Lakshmi Persaud
On the Celebration of Trinidad’s Indian arrival Day,
Called
to save the island’s economy
Today,
This way of life has made substantial contributions to the still
evolving society of
So sustaining was this art of living, to growth in
With the coming of violent raids in Northern India by the Muslim Turks
in the tenth Century A.D. and later with their settling in its vast fertile
plains, came another sophisticated life style which was assimilated in India, a
sub-continent with the ability to integrate and seduce all comers ---
imperialist, invaders, immigrants, refugees, and travellers who have
contributed greatly to the enrichment of its inheritance. With the arrival of
our forefathers, this vast, complex, cultural largesse has become part of the
inheritance of the
It was 159 years ago, that our forefathers first brought this way of
living with them on the Fatel Rozack which landed in Trinidad on May 30th
1845, They came not as slaves but as agricultural labourers— indentured for a
period of five years, by the colonial power,
to halt the fast collapsing sugar industry, the mainstay of the West Indian economy.
So harsh were the conditions and so small the wages that men, newly
emancipated from servitude were not attracted to it. For the indentured
labourers, it was a period of great hardship and with far too few indentured
women, a time of disorientation, fear, mistrust, wife beatings, killings and
alcoholism.
Thousands of
these agricultural labourers opted to return to
Those who remained, harnessed themselves to hard work and at great
personal sacrifices, saved the economy from collapsing, helped to put it on a
sound footing and later, contributed in no small measure to the social stability
and growth of those British West Indian colonies which became their homes.
Ladies and gentlemen, here in the West, our forefathers faced much
hostility and the undermining of their culture from an arrogant, domineering, colonial
power with its authoritarian religion that carried the savagery of certitude in
one hand and schools in the other. It was the latter contribution that played a
large role in giving the children of Indian descent an education that greatly
enabled them to improve their socio-economic prospects.
Today we give much thanks to all government schools and church schools
but it is to the early Canadian Presbyterian mission that our largest bouquets
are sent. Much later, by the 1940’s/50’s, came Maha Sabha schools and they went
much further. They widened the catchment area of educational opportunities to the
growing numbers of young Indo-Trinidadians. Children from the humblest homes in
far away muddy, country lanes now walked to schools, in the knowledge, that
their teachers identified with their songs and prayers, ceremonies and
celebrations.
Our
government permits an ugliness to spawn
However, it is painful to have to acknowledge, that though education equipped
us to rise in society, we and our forefathers, have had to cope both before and
after political
It is most
unfortunate that the vibrancy of this unwholesome thinking has spawned a perilous
path— kidnapping innocent men and their young children. Kidnappers have been so successful in
gaining from this crime that kidnapping is perceived as a profitable Industry in
Trinidad; so ineffective the police have been in catching these criminals that of
late, a few amateurs –factory workers— decided to enrich themselves by
kidnapping their employer’s child.
However, today, we, inheritors of 159 years of our forefathers’
endeavours give thanks to their good luck in leaving a society with social
rigidities of class and caste and their coming to a younger, more open one.
This openness comes from our society being youthful, flexible and
transparent. Neither should we forget that the British left us with the tools
of good governance which have helped to encourage the maintenance of our
democratic inheritance. Our open society is also a result of our close
proximity to
Today we also remind ourselves of our contribution to the culture of
Jhandis
We celebrate our heritage that is life giving and joyous, one that can
fill the sky line with colour --- by using our Jhandis ( colourful weaves of cotton
on tall bamboo poles) to hail loudly, the concepts of the god of learning and knowledge,
of light or enlightenment, of prosperity. But as time erodes our Jhandis and
they fall to the ground we should be reminded that our stay too, is temporary,
and that our abiding legacy should be what our Jhandis reflect: that we should
do unto others as we would have others do unto us.
Our laughing Jhandis, dancing in the wind should also remind us that we
need moments of reflection to revitalise ourselves, to enrich the purpose of our
gift of life.
We
Celebrate
We celebrate the magic of massala, that fine balance of spices and herbs
that transforms the humblest meal into a delight, enabling eyes and lips to
smile, while silencing, grumbling stomachs of men and women from all continents.
We celebrate a culture that provides us with skilled craftsmen of
delicate gold and silver jewellery which warms and adorns our bodies.
We celebrate a philosophy of living that will not condone pre-emptive
strikes, but which instead offers Satyagraha -- peaceful resistance --- and the
sophisticated art of diplomacy. We celebrate a culture that gives thanks, and
respects all life on our planet and the wider cosmos.
We celebrate the inheritance of a philosophy that says there are many
routes to the good life, yours and mine and theirs.
We celebrate a
way of thinking that acknowledges — ‘not knowing’ is intrinsic to life, a way
of thinking that is aware of man’s inherent limitations to ‘being all knowing’
and so instead of running with a righteous certainty to all, offers a
pathway of caution, tolerance and courtesy in its own understanding of the unknown.
To
our Shame
But only a vacant mind will today refuse to heed the historical fact that
the racist ugliness I have already alluded to, was also present in our
neighbourhood—
To our shame, the government of Trinidad and Tobago, comforted him with
loans – and our Caricom sisters as well as our highest seat of learning, our
University of the West Indies, also embraced him warmly, uncritical of his
racist governance. It is this and the present institutional racism in
Our government is there to protect all its citizens. The safety of all
Trinidadians, irrespective of their creed or race must be its first priority. It
will be a sad day indeed, when our national anthem becomes an empty song and
Trinidadians living abroad are safer under foreign skies, than under those
where their cradles were rocked.
Let us not transform a land so blessed with large resources, to one,
where the cries of foul play, of racism, of corruption, go unheeded by our
intellectuals, our advocates of the rule of law, our religious bodies, our
university, human rights organisations, government and people.
An
Ancient Epic with a Post Modern Theme
Ladies and gentlemen we pay homage to our forefathers, parents and grandparents
who brought this sustaining culture with them and held it through dark and
difficult times, enriching the society of Trinidad.
It is time to remind ourselves what lies at the core of that great world
epic the Mahabharata. When Arjun said to
So let us judge men neither by their race nor creed, nor family connections
but by their individual actions, what they stand for, what they would fight
against.
We
Acknowledge and give thanks
Today we acknowledge and give thanks to that beautiful human spirit
which resides in men far and wide. I have found this spirit amongst men and
women in
We acknowledge the beauty and strength of the spirit of all our mothers
and fathers, Agees and Nanees, Ajahs and Nanas, courageous, compassionate and
dauntless they were in the face of overwhelming odds
We hail the great Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela,
Martin Luther King and let us not forget the courage of that fine spirit found
in Captain Swinton and his caring wife Mrs Swinton who were on board the
Salsette on that fatal journey. The Salsette left
We acknowledge with thanks the lives of the Swintons, for it was their
day to day account of the plight of these men and women, full of hope for the
betterment of themselves, yet fearful and doubtful of their destination, that
led to an improvement of conditions on later ships, so enabling many of us to
be sitting here today.
We
Rejoice in Song
Let us remember those beautiful words of our forefathers, born from the
womb of shared struggle and endurance --- Jhaji bhai – meaning the brotherhood
of the ship, for we are all Jhaji bhai --travellers in the night, our footsteps
in the dark.
Today we give thanks and celebrate what is good in all Trinidadians, may
it increase a thousand fold for therein lies the prosperity of this island and all
its peoples.
Now, let us fill our mouths with the sheer delights of rasmaila,
gulabjamoon, pateesa, para, and warm kheer. Let us hold hands with our fellow
Trinidadians for they are part of us and we of them, though many, may yet not
know it.
I end with Walt Whitman’s Song which is what I have tried to say.
“I celebrate
myself and sing myself,
And what I assume
you shall assume,
For every atom
belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
Ladies and gentlemen thank you for listening, thank you for being here.
Lakshmi Persaud
www.lakshmipersaud.com