of tragedy and death, explaining the events following the Pakistan split from India from both the South Asian and the Canadian point of view, through the eyes of several desi women. The historical scenes depicted here are very much inspired by the reality faced by Indian people under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the religious separatist movements and the tension ensuing between the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh groups, culminating with the terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182. I have learned a huge amount about Punjab in the process, as well as the history of India, topics that I didn't know much about beforehand. I was also saddened and angered to see yet another case of religion propagating intolerance rather than the peace it preaches.
Though the characters are fictional, their stories might just as well be those of many affected. We follow three women, and out of those mainly Bibi-ji, who stole her sister's fate of leaving Punjab for Vancouver, Canada, by charming the man meant to become her husband. Her entourage contains Leela, German-Indian by ancestry, and forever living between two worlds in following her husband to Canada. Meanwhile, Nimmo, suffers through what remains of her life in Punjab following the death of Kanwar, her mother and Bibi-ji's sister, after Pakistan's separation.
We get the thoughts of each of these women, and why they are vastly different in values and approaches, they are all somewhat stuck between two worlds, India and Canada, the is and what could have been.
It was interesting to also understand their relationship with religion, and how this maps to their behaviours. For example, Bibi-ji becomes a generous woman in Canada who offers her home to those in need. Yet, she doesn't do it in order to help those around her, she does it for repententing stealing Kanwar's husband and thereby causing her death. She does it to atone in the eyes of her God and creating a positive balance for herself. Some of the men choose to cut their hair upon arriving in the West to blend in easier. And everyone chooses to strike a balance between logic and the supernatural beliefs of religion by ticking all the boxes when in doubt about the best course of action. It's the first time I am reading something about Sikhs, and it was very illuminating in terms of the oppressions they face in India and what still seems to be amping up for further tensions.
Anita Rau Badami's writing style combined well elements from each of these worlds, with plenty of Punjabi words that added so much colour that anchored many of these characters. I loved reading about their food, and how it differed from those in other regions, say New Delhi, the words of endearment for each other or about the rich colours and cuts of their clothing.
It also showed me more about the immigrant experience in Canada, and the melting pot of culture that it is. While desis here navigated their loyalty to their own culture and the desire to connect with others with India as a binder, they also saw themselves as Canadians. They befriended people of other cultures who they previously were reluctant to even speak to, like Chinese, having their desire to blend in in common. Leela also befriended a White Canadian, which was refreshing and heartwarming to read about.
This was an emotional, educational read that I'd wholeheartedly recommend.
Though the characters are fictional, their stories might just as well be those of many affected. We follow three women, and out of those mainly Bibi-ji, who stole her sister's fate of leaving Punjab for Vancouver, Canada, by charming the man meant to become her husband. Her entourage contains Leela, German-Indian by ancestry, and forever living between two worlds in following her husband to Canada. Meanwhile, Nimmo, suffers through what remains of her life in Punjab following the death of Kanwar, her mother and Bibi-ji's sister, after Pakistan's separation.
We get the thoughts of each of these women, and why they are vastly different in values and approaches, they are all somewhat stuck between two worlds, India and Canada, the is and what could have been.
It was interesting to also understand their relationship with religion, and how this maps to their behaviours. For example, Bibi-ji becomes a generous woman in Canada who offers her home to those in need. Yet, she doesn't do it in order to help those around her, she does it for repententing stealing Kanwar's husband and thereby causing her death. She does it to atone in the eyes of her God and creating a positive balance for herself. Some of the men choose to cut their hair upon arriving in the West to blend in easier. And everyone chooses to strike a balance between logic and the supernatural beliefs of religion by ticking all the boxes when in doubt about the best course of action. It's the first time I am reading something about Sikhs, and it was very illuminating in terms of the oppressions they face in India and what still seems to be amping up for further tensions.
Anita Rau Badami's writing style combined well elements from each of these worlds, with plenty of Punjabi words that added so much colour that anchored many of these characters. I loved reading about their food, and how it differed from those in other regions, say New Delhi, the words of endearment for each other or about the rich colours and cuts of their clothing.
It also showed me more about the immigrant experience in Canada, and the melting pot of culture that it is. While desis here navigated their loyalty to their own culture and the desire to connect with others with India as a binder, they also saw themselves as Canadians. They befriended people of other cultures who they previously were reluctant to even speak to, like Chinese, having their desire to blend in in common. Leela also befriended a White Canadian, which was refreshing and heartwarming to read about.
This was an emotional, educational read that I'd wholeheartedly recommend.
December 25, 2023
I’m not Punjabi, but I don’t think you have to be for you to be able to resonate with this book.
I love the multiple storylines and how everything is ultimately connected in the end. The partition stories were really hard to read, but Badami does an amazing job at showing rather than telling us the horrors of those times.
So much to say, but I can’t put it in words.
I love the multiple storylines and how everything is ultimately connected in the end. The partition stories were really hard to read, but Badami does an amazing job at showing rather than telling us the horrors of those times.
So much to say, but I can’t put it in words.
February 20, 2025
DEVASTATING
January 4, 2025
The author humanizes traumatic events which have been summarized briefly in headlines throughout history. As a reader, the sense of loss related to the events is palpable. Though it is fiction, you are immersed in what is very much the lived reality of many navigating concepts of cultural hybridity, identity and belonging.
May 17, 2024
I wanted to be wrong in all my assumptions as I reached the end of the book, when the course of the stories changes abruptly. It's not an easy story, and I appreciate that the author has developed this set of intertwining stories, close, behind a real tragedy. For making us part of it, and above all because it generates tangible stories that together build a support network, which is shattered by a giant weight, a dominant structure of political and religious beliefs. A violent culture that ends up destroying bonds even despite the distance with the territories: Punjab and Vancouver.
It adds strong metaphors in each of its female protagonists, migrants who carry their journeys and moves with them, their process of migrating or missing never ends, they continue to seek their land or something resembling it despite the years.
A book that I would recommend anyway, but definitely finishing it hurts.
It adds strong metaphors in each of its female protagonists, migrants who carry their journeys and moves with them, their process of migrating or missing never ends, they continue to seek their land or something resembling it despite the years.
A book that I would recommend anyway, but definitely finishing it hurts.
August 19, 2019
I was very skeptical when I initially picked up this book. What insight can a South Indian Hindu author provide to one of the most tumultuous centuries in Sikh history? I am ashamed of that sentiment, I now freely admit, because Badami has captured the soul of Punjab and Punjabi NRIs in this beautifully crafted story. She weaves masterfully the tales of 3 Indian women and their families. She tactfully addresses what partition meant for Sikhs, caught in between a religious divide between two behemoths: India and Pakistan. She deftly approaches the impending calamity that awaits Amritsari and Delhi Sikhs and the fallout. It was an emotional read and one that had me awake late at night, unable and unwilling to put it down. A page turner that will sweep you away. Badami is a master crafts person and when you put this book down it will continue to reverberate in your mind.
March 1, 2012
This was a tragic story that kept my attention from beginning to end. The characters are flawed yet likeable, and it was the type of novel that left me thinking long after I had finished. This is a fictional account woven amid real historical events, so I learned a lot about India in the mid-80s...a period of time in which I was a teenager and blissfully unaware of some of the drama unfolding around the world. This book made me realize just how little I know of the modern histories of som many places, and made me curious to find out more...especially about a country such as India which is becoming so influential and from where many of my students originate.
March 12, 2025
Can You Hear Night Bird Calling? by Anita Rao Badami explores themes of memory, identity, and complex family relationships. The novel is set in both Canada and India, and it covers significant historical events like the India-Pakistan partition, India's support in the Bangladesh war, the Emergency in India, the Khalistan movement, and the suffering of Punjab during the partition. My favorite character in the novel is Nimmo, who starts her life with the scars of the India-Pakistan partition and ends it with another tragic event related to the Khalistan demand in Punjab. Overall a best post-Independence novel by a Canadian writer.
May 30, 2025
•🇮🇳🇨🇦• ~ 3.5🌟
May 25, 2023
The book traces the intertwined lives of a few Indians and their relatives that immigrated to Canada against the turbulent backdrop of India- starting with the Partition of Punjab and ending with the anti sikh riots of 1984.
It starts in a tiny village of Punjab in undivided India where the patriarch of the house is an old man who was refused entry to Canada aboard the ship Komagatamaru.
The story traces the life of his daughter (Bibi-ji) that immigrates to Canada and builds a successful life with her husband. The other sister succumbs to the violence following the partition.
Many years later, through her friend Leela, Bibi-ji makes contact with her niece in India (Nimmo), the surviving daughter of the sister, who lives a simple life in New Delhi with her husband and kids.
One of the kids gets sent away to Bibi-ji to grow up in Canada and he becomes distant and rebellious.
Around the same time, the situation in Punjab worsens, following the infamous Emergency.
Against the unsettled times of 1984-85, Bibi-ji and her husband go to the Golden temple for a pilgrimage upon which her husband dies in the Golden temple massacre.
The story rapidly takes a dark turn from that point and follows the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the anti Sikh riots. Nimmo's entire family dies in that violence.
The novel ends with the Air India bombing of 1985 where one of Bibi-ji's closest firends (Leela) dies.
Overall, the story portrays the stark reality of immigrants to Canada that lived in those turbulent times.
The book moves quickly and the characters are well developed. It explores themes of immigrant life, identity crisis of immigrants (neither here nor there),Nimmo's constant fear and trauma for narrowly escaping death at Partition times and the senseless violence that upends the lives of normal peace-loving people.
It was a great read and an engaging way to learn about one of the darkest chapters in India's post colonial history.
It starts in a tiny village of Punjab in undivided India where the patriarch of the house is an old man who was refused entry to Canada aboard the ship Komagatamaru.
The story traces the life of his daughter (Bibi-ji) that immigrates to Canada and builds a successful life with her husband. The other sister succumbs to the violence following the partition.
Many years later, through her friend Leela, Bibi-ji makes contact with her niece in India (Nimmo), the surviving daughter of the sister, who lives a simple life in New Delhi with her husband and kids.
One of the kids gets sent away to Bibi-ji to grow up in Canada and he becomes distant and rebellious.
Around the same time, the situation in Punjab worsens, following the infamous Emergency.
Against the unsettled times of 1984-85, Bibi-ji and her husband go to the Golden temple for a pilgrimage upon which her husband dies in the Golden temple massacre.
The story rapidly takes a dark turn from that point and follows the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the anti Sikh riots. Nimmo's entire family dies in that violence.
The novel ends with the Air India bombing of 1985 where one of Bibi-ji's closest firends (Leela) dies.
Overall, the story portrays the stark reality of immigrants to Canada that lived in those turbulent times.
The book moves quickly and the characters are well developed. It explores themes of immigrant life, identity crisis of immigrants (neither here nor there),Nimmo's constant fear and trauma for narrowly escaping death at Partition times and the senseless violence that upends the lives of normal peace-loving people.
It was a great read and an engaging way to learn about one of the darkest chapters in India's post colonial history.
December 14, 2021
I was unfamiliar with the struggles of and within the Sikh community in the mid 20th century and was curious to see how the plot will lead to the Air India Bombing incident. It was eye opening but sadly the first half was over written and put me off. In the second half of the story, when we get to experience the Golden Temple's massacre and the subsequent hate killings of Sikh people, the story gets taut and heartbreaking. I wish the characters were explored more in depth and that less time was wasted in the early chapters (e.g.: the author describes Bibi-Ji's father falling asleep, and then needs to tell us how she concluded he must be asleep. A lot of obvious conclusions are re-told by the author in subsequent sentences, as if she was afraid the readers weren't smart enough to understand). The story explores several important themes, and I always love books about immigrant identity, extremist ideology, loneliness and a burning desire to belong, to identify ones roots (and the dangers of trying to grow roots in a poisoned soil, away from the guidance of authentic tradition). But I think other books explore these themes better. I was very touched by the last third of the book, where the author efficiently ties her story lines together in a satisfying manner.
April 17, 2019
A fictional novel steeped with the political and violent history of Punjab and the war fare that resulted between Sikh and Hindu peoples. Three women's lives, their husbands and families, their memories their homes, their fates. Very powerfully told and brought closer to home with the lives of two of them residing in Vancouver. I recall going to church one morning while visiting my parents in my hometown and hearing the Priest in his prayers plea for the souls of the 329 people aboard Air India flight 182 which had crashed off the coast of Ireland. I had just flown from Toronto to Alberta with my wife and two daughters, the tragedy hit close to home despite no connections. The twenty year investigation and lack of evidence to convict two people accused has always left an unanswered question for me.
Having said all that, I ask myself how I could have been so unaware of the huge conflicts in India and Pakistan. Even the assassination of Indira Ghandi with 22 bullets failed to stir me to try to understand this horrendous tragedy. Once again as in Northern Ireland, the British finger was involved, drawing lines on maps and quite possibly creating this mess.
Having said all that, I ask myself how I could have been so unaware of the huge conflicts in India and Pakistan. Even the assassination of Indira Ghandi with 22 bullets failed to stir me to try to understand this horrendous tragedy. Once again as in Northern Ireland, the British finger was involved, drawing lines on maps and quite possibly creating this mess.
September 12, 2017
Just finished reading this novel , by Anita Rau Badami, one of my favourite authors. I picked it up because it was the only novel of hers that I had not read, but it turned out be a very timely read that made me reflect further on many questions of immigration. This is a powerful novel that explores the Hindu and Sikh violence in the early 80's involving the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the formation of the Sikh separatist movement of Khalistan, and the downing of Air India flight 182. The immigrant experience viewed through the eyes of 3 women, 2 of which immigrate to Canada, one of which stays in India, brings its reality close to the reader's heart. Immigration now always seems to be linked with violence of some sort, whether it is open conflict, or the more subtle conflict, at times, of racism - this experience always seems to be a highly emotional one. This novel is a very powerful one in the sense that it gives you the opportunity to examine all aspects, all points of view.
August 6, 2017
when you heard about (or see a movie about) partition, you always hear about the muslims and the hindus, but not much about the sikhs. coming from brampton, i should already have a good cultural understanding of the sikhs, but i don't.
so i was glad to read this book and learn about the punjab, and it's splitting in 2, and the attack within the golden temple, and the tragedy that happened in new delhi after indira gandhi was shot... the plot may have moved to obvious places, and the characters may have become too one-sided, but the author did a great job of giving a pan-view: from before partition up to the air india bombing.
i've also recently reflected on the insult-du-jour when i was in highschool: paki.
now i wonder if it was hate-based in a faith (muslim) rather than ethnicity (indian. well, really, pakistani but it was applied to any east indian you wanted to jeer). numerous insults could have been chosen - but this was the choice of many
so i was glad to read this book and learn about the punjab, and it's splitting in 2, and the attack within the golden temple, and the tragedy that happened in new delhi after indira gandhi was shot... the plot may have moved to obvious places, and the characters may have become too one-sided, but the author did a great job of giving a pan-view: from before partition up to the air india bombing.
i've also recently reflected on the insult-du-jour when i was in highschool: paki.
now i wonder if it was hate-based in a faith (muslim) rather than ethnicity (indian. well, really, pakistani but it was applied to any east indian you wanted to jeer). numerous insults could have been chosen - but this was the choice of many
October 17, 2018
Here's the thing. The second half of this book was so engaging and so FUCKING SAD and I loved it. I loved the progression that the plot went. HOWEVER. The first half was so, so boring. I was supposed to have this book read for class two weeks ago and I was slugging my way through the first half for almost a month before, last night, getting to the midpoint and reading the rest all in one sitting. Anyway, now that it has been read, I really loved it, but I can't give it a perfect score because of the experience I had reading the first half. (And, of course, a lot of that was on me-- I haven't read many books including Indian places and names and it took me a while to figure out who everyone was and how they were related to each other and where they all lived.)
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