I feel a rhythm so powerful that it transports me to another world and I see the beautiful face of my nanijee and all the forgotten daughters of my family calling to me from the distant past, sending their blessings. I see the story of each piece of gold, how it was given with love at a special time, and it touches my heart.
‘It’s all of the daughters’ gold . . . you found it!’ cries Ma, astounded.
My heart clatters against my chest. The story was true!
Ma stretches out her hand and this time she lightly touches my spirit bird’s golden feathers. ‘M-Ma?’ she whispers, wiping her cheek.
‘We can buy a new tractor now and keep the farm going,’ I say. ‘And Papa won’t have to go back to the city – and we won’t ever have to leave for England.’
‘Your ma can make her famous mango chutney,’ says Jeevan, his mind whizzing with ideas. ‘Your Uncle Neel can help export it.’
‘Great idea,’ I reply.
‘Maybe we can set up mountain lodges for tourists,’ he continues, getting more excited.
‘And you can give night tours and explain the stars,’ I smile.
Everyone carries on chattering, discussing new projects, laughing and joking. I walk towards the sheesham tree, my nanijee following behind, and sit on the cool damp ground. I clasp my nanijee gently in my arms and she moves towards me, our foreheads touching. We stay like this, staring deep into each other’s eyes, previous lives flashing before us, comforted by the power of eternal reincarnation.
After one final embrace she turns her head to the amazed faces watching us, raises her immense wings and flies into the ink-black sky.
‘Don’t go too far.’
I know now that if you believe in yourself you can do anything for the people you love.
I run over to Jeevan, slip my hand in his.
‘Friends for ever?’ he says, turning to face me.
‘Friends for ever,’ I say. ‘Whatever the future holds.’
I was born in Northern Punjab on a farm close to the Himalayas. My grandfather died when my dad was only twelve and so it was left to my grandmother, my majee, to look after five children and keep the farm going with help from my great uncle. As a woman this would have been a challenging and difficult task, especially since my family had a high position in the village and as such she would have been closely observed.
Amongst the other animals on the farm, we had a camel and a wild monkey, Oma, who became part of the family. At nightfall, the skies were alight with millions of stars and this is when we used to set up a fire outside, make toffee popcorn and tell stories. When I returned to India for the first time, I was amazed at how well preserved the farm was. It was so beautiful: you could see wide views of bright-green fields of sugarcane from the first-floor balconies. When we made a cup of tea, guess where the milk came from? Directly from the cow into the cup!
My lovely uncle Lashkar was the first member of the family to move to the UK and, once he had settled, he wanted all his brothers to join him. So like many families at that time, when I was a year and a half, we moved to the UK too. My great uncle stayed behind to look after the farm.
Imagine how it must have felt to leave everything behind and go to a place practically halfway round the world! But we were a very close-knit family and my earliest memories are of big gatherings where my uncles would keep all the memories of the farm alive by telling funny stories. One of the favourite stories was how Oma used to love taking my brother off to the neem tree in the farmyard, where she would rock him to sleep in her arms.
The story my majee always told was of me standing on the wall of the well, which was dangerously deep, bawling my eyes out as the monsoon rain lashed down, and how she ran to my rescue.
There was always lots of laughter on these occasions and my mum would cook up amazing food for everyone. One of her specialities was spiced potato parathay, a sort of wholewheat flatbread layered with butter and cooked on a tava until puffed and crispy.
I wrote Asha & the Spirit Bird as the dissertation element of my MA in Creative Writing, and when I was thinking of ideas, I just knew that the heart of my story would take me back to the land of my birth and back to my majee.
The seed of the story began with an image of a little girl on a farm in India, playing in the dirt with water that she had collected from the well.
I couldn’t shake this image away, so I began to take my own memories, twisting them into a magical story. I asked myself lots of what-if questions . . . what if we had stayed on the farm? What if things got tough and my dad had to go off to the city to work? What if we had to borrow money to make ends meet and we couldn’t pay it back?
And what if our ancestors stay with us in spirit to help in times of need?
Jasbinder Bilan 2019
My first thanks go to my huge and loving family, who have waved the victory flags for me all along the way, from the moment I picked up my pen to the wonderful moment of seeing it in print. In age order; Balraj, Sherry, Randhiraj, Dip and Amolack, and of course to my lovely mum, Gurjinder, and my dad who made the best milk kulfi! To my uncle Gael, who cried when I was the first to go to university and to my cousins Mindy, Michael and Sunny. To my uncle Lashkar and Aunt Paramjeet for the happy memories of countryside adventures with lashings of cake and tea.
Heartfelt thanks to my husband Ian for his patience throughout and for not allowing me to starve while I spent long hours writing, and also to my sons Gem and Satchen for continuously asking how it was all going.
The seed for Asha & the Spirit Bird was first sown when I bravely quit my teaching job and enrolled on the amazing MA Creative Writing for Young People course at Bath Spa University. Thank you to my tutors; Julia Green for being there from the start; Steve Voake for his positivity and suggestion for a kapow opening; and Lucy Christopher for showing me the magic of pushing your setting as far as it will let you. To Janine Amos and John McLay for sharing their extensive knowledge of the publishing world.
Thank you to Barry Cunningham, Kesia Lupo and the panel of judges for choosing my story to win the Times/Chicken House Prize 2017 over all the other amazing ones – you made my dream come true! To all the team at Chicken House, especially Kesia for being such an insightful editor. To Rachel Hickman for choosing a truly beautiful cover and to Aitch for creating it. Thanks also to Jazz Bartlett, Laura Myers and Elinor Bagenal.
To the wonderful Ben, my agent, for his enthusiasm and expert eye, and for finding me glittering sea gifts.
To my friend Judy who I know would have adored my story and is always with me in spirit.
A massive thank you to Miranda and Mel, who really are the dream team. You were there from the very beginning. You told it how it was, gave me just what I needed when I needed it . . . tissues, tea, champagne. I couldn’t have done this without you.
To fellow writers on Bath Spa MAWYP: Sarah, Carlyn, Wendy, Jennifer, Charlotte and Tracy for continuing to drink tea and eat cake at every opportunity. To Cal Sharp for all her technical wizardry in helping me navigate the world of websites.
Thank you to dear Rachael and my young readers Bel and Mintie for loving Asha’s story without reservation.
To the amazing staff at my primary school, Mellers in Nottingham, especially Mr Stanton and Mr Ferrigan, who packed fun, songs and laughter into their school bags every day, and to Mrs Wallis who let me be creative and who taught me to never give up.
To the brave huntress Sarah Driver, author extraordinaire, for all her encouragement and for her endorsement.
Finally, a huge thank you to my readers. I hope you’ve enjoyed this book – without you, would it simply be a story gathering dust? The magic happens once the cover is opened and you decide to enter.
Text © Jasbinder Bilan 2019
Cover illustration © Aitch 2019
First paperback edition published in Great Britain in 2019
This electronic edition published in 2019
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Jasbinder Bilan has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
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Produced in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
Cover and interior design by Helen Crawford-White
Cover and interior illustrations by Aitch
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data available.
PB ISBN 978-1-911490-19-7
eISBN 978-1-911490-78-4
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