I, Manjinder “James” Kumar, was born in the Jalandhar, Punjab region, in the northern part of India. Punjab is a huge place and among its many communities is the village of Rurka Kalan, where I spent my early childhood years.

My memories of Rurka Kalan is that it’s rural and poor. The houses back then were small, more like shanties, built close to each other, and we—my dad, mom, and siblings—lived in one of those. I remember that region having farmlands and rice was a predominant produce.

My life was tough as a kid. My dad was a cook, with daily earnings not even enough to feed us decently. My mom would do some laundry work for another family so she could augment our financials. With her extra income we could at least eat twice a day. We had nothing. I would go to school barefoot. Our classroom had no chairs …