Goaltender Roman Basran was too busy watching video clips of ex-Vancouver Canuck Roberto Luongo making saves, that he didn't pay enough attention to what really matters. Now a few years older, the 19 year-old values his East Indian heritage, and during the pandemic, took it upon himself to learn Punjabi.
"My grandparents speak it. My great grandparents speak it. My dad speaks it. Now that we had some time now, it is good to dig down into your roots, learn a few things about your culture and about your ethnicity. I thought I would pick up a little bit of Punjabi might help me make friendships in the future."
It's been a steep learning curve for the soft spoken Basran, who seems to open up verbally when asked about what is really important to him - his family and the language is common place with his ancestors.
"It is hard to learn it. Like I feel for the most part it is in my blood so I can say the words correctly, for the most part, but I can't understand all the words, especially when they speak fast," the Delta, BC resident added.
Basran has also draw great inspiration from his 98 year-old great grand father, who immigrated to Canada with virtually nothing and made a good life for himself and his family in the lumber industry.
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