Published by Abington House, USA, “One Long Journey” is primarily a story of survival and hope in the face of adversity and social upheaval, which the author hopes can inspire the readers. It is an orphan story that later becomes an immigrant story ending in a personal triumph.
There was once a boy growing up in a poverty stricken family accepting everything at face value including the relationship with the people around him. He had no clue that he was an orphan, that his biological parents had committed suicide by jumping from a small canoe in a mighty river called the Brahmaputra after drowning the older siblings. As he understood, abject poverty had driven the parents to take such extreme measure. The lonely canoe floated down the river. A boatman caught the little boat. To his utter surprise, he found an infant wrapped up in rags at the bed of the canoe. The baby was still alive. He was named after that river that had floated him to safety.He was raised by his poor maternal grandparents. They were and still are his parents to him. The biological parents had nothing to do with his survival and growing up.
He grew up calling his grandparents Aai (meaning mother) and Baba (meaning father) and his uncles as his brothers. He grew up in a house with a leaky thatched roof full of people and witnessing ugliness of poverty. He grew up through myriads of sickness and witnessing death after death. He saw beggars and lepers coming to their door for a little alms giving, but saw how his mother never turned anyone away in spite of their own hardship. He had witnessed firsthand discrimination based on caste, color of skin, type of job one did, clothes one wore, untouchability, and women working like slaves with no voice. But who was he to question when adults accepted everything as normal in that societal environment? He was just a boy. Questioning elders would have been a sign of disobedience.
So he survived. Slowly but surely he got hints from outsiders that his parents were not his real parents. That made him angry, sad, a pessimist in spite of having a loving set of parents. His parents had kept the truth hidden with nothing but the best intention for him. Unfortunately truth, pleasant or ugly, cannot be hidden forever. The society was making him weak. He wanted to get out of his little place; he had to get stronger. Along the way unknowingly he fell in love with a girl. Perhaps he should not have. But hearts don’t see the invisible walls.
Eventually, he arrived in the city of Houston only with $7 in cash in his pocket and a bank draft for the first semester’s tuition with borrowed money from a few friends. He could not get a bank loan, because he had no collateral to offer. In a strange land, he knew no Indian or Assamese person to lean on. Strange white men became his friends, mentors, brothers, and sisters. So, he received helping hands from strangers. But adversity and death followed him here too. A doctor saved him once with a surgery. That doctor did not even charge a poor student like him his share of the bill. He got married, not to his love, but to a stranger, because caste was a barrier that they did not want to break. Soon after, his mother passed away. The message came as a telegram with a very few words. A poor student like him had no money to go back. In a freak accident his mentor and a father figure Dr. Randy Blumberg left him too. He was on the verge of a total breakdown.
But he survived. That boy is me. My name is Lohit alias the Brahmaputra, the river that had floated me to safety. I feel like a cat with nine lives. Nothing could kill me. The adversities only made me stronger. I have been married to the stranger for forty four years. I love her very much. Someone had offered me a job after my graduation. I joined the oil and gas industry. We had two wonderful daughters. Sun was finally shining on me. I worked for some of the best companies. As a globe trotter I have seen the best and the worst. I picked up running at 40 and became an avid runner including a few marathons. I have run by the Salzach River in Salzburg, by the Charles River in Boston, by the Lake Michigan in Chicago. But I have also run through the slums of Luanda, Sao Paulo, and Mumbai and so on. I have seen orphans and children playing by open raw sewage. Like me, many of you have seen on TV a child come ashore, dead. They are not as fortunate as I have been. They need a helping hand like I had received.
So, my purpose for this book is to help a few children. I am telling you this personal story, not to feel bad for me, but to make you aware that there are millions like me or even worse who need your help. This book is my humble effort to help such children. All proceeds from the sale of the book go towards orphan welfare. It is available as eBook and paperback from Amazon. It is also available from IngramSpark as the global distributor.
“One Long Journey is a contemporary Pilgrim’s Progress passing through the dilemmas of birth right, survival, the caste system found in India, strange places, and even stranger societies along the way, Lohit Datta-Barua tells his story of Salvation. For anyone making a journey (aren’t we all?) this is a practical guide to negotiating dismay along the way and in its profound moments a spiritual guide to claiming our destiny.” (Dr. Robert Charles Bennett, PhD English Literature, Leicester, UK)
“The fascinating true story of an intriguing and astonishing life. The book’s arc covers important markers of social mores, and is peopled with richly delineated characters. This is a compelling autobiography of one man’s life as well as incisive commentary on the welcome social changes ahead.” (Mitra Phukan, novelist, short story writer, translator, columnist, Guwahati, India)
Dr. Lohit Datta-Barua has lived in Houston since 1973. As an inspiring writer and contributor to social justice, he continues to touch people’s lives. As of 2019 Datta-Barua has authored eleven books, six in English, and five in his mother tongue Assamese. His “One Long Journey” is his humble effort to support welfare of orphans. All proceeds from “One Long Journey” go towards orphan welfare. The book is available as eBook and paperback from Amazon in many countries.
