Jalandhar, Oct. 1 -- Gurpreet Singh, 39, of Tarf Behbal Bahadur village in Kapurthala district is not only coping with the stigma of deportation but also standing up to the pressure of the travel agents who duped him. He was the first to lodge a complaint with the police against the two travel agents who cheated him. Now the agents are pressuring his family members to withdraw the complaint in lieu of a financial settlement. A Class-10 dropout, Gurpreet paid Rs.40 lakh to the agents to sneak into the US through Mexico after mortgaging his house and selling a chunk of agricultural land. After working as a daily-wager after the deportation, he recently took up the job of an accountant with a commission agent to make ends meet for his family, comprising his elderly parents, wife and five-year-old son. "I've dropped the idea of going abroad. I took the donkey route to the US, hoping it would make the family's life easier, but now there's no way out except taking up meagre jobs to afford two square meals," he says. "Friends and relatives have suggested I start a small business, but how can I risk the little I have left?" says the sole breadwinner of the family of five. At 21, age is on Gurjit Singh's side. After being deported, the youngster from Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab's NRI belt is back to farming. He has given up the dollar dream for good. Gurjit's family owns five acres of farmland and has now taken another 10 acres on lease to put life back on track. They follow the paddy-wheat crop cycle that they expect will get them about Rs.10 lakh a season. "Sade palle ki reh gea kheti ton bina (We have nothing left other than farming)," says Gurjit. "The agent who sent me on the donkey route took Rs.18 lakh and has not returned a paisa," he says. He had reached Spain on a Schengen visa on January 13 before the agent sent him on the donkey route via Suriname, Guyana, Panama and Mexico. He was promptly deported in February. "If given a chance to time travel in the past, I'd never go on the donkey route. It's a waste of the family's hard-earned money. I would've taken the legal route but now I've learnt my lesson the hard way," he said....