After a stay of about eleven months, I have come to know that there are hundreds of my brethren here but they are all 'monas' or 'shaven'. I have met dozens of them by now. To be true, they have met me; invariably they call me from a little distance in sweet Punjabi tone, "Sat Sri Akal Ji." I am so pleased. But it is distressing to note that not one of them has kept his form.
I always ask them, "why so? Do they face any problem from the government, industry or people if they keep unshorn hair?"
No, surely, there is no such problem and they do agree with me on that. They are, however, mostly illegal entrants to this country and almost all of them are illegal residents. They want to conceal their identity.
Most of them come here attracted by higher wages and search for a better life. Unscrupulous travel agents first lure them and then dump them here. Most of them work on ships as unskilled crewmen. Because of inflation, scarcity of this type of labour and the psychological temperament of all of us to convert all money in our currency, they feel happy to find such work on ships.
Visa and resident permits are not required on high seas. They can save some money and send home as well. So the parents are made to believe that they are earning 'decent' salaries and living in 'phoren lands'. Shipping companies welcome the cheap labour supplied by India and Pakistan so long as they do not create problems of law and order.
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