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Different uses for rice and wheat flour

Jun 16, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write in response to the editor’s note attached to “The ban (of flour) affected Hindus” (KN June 15).  As I penned in earlier commentaries, Indians (Hindus) rely on different kinds of grounded grains (wheat, pulses, etc.) for their diet and religious practices.  So in India, as it is in other countries where Indians are settled, Indians (Hindus) do not rely exclusively (or explicitly) on wheat flour.  Ground rice was used and is still being used but for purposes different from those required in making items from wheat.
In Guyana, it was a fact that Indians milled rice and ground rice into rice flour.  I grew up on a rice and sugar plantation and was involved in growing both.  I milled rice. As my nani and other senior citizens informed me, ground rice was used for the preparation of satwa and other products.  Wheat flour was used for making roti, rote, mohanbhog, sirni, maleda, jalebi, mithai, offerings to the Gods, etc.
It is understandable that during the wars, flour was scarce and as such restrictions were placed on dietary and religious practices.  The use of Satwa was prevalent. Older people inform me that the Indians did their best to hold on to their cultural practices. But that does not give any government the right to ban essential items required in the cultural, dietary, or religious practices of any group.
Such an action is tantamount to cultural and religious genocide and is hardly different from what obtains in several countries in Europe and Africa in recent years.
The government officials who deliberately engaged in such acts should be brought to justice.
Vishnu Bisram

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