B.C. author probes Indo-Canadian gang culture

JENNIFER GAUTHIER/FOR METRO VANCOUVER

Ranj Dhaliwal, author of Daaku, outside the Central City Brewing Company in Surrey, where he will be launching his first novel on Oct. 26. The launch is open to the public.

First-time Surrey B.C. author Ranj Dhaliwal hopes his novel Daaku, about the rise and fall of a fictional gangster, will create a dialogue within the Lower Mainland's Indo-Canadian community.

"All anybody ever hears about are media reports about the gangs and the killings," Dhaliwal said. "I wanted to talk about these things in a novel and — hopefully — have the community clarify things to their children, to each other."

Dhaliwal said many Indo-Canadian parents are unaware of their children's true lives.

"They don't want their community to look bad. So they don't talk about things. The problem with that is that people hear rumours, but nobody asks if they are true."

Dhaliwal told CBC News yesterday that he'd heard stories from friends who claimed to have beaten up moderate opponents for traditional temple leaders during temple elections — a claim denied by temple leaders.

Daaku, Punjabi for outlaw, charts the rise of Ruby Pandher through the Indo-Canadian gangland of the early 1990s. It appears in bookstores on Oct. 23.

For more on the book or the author visit ranjdhaliwal.com.

JEFF HODSON/Metro Vancouver

jeff.hodson@@metronews.ca